The Ice Cream Shop's Best Kept Secret

Wandering around Jamaica Plain, a chance meeting at the bus stop led to the unlocking of a local ice cream parlor's art secrets. The woman I took a seat next to on the bench spilled her Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee while gesturing to me about her life in JP, but she also spilled the name of a local artist and J.P. Licks employee: Thomas Durand.

Apart from scooping ice cream, Durand organizes open studio events and supports the arts community as a member of the JP Arts Council. He displays the work of local artists (including his own just recently) in the ice cream shop on a rotating basis. The building which now serves up milkshakes and waffle cones was once a firehouse and, for a time, housed an art gallery and performance space. Durand noted that as Jamaica Plain has grown as an artistic community and attracted more residents, the consequential higher cost of living has pushed many artists and studios out of the area.

Artist Thomas Durand carries one of his larger art pieces past the work of a fellow Jamaica Plain artist in the upper level of J.P. Licks Ice Cream Shop. Durano has his own darkroom on the second floor of the building.

Durand himself has secured a space upstairs from the ice cream shop for his own darkroom. Behind the EMPLOYEES ONLY door, a whole realm of hidden photography unfolds. Next to a urinal (evidence of the men's bathrooms from the firehouse) sits an ashtray and some prints alongside a list of yet-to-be-completed projects. Clothespins for drying the photos twirl in an alcove just above remains of showers. It's a place to pursue his work, and Durand doesn't mind the stacks of cow mugs and spotted merchandise in the adjacent room.

A detail of Durand's darkroom, where an unlikely mix of materials meet.

Though his story may not relate directly to the fundamental conflict of art and crime in my topic, Durand's profile reveals a bit about the artistic atmosphere of Jamaica Plain and the difficulties facing Boston artists-expected to become worse with the current economic crisis. With less and less space to make art, where can locals express themselves? Where can they find an audience? Maybe the answer lies in the city streets.

-Jessica Bal