A walking elegy, tiny gallery, and gentle Brutalism

First installment of “Favorite Things,” a new series in which Harvard faculty share a few of theirs. Robin Kelsey is the Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography, History of Photography and American Art.

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You can commune with the dead, with migrating birds, and with ancient trees. Each time I visit, I treasure the chance to say hello to departed friends, from vital contemporaries who left us too soon (e.g., our faculty colleague Svetlana Boym) to those long-gone but thrilling us still (e.g., Winslow Homer). When I need to restore myself, there is no better place in Cambridge than this path-winding refuge with its massive, straight-boled oaks.

What better place to find contemporary art than up creaking stairs in a dilapidated warehouse by the Market Basket in Somerville? The space is tiny, the light soft and exquisite, and the curation distinguished by its perspicacity and care.

To call this building “Brutalist” may abide by textbook definitions but feels utterly inapt to me. I find the Carpenter Center inviting (who can resist that ramp?) and aspirational. The sight lines, the terrace, the cool concrete shadows on a hot summer day. Beautiful!

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— As told to Sy Boles/Harvard Staff Writer