Lush and ethereal

Commissioned by Boston Properties and curated and produced by Now +There, Ambrosia was on view at the Prudential Center from March through August 2021. For the first time with Ambrosia, Cambridge, MA-based artist Cicely Carew moved her lush, mixed-media paintings off the canvas and to astral heights. Colorful, ethereal forms sculpted of everyday materials burst throughout one of Boston’s most iconic public spaces, building not only moments of awe, but a shared experience of transformative, radical joy.

Photos by Caitlin Cunningham.

Project Notes

Cicely Carew spent her formative years in Los Angeles surrounded by artists, writers, sculptors, photographers, and teachers. She moved to Boston for her undergraduate degree at MassArt, and after stints in Mexico and on the West Coast, returned for her MFA at Lesley Art + Design in Cambridge, MA. Exuberant in its colorful forms, Carew's work is, in her words, about "about radical joy and liberation."  

Carew has received several honors and grants over the years, such as the Cambridge Art Association's Emerging Artist's Exhibition award, the Sustainable Arts Foundation award, Strauch-Mosse Merit Scholarship Award, and a Cambridge Arts Council grant. Carew's work is in private, corporate, and University collections. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA, with her son.

Museum Open House Ambrosia, April 28, 2021

GBH Arts This Week, April 2, 2021

“The Prudential Center hosts a vibrant, new public art installation by Cambridge artist Cicely Carew. Visitors to the Pru needn’t do much more than slow down and look up to take in Carew’s “Ambrosia,” a series of abstracted, floral-inspired sculptures that hang throughout the building’s thoroughfares. Titled after the mythical nectar of the gods, the installation and its series of suspended sculptures Carew calls “floral tonics in the sky,” were inspired by the artist’s own fascination with plants and their healing properties.”

“I was thinking about this as an offering,” says Carew. “An offering to humanity, an offering to life, an offering to whoever comes across it. It’s a celebration.”

Bay State Banner, Looking Up, Breathing Out: ‘Ambrosia’ brings nature and harmony to the Pru, April 1, 2021

WBGH In It Together: Pandemic Public Art, March 29, 2021

Arun Rath speaks with Cicely Carew, the Cambridge artist behind 'Ambrosia,' a huge hanging art installation in the atrium of the Prudential Center that's inspired by the concept of healing amid the pandemic.

Boston Globe: Artist behind Pru installation wants everyone to ‘look up’, March 23, 2021

“During the winter months, we’re used to looking down and walking very quickly just to one point to another,” said Carew, who unveiled “Ambrosia” Monday at the Pru. “I’m hoping [this installation] reminds people just to look up, look to the light and remember that we’re underneath this giant blanket of possibility.”

WBUR ARTery: At The Prudential Center, A New Public Art Installation Aims To Inspire Joy, March 12, 2021

“Carew hopes that passersby at the Prudential take a moment to stop and be with the work. When developing “Ambrosia,” she focused on “transcending from the idea of separation to oneness,” she explains. “If I could cast a spell on everybody, that would be the thing…unity consciousness. You go into the space…and you feel that you are part of everything and everyone."

“Boston Properties is pleased to once again partner with Now + There in the curation of artist Cicely Carew’s Ambrosia at Prudential Center. Through Ambrosia, we embrace the healing properties of art and bring a sense of revival, positivity, and energy to all visitors during these unprecedented times. We are proud to showcase Cicely’s work within Prudential Center, known by many as the ‘Beacon of Boston,’ and continue to provide Prudential Center as a canvas for emerging artists to use as an innovative medium to draw attention to important current events and social issues.”

— Bryan Koop, Executive Vice President, Boston Region for Boston Properties

And a special thanks to our friends at BRM Production Management, for all their hard work bringing this project to life, and to Boston-based graphic designer and artist Ayana Mack, who created the beautiful onsite signage for the installation.

Header photos by Caitlin Cunningham, “About the Artist” header by Mark Teiwes.