This summer Now + There welcomes three new board members, each with their expertise in the arts, finance, and entrepreneurship.
Photo by Dominic Chavez
For longtime Now + There followers, Silvia Lopez Chavez will be a familiar face. We were honored to guide her and the Esplanade Association through their first mural on the Esplanade, Patterned Behavior, in 2017 and watch her dance the whole way through it! Help us welcome this renowned artist, public art award winner and previous Advisory Board Member to the N+T Board of Directors. Silvia Lopez Chavez is a Dominican-American artist whose community-centered murals form connections across disciplines and cultural boundaries. She uses joy as an act of resistance and celebration through her vibrant murals, and her work transforms urban spaces by honoring the identity of a place and its people. Silvia is a Neighborhood Salon Luminary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and was awarded the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Leadership in Public Art award (2021). Commissions include the U.S. Chinese Embassy in Beijing, Google HQ in California, SeaWalls Boston, MIT, Harvard University, Twitter, and Northeastern University. Artist residencies include Vermont Studio Center, Haystack, and Mass MoCA. Most recent collaborations include Massachusetts Design Art & Technology Institute (DATMA) in New Bedford, MA, and The Outlaw Ocean Project in the Dominican Republic. She is a proud alumna of Altos de Chavon School of Art & Design in the Dominican Republic and Massachusetts College of Art & Design.
N+T: What are you most excited about bringing to the organization by serving on the board?
Silvia: I consider myself a Public Art Accelerator alumna before it was a thing! Now + There helped me establish my art practice as a muralist with the Charles River Esplanade Mural 'Patterned Behavior' in 2017. This project was a catalyst for providing the know-how for a successful public art project in my early stages. I'm excited to give back and share my whole self: knowledge, experience, and honest perspectives as an immigrant, Afro-Caribbean woman public artist in Boston sitting at the table.
N+T: Why are you passionate about public art, and what do you see as its impact on communities?
Silvia: Public art is free and accessible to everyone.
The idea of serendipitous encounters with art in unexpected spaces is both: powerful and magical.
Public art can bring communities together and generate a sense of pride, joy, and celebration or bring attention to cultural, socio-economic, racial, political, and environmental concerns.
N+T: What is your favorite public art installation so far this summer?
Silvia: Rob 'Problack' Gibbs ''Breathe Life Together' mural collab with HHH Design Studio on the Greenway. I loved using technology through image mapping to animate, activate and share new stories within the mural imagery. And also an ongoing multi-year public art project of artist Chip Thomas 'The Painted Desert Project' photo mural installations.
N+T: What neighborhood in Boston would you like to see represented in the public art space and why?
Silvia: East Boston. Because it is my second home, where I spend many creative hours in my studio practice, and a place at risk of losing its beautiful cultural identity due to gentrification. I believe public art can help. Not to mention it has the best views of the city!
Learn more about Silvia Lopez Chavez by following @SilviaLopezChavez on Instagram and checking out www.silvialopezchavez.com.
Banner image: Photo of Silvia Lopez Chavez’s 2017 “Patterned Behavior” on the Esplanade, (c) Above Summit