By Alana Dore, News Correspondent
Throughout August and September Roxbury’s Dudley Square has been invigorated with the creative talent of local artists. If you’ve been to the Dudley Square Station recently you may have noticed some added color or caught a glimpse of pop-up performance art. These performance art pieces and temporary public installations are part of Pop Up Dudley Connections, an initiative by the Boston Art Commission to draw attention to the area and the changes coming to Roxbury.
“The goal of the installation is to celebrate the art and artists in the Boston area,” Karen Goodfellow, Director of the Boston Art Commission said.
Artists throughout the city were asked to enter art pieces that would create a connection between people and their communities. With the theme of community in mind, artists could each send their own messages to the Roxbury area and the city at large. “What we really want is to put the artists forth to send those messages,” Goodfellow said.
The most recent addition to Pop Up Dudley Connections is a mural of Nelson Mandela located at the intersection of Clifford and Warren Streets. Painted on an abandoned store front by Richard Gomes, who goes by the street-art name Deme5, and Thomas “Kwest” Burnes, the mural was created using spray paint. The South African President’s figure is framed by the words “Roxbury Love” spreading his positive message to the community.
Art pieces like this one will continue to crop up in Roxbury. The Boston Art Commission is working with other artists to promote a permanent installation inside the new Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, currently under renovation in Dudley Square.
Pop Up Dudley Connections may be comprised of temporary and performance art pieces in the square, but that is not all the Boston Art Commission has planned for the area. Goodfellow divulged that three permanent art pieces are slated to go in the new Bolling Municipal building. The upcoming permanent installations will include one large wall piece, an outdoor sculpture and an interior acoustic panel.
The large wall piece, named Roxbury Rhapsody, is being designed and created by Boston artist Napoleon Jones-Henderson.
The mural, “made primarily of large sheets of copper and vibrant enamels,” according to the Boston Art Commission website, is set to hang 28 feet in the Municipal building. The outdoor sculpture, called Crisscross Signal Spire, is being created by international candidate, Meejin Yoon. The sculpture is set to stand at a towering 40 feet and the design will “incorporate LED lights and respond directly to a hashtag message.”
Lastly, Boston Public Schools student Clarita Stephens is designing the large acoustic paneling, with help from artist James Hobin. Clarita’s hand-painted designs are being transferred into fabric paneling in a piece entitled, Intricate, and will be visible from outside the building.
As the renovations to the Municipal building come into their final year and the permanent installations finalize designs, Pop Up Dudley Connections provides Roxbury and the rest of Boston with a taste of what’s to come. The Boston Art Commission, in conjunction with Dudley Square Main Streets, Discover Roxbury, Boston Public Library and other local organizations, are encouraging local artists to continue making art for the community.
“Different projects all have their own individual messages,” Goodfellow said. “I think the most important part of [the project] is to have the artists come forth and to give them the opportunity to create and share those messages.”
So, if you’re looking to get to know the areas around Northeastern’s campus, take a walk down Ruggles Street, turn right onto Washington and see change in the making. The last of the murals for Pop Up Dudley Connections, Portrait of Malcolm X by Alejandro Pinto, is in the works; find it at 2201 Washington St.
Photo courtesy Tim Sackton, Creative Commons.
