Design Biennial Boston

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Neighborhood: Downtown

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The 2015 Biennial will feature Cristina Parreño Alonso of Cristina Parreño Architecture, Cynthia Gunadi and Joel Lamere of GLD, Dan and Marie Law Adams of Landing Studio, and Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks of MASS Design Group. Mariana Ibañez and Simon Kim of IK Studio and Daniel Ibañez and Rodrigo Rubio of Margen-Lab received honorable mention awards this year for their contributions. The winning designers’ projects range from speculative visions to constructed interventions, including a monumental library in Slovenia, an installation in a stairway at MIT, the transformation of an industrial tank farm into a shared salt dock and public park in Chelsea, and a cholera treatment center with a wastewater purification facility in Port-au-Prince.  

The jury for the 2015 Biennial included curators Chris Grimley, Michael Kubo, and Mark Pasnik (pinkcomma gallery) along with Lucas Cowan (Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy), Eden Dutcher (GroundView), Michael Evans (Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics), Mary Fichtner (BSA Space), Karin Goodfellow (Boston Art Commission), Dan Hisel (Dan Hisel Architect/Wentworth Institute), Eric Höweler (Höweler + Yoon/Harvard University), Tim Love AIA (Utile/Northeastern University/2015 BSA President), and Ana Mijlacki (Project_/MIT).   The public installations will be on view from late July through mid-September.

To learn more about the Design Biennial Boston, please click here. 

Isles Arts Initiative

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Neighborhood: Boston Harbor Islands

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The Isles Arts Initiative is a summer long public art series on Georges, Spectacle islands and Boston Sculptors Gallery that will capture the intrinsic beauty of the 34 harbor islands.

Cove will transform Georges Island into an outdoor gallery, as eleven regional artists and collectives create site-responsive contemporary installations that will activate all 41.3 acres from the parade group to the dark tunnels and bastions, to the shoreline. Through Seen/Unseen, Spectacle Island will become a canvas for ephemeral experiences that ebb and flow like the tide as 5 miles of trails and 105 acres are activated by the sounds of regional musicians and talents of acclaimed performance artists from across the US. This weekend series will take visitors off their predictable paths and jolt them with a new awareness of their landscape. Back on land, art enthusiasts are encouraged to explore Boston Sculptors Gallery, in SoWa, where they will see works by 34 artists, each responding to one of the 34 harbor islands. Works include kinetic sculptures, prints, paintings and mixed media. Wall text from Chris Klein’s book, Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands will accompany each work, illuminating the unique histories of each island.

To learn more about the Isles Arts Initiative, and to see a schedule of events, click here.

Waves on Sea and Land

Artist: Mark J. Stock

Neighborhood: Downtown/ North End

Medium: Digital art installation

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Waves on Sea and Land is a new generative art installation by Mark J. Stock, created for the Boston Harbor Islands Welcome Center located on Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway. The Welcome Center functions as the information source for the Boston Harbor Islands national park area. Waves on Sea and Land is a simplified representation of two essential natural patterns prevalent on and around the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. In one mode, water waves ripple and move across the screens, their size and motion determined by current data polled from Harbor Island weather stations. In the other mode, tufts of beach grass sway in the wind, their motion dictated by simple physics calculations and driven by the same wind data. Both representations are purely monochromatic, directing focus on the motions themselves instead of their intermediaries.

The Harbor Islands are always in flux: wind and tides scour and deposit sand and sediment, shorelines move, while grasses and wildlife adapt to their dynamic environment. Waves on Sea and Land reflects these timeless yet ephemeral forces with a never-ending, never-repeating simulation of two patterns of motion etched into the memories of the islands' visitors. Waves on Sea and Land will play on the two screens of the Welcome Center 24/7 until Saturday, May 9, 2015 when the Welcome Center opens for the season. After May 9, the piece will play from dusk untilmidnight through August 2015.

ABOUT THE ARTIST- Mark J. Stock is an artist, scientist, and programmer who creates still and moving images combining elements of nature, physics, chaos, computation, and algorithm. His works explore the tension between the natural world and its simulated counterpart, and are generated with his own custom scientifically-accurate research software. He has been showing work since 2000 and has been in over 80 curated and juried exhibitions since 2001, including Ars Electronica, ASPECT Magazine, and seven SIGGRAPH Art Galleries. He has spoken at numerous scientific, graphics, and art conferences and workshops, and has published papers in a variety of fields. Mark completed his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2006 and works out of his studio in Somerville, Massachusetts. He is represented in California by SENSE Fine Art.

ABOUT THE ART AT THE BOSTON HARBOR ISLAND WELCOME CENTER- Boston Cyberarts, the National Park Service and Boston Harbor Island Alliance have collaborated on an ongoing project to commission public algorithmic art for display on the LED screens at the Boston Harbor Island Pavilion on Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway. Boston Cyberarts commissions algorithmic artists, asking them to write computer programs that will create real time generative art that will be constantly changing. This program ties into the innovative strengths of the Boston area, using digital art algorithms to heighten the interest in Boston Harbor's history and natural complex ecosystems.

ABOUT BOSTON CYBERARTS-Boston Cyberarts supports and encourages experimentation in the arts through exhibitions, events, educational programs and collaboration with like-minded groups in an effort to foster the development of new practices in contemporary art making. The Boston Cyberarts Gallery is located in the Green Street station on the MBTA's Orange line in Jamaica Plain. The gallery is the only art space located in a train station in the country, and also the only independent art organization in Massachusetts focusing on new and experimental media. Boston Cyberarts is grateful for the support of many generous individuals and institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and the Boston Cultural Council.

Further information on Boston Cyberarts is available by visiting www.bostoncyberarts.org, calling  or emailing .

Janet Echelman Aerial Sculpture

Artist: Janet Echelman

Neighborhood: Downtown

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A monumental aerial sculpture by world-reknowned artist Janet Echelman will float over Boston's Greenway from May through October 2015. The ultra-lightweight artwork (made from fibers 15 times stronger than steel), will be an original design inspired by the ongoing transformation of Boston's waterfront since the Big Dig put the highway underground, creating the mile-and-a-half greenway. Echelman's artwork will be the centerpiece for a series of free public events on the Greenway. Events will reange from music and dance performances to family friendly days and block parties. 

Pop-Up: Franklin Park Art Grove

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Neighborhood: Roxbury

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The is proud to announce the continuation of the Pop-Up series, celebrating temporary art in Boston's neighborhoods. Pop-Up: Franklin Park Art Grove will be sited in Franklin Park’s Wilderness Picnic Grove during the month of August 2015. This will be a three-tiered program that will include a selection of outdoor art interventions, public talks, and artist-led youth workshops. Pop-Up: Franklin Park Art Grove is a collaboration between The Boston Art Commission, the Franklin Park Coalition, the William Monroe Trotter Institute, and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.

The Freedom Project

Artist: Juanjo Novella

Neighborhood: Dorchester

Medium: Steel

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“Freedom Home” design concept

Juanjo Novella, an internationally-recognized sculptor of public art, has been selected to create a permanent artwork in Doherty-Gibson Park (also known as Town Field) in Dorchester’s Fields Corner neighborhood that celebrates and commemorates journeys to freedom. Commissioned by the Fields Corner-based community development corporation Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Inc. (VietAID) in collaboration with the City of Boston Parks Department, the Boston Art Commission, and the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, a public charitable trust administered by the City of Boston Boston Trust Office, the artwork will create a focal point in the park’s plaza along Dorchester Avenue. Novella was selected from a pool of 144 artists who applied for the public art commission from 27 states and 9 countries.

The artist proposes a tall, curved sculpture called “Freedom Home” built with a steel membrane comprised of the word “freedom” repeated in multiple languages that will be lit up at night. Inspired by the mountainous island cliffs in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay as well as the shapes of the roads circumscribing Fields Corner, Novella seeks to integrate the piece with the community. The sculpture has an open door and will sit in the center of the plaza currently occupied by a circular plantings bed. This placement will recover more space in the plaza for people to interact with the piece and traverse through and around it.

“Through “Freedom Home,” we honor those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “Mr. Novella has thoughtfully represented the universal experience of those who came to Boston seeking hope and equality. We are grateful to VietAID for the their work to bring important artwork to our neighborhoods.”

“This unique sculpture will create an icon for Fields Corner and will help to establish Fields Corner as a destination for business and culture” said Nam Pham, VietAID’s Executive Director. “As a refugee who, like many, came to America in search of freedom, I am very moved by Novella’s use of Ha Long Bay as inspiration for the form. Our goal also is for this artwork not only to appeal to my Vietnamese experience but also to speak to all people who call Fields Corner home, regardless of where they came from.”

Award-winning Spanish artist Juanjo Novella has commissioned artworks installed across Europe, Asia, North America, and New Zealand, including in Madrid, Spain; Asan-Si, South Korea; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Lubbock, Texas. He also has had many exhibitions of his work, including at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. While his artistic career began simultaneously with painting and sculpture, he now works exclusively in the field of public art. He has extensive experience working in urban environments and has participated in several master plans for improving urban landscapes integrating systems of sculpture, painting, and landscape design.

For more information about the Freedom Public Art Project and about how to contribute to the artwork, click here or contact VietAID at 617-822-3717.

Dudley Municipal Building

Artist: Napoleon Jones-Henderson and Meejin Yoon and Clarita Stephens

Neighborhood: Dudley Square

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The Dudley Municipal Building is in the Dudley Station Historic District. The building design has been devised to physically incorporate the façades of three historic buildings into a larger contemporary framework.  The new building will provide additional retail commerce opportunities while relocating the Boston Public Schools (BPS) administrative body to Roxbury. Dudley Square is the historical heart of Roxbury, and Roxbury is the geographic center of Boston. With its long history as a commercial and civic center, Dudley Square has a wealth of buildings with architectural and cultural significance and is a hub of mass transit. The purpose of the Dudley Municipal Office Facility has been to provide a catalyst for economic revitalization of Dudley Square by using the neighborhood’s past as a foundation to build its future.

Designed by the team made up of local architecture firm Sasaki Architects and Netherlands-based design firm Mecanoo, the Dudley Square Municipal Office Facility will be the next great public building in Boston. One large wall piece, an outdoor sculpture, and an interior acoustic panel will serve as exciting additions to the building and the surrounding square. In addition to showcasing site-specific work by professional artists, this project will also celebrate the artwork of Boston Public School Students on an interior acoustic panel.

Napoleon Jones-Henderson has been selected as the finalist for the indoor wall design project, Meejin Yoon is the chosen finalist for the outdoor sculpture project, and BPS student Clarita Stephens is the finalist for the acoustic panel. 

Upham's Corner

Artist: Cedric Douglas

Neighborhood: Dorchester

Medium: TBA

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The Boston Art Commission is pleased to announce that Cedric Douglas has been selected as the Upham's Corner Public Art Finalist. The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), in collaboration with residents and a broad range of community-based partners, will commission Douglas to create an artwork for permanent display in the Upham’s Corner neighborhood of Dorchester as part of the exciting increase in transit access along the Fairmount Corridor. 

During the first phase of the public artwork, Cedric Douglas will gather community input, incorporating feedback from residents into his final design. Central to this stage of the design is Douglas' Up Truck, a mobile arts resource will serve the focal point for these community conversations. Once the final design is ready and the location has been selected, fabrication and installation of the permenant artwork will begin. 

The project seeks to contribute to the well-being of Fairmount communities by investing in the elevation and amplification of local cultural assets as one of many resources necessary for sustained community vitality. The goal of the project is to invest in neighborhood leadership and civic engagement through their cultural assets reinforcing opportunities for neighborhood branding, small business development and community vitality. 

Check back in the coming months for more updates on this exciting new public artwork, and click here to learn more about the project and chosen artist, Cedric Douglas.

Photo: Cedric Douglas' Up Truck

Brighton Library Sculpture

Artist: Richard Duca

Neighborhood: Brighton

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Working in tandem with the Boston Public Library and the Brighton Branch Library Public Art Committee, and in consultation with the City of Boston through the Boston Art Commission, artist Richard Duca will create a new sculpture for the Brighton Branch of the Boston Public Library. Then sculpture, titled "Wings of the Imagination," will consist of three large sculptural chairs arranged in a circle. Duca has previously worked with the Boston Public Library, installing the sculptural bike racks and guards at the Honan-Allston Branch of the Boston Public Library in 2006.