Now + There Accelerator Artists, past and present, are having a moment.
A big moment that we at Now + There are relishing as we remember them early in their careers, navigating the city as aspiring public artists with bold artistic vision and promise. We’re proud to see them flourishing and grateful for the early support for the Public Art Accelerator by Joyce Linde, who is joined by Audrey and Jim Foster, and the NEA.
This year, Now + There artist Cicely Carew and former Accelerator artist Yu-Wen Wu were awarded the coveted James and Audrey Foster Prize, a biennial award from the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) where the two artists now have noteworthy works on view through Jan. 2. Their works won high praise recently in a review by The Boston Globe art critic Murray Whyte.
Whyte sees these artists as emblematic of creativity emerging from the studios and neighborhoods around Boston. “The ICA’s prize and efforts like it break down the myth that art worth knowing only comes from elsewhere and help tell a different story: of a city thriving with talent, much of it yet to be discovered. Previous Foster Prizes have helped nudge careers forward,” Whyte writes.
Rixy and Gabriel Sosa at WGBH’s The Makers event
That is true of other Now + There Accelerator artists who have gone on to win the prize too. Eben Haines - a 2021 Foster Prize winner and current Accelerator artist - has a new installation, Tide House, now on view in Menino Park in Charlestown, a statement piece on affordable housing and climate change crises in Boston. Stephen Hamilton, a 2017 Foster Prize winner and past Accelerator artist, is working on a public artwork for Roxbury Community College.
Two other past Accelerator artists, Rixy and Gabriel Sosa, were also recently celebrated as “10 artists of color whose careers are on the rise and whose work you should know” as WBUR’s The Makers 2023.
“My participation in the Now + There Accelerator Program was very influential to me,” said Gabriel Sosa. “Over the last few years, working in public spaces has become a pillar of my art practice, and my Accelerator project was a transformative part of that.”
2019 Accelerator alum Samantha Fields harnessed the tools she gained from her cohort experience to give life to Cloth Collaborative Studio and Workshop—an innovative art-making hub offering textile-based courses, intensive project workshops, and open studio opportunities for artists. Inspired by her 2019 Accelerator Project desires not even our own, Sam spearheaded this creative space, which officially opened its doors in 2022. Since her participation in the Accelerator program, Sam has achieved remarkable success, including solo exhibitions, active participation in numerous group showcases, not to mention her showstopping collaborative piece Stay for Lot Lab.
“In the Now and There cohort and through creating the Desires piece, I learned so many practical things; budgeting, taxes, how to organize people, how to organize a project, and how to create language around the work,” said Samantha Fields.
Inaugural Accelerator cohort member Ryan Edwards, who brought us HD • BPM in 2018, has been busy at work with his team at MASARY Studios. Since the Accelerator program, they’ve had pieces featured in collections with the City of Boston and the Museum of Science, and now they’re working on a project in Mexico City.
“The Accelerator program is markedly different than any other residency or grant program I have been a part of or known,” said Ryan Edwards. “It prepares an established artist to make more meaningful work in more vulnerable ways seen by more folks in places not often designed for art. For all that I have benefited deeply. I believe I, and in turn my studio-mates, are better-suited to participate in Boston’s public art-making for it all.”
These highlights, elevating much-deserving artists with vigorous new viewpoints and life experiences, reinforce what Now + There sets out to do with the Accelerator program. Aimed at developing early-to-mid-career Boston area artists to create thought-provoking projects for neighborhoods throughout the city, the program gives each artist $25,000 and a year of training to conceptualize, design, permit, and site the temporary works.
Right now, Krystle Brown, a Salem-based multi-media artist, has Slan Abhaile/Safe Home, a community-focused, memory-driven shelter in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood to call attention to the city’s ongoing house crisis for working-class residents. Tanya Nixon-Silberg created They Did Not Know We Were Seeds to celebrate Black Joy at the Parker Hill Branch of the Boston Public Library in Roxbury. Eben Haines had a show at 13Forest Gallery called “Little Light,” with a solo show opening this spring at the Trustman Gallery at Simmons College. And Ponnapa Prakkamakul designed the colorful and history-connected Joyful Stitch for the Leather District.
Tanya at They Didn’t Know They Were Seeds (c) Faith Ninivaggi
Tanya Nixon-Silberg has been actively engaged in various creative and healing activities since the launch of her installation. In particular, the Indigo Dye Circle, co-facilitated with Vernee Wilkinson and Laura Everett of Mending Church, is uniting women from across the city to explore the multi-layered healing potential of indigo dyeing. This intricate process beautifully embodies the project's core objectives: connection, healing, and joy for - and with - other Black women.
“Having a piece of real estate in Boston devoted to Black women healing means the world to me and to so many women that have been on this journey,” said Tanya. “Having the platform of Now + There Accelerator has in many ways helped me situate myself as an artist. I am more confident that I belong in the spaces that bring me joy and I can bring so many people along beside me in my artistry.”
And, the next generation of Accelerator Artists is bringing a whole new sense of urgency and talent to the city. Here is what the next Cohort 6 has coming:
Sarah Brophy will take spectators on a visual journey, examining the relationship between the digital realm and the natural world, exploring what's lost and gained as we transition between tangible existence and the digital frontier.
With the streets of Mattapan and Dorchester as his canvas, Jeremy ‘Sobek’ Harrison plans to magnify the powerful narrative of graffiti. His large-scale murals will combine the vibrancy of abstract realism with the raw energy of street art, celebrating the city's urban pulse.
Michael Berthaud is set to break the boundaries of traditional gaming. Merging the principles of game design with public art, Berthaud's installations will turn Boston’s public spaces into interactive gaming realms, offering both entertainment and profound cultural reflection.
Drawing from the Queer and Deaf experience, Nelly Kate will introduce Boston to the world of inaudible sounds. Her projects, ranging from sonic visualizations to 'sound prints', will redefine public interactions with sound, adding depth to the city's sensory experiences.
Imagine a city transformed by public art, neighborhood to neighborhood. It’s an exciting time for Now + There’s Accelerator Artists.