Public & Visual Art
Connecting Community to Environmental Issues though Art
In collaboration with our sister programs at The Umbrella, visiting/juried artists and our community create art in public spaces and gallery exhbitions to encourage community engagement, reflection and interaction.
Some of Our Recent Public Art and Gallery Exhibitions and Collaborations Have Included:
Art Ramble
Partnering with the Concord Division of Natural Resources, this annual collaborative project celebrates all the arts -- sculpture, poetry, dance, and dramatic readings encourage the intersection of art, nature, and community in a historic natural setting.These seasonal exhibtions take place in the Hapgood Wright Town Forest.
Sustainable Solutions: Documentary Photographers Explore the Climate Crisis
July 5 – through July 31, 2022 - The Umbrella Arts & Environment and The Umbrella Arts gallery programs, in partnership with the Concord, MA-based Social Documentary Network/ZEKE Magazine, present an exciting new exhibition of world-class documentary photography emphasizing long-term sustainable solutions to the climate crisis.
Annual Earth Month Exhibit
Annual, non-juried multi-media exhibit at The Umbrella Arts Gallery, 40 Stow Street extends the annual thematic exploration surrounding our annual Earth Day Parade and Festivals
Go Out Doors: Neighbors
A new and growing extension of the Go Out Doors exhibition, Go Out Doors - Neighbors expands the original concept of artfully decorated doors in public spaces to connect neighboring towns, trails, and parks all across the region.
"Change is in the Air" Art Walk
Part of The Umbrella's spring 2021 Artfest, this self-guided exhibition features outdoor, air-inspired artwork by regional artists that engages the element of Air -- whether banner, windchime, pinwheel, or any other creative forms -- installed in Concord Conservation Land sites townwide.
Go Out Doors 2020
An exhibition of doors painted by nine artists and installed on the West Concord section of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, inspired by the En Plein Air installation on NYC’s High Line, encourages healthful outdoors activity and provides inspiration, whimsy, irony, reflection, connection, curiosity, spirituality, and joy.
"Oh Go Ahead": Recycled Sculpture @ Millbrook Tarry
Artist and architect William Turville's annual sculptural event at Concord's DropOff SwapOff may have been canceled for the pandemic, but our friends at Concord Market and Trail's End invited him to create another giant, whimsical work of recycled art -- this time with naming help from our local and extended virtual community.
Earth Press Project: Witness
As part of a new Artist-in-Residency program with Minute Man National Historic Park, Earth Press Project: Witness is a site-specific, public engagement, environmental project imprinting words from communities across America representing a declaration of witnessing change. We are excited to collaborate with the team at MMNHP who believe that art can carry our stories, and is a powerful tool to bridge our past with our future. Looking forward to seeing how YOU and the public responds to the question "What change would you like to witness today as inspired by or in response to the events that took place on this historical landscape?"
Art & Agriculture: Four Seasons on Concord Farms
This 2016 year-long collaborative project between the Concord Agriculture Committee and the Arts & Environment Program brought local farms to forefront. Eleven juried artists were matched with 13 farms to follow the seasonal cycles of farm life and work. Each artist submitted at least one piece for each season for a three-month show in The Umbrella Gallery.
“ I am not a performer but occasionally I deliberately work in a public context. Some sculptures need the movement of people around them to work.”
-- Andy Goldsworthy
For more Visual Art exhibitions and collaborations, also see The Umbrella Arts Gallery section
