"People, Plants & Revolution" Public Art Banners and Audio Tour
When:
Friday, Apr 04, 2025 12:00a -
Saturday, May 31, 2025 11:30p
Friday, Apr 04, 2025 12:00a -
Saturday, May 31, 2025 11:30p
Where:
Mass Avenue Arlington
730 Massachusetts Ave
Arlington, MA 02476
Admission:
FREE
Hosted by:
Categories:
Art, History, Kid Friendly, Outside
Event website:
https://artsarlington.org/plants-and-people/
April 4 to May 31, 2025
Public Art: Commemorative Banners and Audio Tour
Arlington Center, outside along Mass Avenue
People, Plants & Revolution is the theme for a series of colorful banners and an audio tour commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in Arlington, MA. Organized by ArtsArlington, the banners portray the landscape elements and important plants that shaped life in 1775 in Menotomy, as the town was known at the time, a colonial farming village. Learn more about these plants and how people lived, interwoven with revolutionary history, by listening to the audio tour – available anytime and anywhere at www.PlantStories.us. The original silkscreen art used to make the banners is on view at 13FOREST Gallery (through May 23) and the Old Schwamb Mill (through May 31). See versions of the banners up close at Robbins Memorial Town Hall (through September 6) on the second floor. All of the banners and text versions of the audio tour are available at https://artsarlington.org/plants-and-people/.
About the Artists
ArtsArlington’s Public Art Curator Cecily Miller invited artists Suzanne Moseley and Liz Shepherd to design commemorative banners; they were assisted by Lily McDonald and Andrew Palladino.
Suzanne Moseley is an experimental artist, working in printmaking, cyanotype and sculptural formats. She often collaborates, recently with co-artist Liz Shepherd. Her work is in private collections, is often grant-funded and has been exhibited in the US and abroad. Her sculptures from repurposed materials, created with fellow artist Adrienne Shishko, have been featured in Fiber Art Now, The Boston Globe, and New Visionary Magazine. Her ability to work collaboratively garners its own attention, with invitations to discuss her experience, most recently at Berklee College of Music, Harvard Art Museum’s Maker Space and for an upcoming program on Newton Cable News.
Liz Shepherd produces large-scale sculptural installations, which bring to mind ideas about the earthly and the divine. She uses printmaking to enhance objects made of wood or paper. She also produces small, hand-pulled print editions. In the past 15 years she has exhibited in the United States and internationally. Shepherd’s work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Edinburgh College of Art, Syracuse University, Boston Children’s Hospital, the Hanoi (Vietnam) Contemporary Art Centre and the Bernard Zuckerman Museum of Art in Kennesaw, Georgia as well as numerous corporate and private collections. Originally from New York City, Shepherd now lives in Boston. She received her MFA in 2006 from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, which awarded her the prestigious Traveling Fellowship in 2015.
About the Audio Producer
Molly Edwards, Ph.D. produced the audio tour portion of this project. Dr. Edwards is a plant biologist turned science communicator who goes by Science IRL (‘in real life’) online. She is dedicated to telling stories that showcase the humanity and joy of being a scientist and foster a sense of belonging in STEM. In 2022 she received her Ph.D. from Harvard University, where she studied the wild and wonderful petals of columbine flowers. During graduate school she realized her science video hobby was quickly becoming a passion project that would shape her future career. Upon graduating she founded Science IRL Productions and now works with scientists and artists to bring STEM stories to life through digital media.
About ArtsArlington
The Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture – ArtsArlington for short – serves as the umbrella organization for all town-related arts and culture activities. Our mission is to cultivate a sustainable and supportive environment for the arts, enliven public space with accessible creative experiences to strengthen and enrich our community, create opportunities for artists, and invigorate the local economy. Our Public Art Curator, Cecily Miller, organized four projects to commemorate Arlington250 including these commemorative banners as well as work by Nilou Moochhala, Christopher Frost, Asia Kepka, and the fiber artists of Princeton Sankofa Stitchers Modern Quilting Guild. See https://artsarlington.org
