Day: February 14, 2025
An intersection in East Watertown will be named in honor of an Armenian artist who made his home in Watertown for several years, Watertown News reports.
The City Council voted unanimously to name the intersection of Dexter Avenue and Hazel Street for Arshile Gorky.
After surviving the 1915 Armenian genocide and its aftermath, Gorky arrived in Watertown in February 1920 as part of a third wave of Armenians immigrants arriving in the United States to escape persecution.
He lived in Watertown with his sisters until late 1924 to early 1925, when he moved to New York City. Gorky’s impact on art history and his continued influence on contemporary art cannot be overstated.
The request to name the intersection for Gorky came from members of a working group for the “100 Years of Arshile Gorky” celebration. The Working Group includes Watertown’s Public Arts & Culture Planner Liz Helfer, resident Jack Dargon, and representatives of the Armenian Museum of America, the Mosesian Center for the Arts and the Historical Society of Watertown.
The proposal first went to the Council’s Committee on Public Works on Feb. 3, which voted 3-0 in support of naming the intersection for Gorky.
During the committee meeting, Helfer said the proposal is to mark the intersection with a pole and plaque similar to those used to name an intersection for a veteran. Gorky would also be honored with two plaques placed near the homes where he and his family lived while they were in Watertown (86 Dexter Ave. and 14 Coolidge Hill Road), Helfer told the Public Works Committee.
When the proposal first came to the Council in October 2024, the location of the plaque was at Artsakh Street and Elton Avenue, but after receiving feedback from the Armenian community it was changed to Dexter and Hazel, which they said was more appropriate, according to the committee report.
The 100 Years of Arshile Gorky celebration includes a mural on the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway, an exhibition and movie screening at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, a curated collection on Gorky at the Watertown Library, a guided walk, and a self-guided tour