PADS: Materials & New Ways to See the Urban Landscape

This season’s kick-off Public Art Discussion Series, Materials and New Ways to See the Urban Landscape, took place last Thursday, October 9th at NEFA.

NEFA’s art consultant Sarah Hutt, led the first part of the discussion. Using examples of innovative public art works in and around Boston, she mentioned Cedric Douglas’ mobile community art truck, the Up Truck, and Liz LaManche’s Dock Tattoo Project, Connected By Sea; both local artists who were in attendance. Liz spoke briefly about the inspirations behind the undertaking of a 100 foot mural influenced by the culturally diverse designs of the tattoo and how she was able to successfully use Kickstarter to fund her project; and Cedric was able to talk about different strategies he used to effectively engage communities, including hanging a giant bank check that asked people how they would spend $3 million to improve Uphams Corner.

Following Sarah was artist Beth Galston, of Carlisle, MA, who was recently announced as one of the finalists for the TWS Art Project at South Station in Boston. Beth spoke about public art projects she’s done in Mesa, AZ, San Antonio, TX, and her Jamaica Plain, MA, piece, Serpentine Fence – and about her experiences utilizing different materials and colors, and choosing and working with fabricators and project partners.

Also presenting was Roxbury artist and educator, Napoleon Jones-Henderson, who was recently selected to create a mural for the new Dudley Square Municipal Center. Napoleon is one of a small group of artists who have multiple public art works throughout the Boston area.  He discussed his Chicago roots and his commitment to working within his community.

We concluded with a presentation by NEFA’s CreativeGround staff, who introduced the website as a resource for both organizations looking for artists to do public art projects and for public artists to promote their work, services, and activities.

We were thrilled to have such wonderful speakers and great mix of artists and representatives from organizations as attendees. Thank you again to all who attended!

We look forward to the next event:

Public Art Grants Workshop
January 21, 2015 | 1:00PM-3:00PM
Event details

IMAGES: Top: Beth Galston. Bottom: Napoleon Jones-Henderson. Images by Ann Wicks.