On Wednesday, January 26th, four Boston-based artists presented their final pitches to a panel of five jurors as part of the Public Art Accelerator Program. Each of them shared their proposals in an exciting reveal brimming with moments of reflection and healing. Eli Brown, Rhea Vedro, Rixy, and Mima McMillan, affectionately known as Cohort Four, all gravitated toward two neighborhoods with limited access to public art, East Boston and Roxbury. Their projects range from murals to sculptures — all designed to unlock curiosity and evoke new ways of being while holding space for community care, equitable living, and collective uplifting.
All four artists were awarded full funding of $25,000 each to bring these projects from concept to reality. But the real winner is Boston and all who’ll visit their projects this summer.
From Eli’s work on reframing the climate change narrative with queer ecologies to Rhea’s collaborative blessing for journeys of migration to Rixy’s liberation and healing for femme womxn to Mima’s powerful representations of Black girls in multiple mediums, this year’s projects invite us to imagine a more open, equitable city and world.
Cohort Four would not be possible without the generosity and leadership of Joyce Linde, who supported the 3-year pilot program of the Accelerator. She is joined by James and Audrey Foster and other donors who believe the work of local artists, especially artists of color and those underrepresented in traditional art systems, belong in public space. Special thanks also to the jury of public art experts, practitioners, and enthusiasts, including Jesse Baerkahn, Luis Cotto, Sabrina Dorsainvil, Samantha Fields, and Cynthia Woo who first selected Cohort Four from 55 applicants responding to an open call.
“I feel like I’ve experienced many remarkable journeys through this.”
- Sabrina Dorsainvil, N+T Board member and Accelerator Jury member
Follow the “remarkable journeys” Eli, Rhea, Rixy, and Mima begin as their projects move from concept to fabrication this Spring. (And if you’re in the process of crafting your own public artwork or applying for an upcoming project grant, check out our Accelerator resources!)
ELI BROWN: BEAM ME DOWN
Landing at LoPresti Park in East Boston, “Beam Me Down” reframes our understanding of climate change. The installation will center around a large “time-ship,” reminiscent of an unidentified flying object (UFO) with portholes containing fossils of local tidal animals. The sculpture, along with accompanying faux-historic plaque and sci-fi comic, will provide viewers with the story of the time-ship’s discovery and the meaning of the creatures visible in each porthole. The challenges the concept of linear time, while illustrating the wonder and curiosity in all that cannot be explained. It asks us to reconsider our relationships with some of the smallest animals who sustain life at the water’s edge and what they may be able to teach us about how to survive the extreme tidal landscape of the future.
Timeline: Design and planning will continue throughout the spring of 2022 with plans to land in June 2022, with de-installation scheduled for January 2023.
Rendering of Beam Me Down provided by the artist.
RHEA VEDRO: SAFE PASSAGE (AMULET)
Safe Passage (Amulet)alludes to possibility and protection through a bird-inspired sculpture, constructed from welded steel and concrete. The piece will be placed at an imagined portal at the meeting of land and sea along the waterfront at LoPresti Park in East Boston, offering safe passage through a shared landscape. The sculpture plays off of bird imagery, a long-running exploration in Rhea’s practice, as she sees “birds as symbolic of ascension, migration, liberation, and journeys between realms.” Rhea originally trained as a jeweler and metalsmith, and this sculpture will be her largest “magical artifact” to date. Through community workshops at the nearby Veronica Robles Cultural Center (VROCC), the public will help activate the power of the piece.
Timeline: Fabrication and community workshops will begin in the spring of 2022, with an opening scheduled for August 2022. The project will remain in place until December 2023.
Rendering of Safe Passage (Amulet) provided by the artist.
KARMIMADEEBORA MCMILLAN: MS. MERRI MACK’S JOURNEY THROUGH NUBIAN SQUARE/FROM PAIN TO POWER/UPLIFTING THE BLACK COMMUNITY.
Karmimadeebora “Mima” McMillan wants to transform historical pain into power with a 70-foot mural planned for Nubian Square titled “Ms. Merri Mack’s Journey Through Nubian Square/From Pain to Power/Uplifting the Black Community.” Ms. Merri Mack is a reoccuring character featured in some of Mima’s other work and connects this project to her ongoing academic research and desire to showcase strong, powerful Black Women voices through art. The chosen placement for the mural also honors the decades-long practice of pro-Black mural making in Boston muralists by sharing the same physical space in Blair Lot with muralists Kofi Kayiga and Stephen Hamilton (a 2018 N+T Accelerator alum). The piece will also include an augmented reality component that will connect visitors to other community artists in Nubian Square.
Sketch of Ms. Merri Mack provided by the artist.
RIXY: PA*LANTE
“Pa*Lante” is a new mural conceived by street artist Rixy, embodying the collective empowerment of feminism through the representation of a Latinx woman and her feline sidekick. This colorful and vibrant piece reflects the powerful ways women of color are moving forward and the honest journeys they navigate including combating Latin machismo. The mural is sited in Roxbury, where she grew up near Centre Street and Columbus Ave as an ode to the neighborhood’s racially and socioeconomically diverse cultures. She hopes that the accessibility of mural art will remind us that all voices deserve to be spotlighted, and she especially wants women to see the piece as a reflection of themselves.
Rendering of Pa*lante provided by the artist