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Self Guided Walks

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25

Event Calendar:

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Tue 02

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Sat & Sun

06 & 07

Self-Guided Design Tours -  Ongoing Throughout Boston Design Week 

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Public Art in Seaport

Damascus Gate (Stretch Variation I), 1970

by Frank Stella on Seaport Boulevard

Public Art in Boston Seaport

Artworks are free and outdoors to view indefinitely​

Visit bostonseaport.xyz/learn to access a virtual art guide on your smartphone.

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Boston Seaport’s public art program is home to both permanent and rotating installations by internationally and locally recognized artists, as well as locally designed works commissioned by its Design Seaport program. Seaport invites you to take a self-guided art tour of the neighborhood to learn more about its impressive public art program.    

Public installations currently on view: 

  • Frank Stella | Damascus Gate (Stretch Variation I), 1970, Seaport Boulevard 

  • Okuda San Miguel | Air. Sea. Land., Seaport Boulevard 

  • Just Kids | Boston is the New Boston, One Seaport Courtyard 

  • Jon Burgerman | Looking Out For Each Other, One Seaport Courtyard 

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Underground at InkBlock

Underground at Ink Block

90 Traveler Street, Boston, MA 02118 

Detailshttps://undergroundinkblock.com/about-2 

 

Underground at Ink Block located under the highway and is easily accessible using public transportation and by pedestrian pathways from both the South End and South BostonSpace is free and outdoors to enjoy indefinitely. 

 

Located under the highway between the city’s South End and South Boston neighborhoods. This urban park, cultural attraction and mixed-use parking facility is a space unlike anything seen before in this region. Underground at Ink Block is the successful transformation of an 8-acre underpass located between Boston’s South End and South Boston neighborhoods into an active urban park, cultural attraction and parking amenity. Landscaped pedestrian boardwalks and bicycle paths along the Fort Point Channel create new connections between communities previously separated by highway infrastructure. 

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Rob “ProBlak” Gibbs “Breathe Life Together” https://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/problak

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Acknowledge + Listen: Undoing Colonial Design in Massachusetts http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/acknowledge-listen

The Rose Kennedy Greenway

Atlantic Ave, Boston

Details: https://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/visit

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Curving through the heart of Boston, Greenway is 1.5 miles of wondrous sights and unforgettable experiences. The public art vision is to bring innovative and contemporary art to Boston through free, temporary exhibitions, engaging people in meaningful experiences, interactions and dialogue with art and each other.   Conservancy gives artists unique opportunities to exhibit bold, new work that considers the possibilities of 21st century Boston. This experience also includes food trucks, greenway carousel, beer & wine gardens, and water fountains.

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As a father and a long-time mentor for young people, Rob "ProBlak" Gibbs seeks to elevate the powerful voices of the Black and Brown communities in Boston. Like the neighborhoods the artists grew up in, this mural centers a beautiful young Black girl rising out of the grass, naturally and with true belonging, facing the neighborhoods which root her community, surrounded by the inspiration and culture of generations that came before her. Whether you are here as a traveler or resident, she honors and asks you to join the conversation about the past, present, and future of our communities in Boston, reminding us what we can do togetHER.

 

“Acknowledge + Listen: Undoing Colonial Design in Massachusetts,” is a Lesley public art project co-developed with community members.

Designed by Lesley College of Art and Design students, faculty and Native American advisors, the lasered birchwood sign has a circular viewfinder that gives a window to the surrounding landscape. On one side is the message “You Are Standing on Native Land,” and the other displays the federally and historically recognized sovereign Native nations and local tribes within Massachusetts. A QR code leads the viewer to the Beyond the Flag podcast, which honors the voices of Native cultural and political leaders who were advisors for “Acknowledge + Listen.”  

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deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

 Best Of All Possible Worlds, 2018 by Saul Melman

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

51 Sandy Pond Rd, Lincoln MA  

Details: https://thetrustees.org/place/decordova

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DeCordova is internationally recognized as a major venue for the exhibition and interpretation of modern and contemporary outdoor sculpture. The Sculpture Park occupies the entire campus: 30 acres of beautifully landscaped lawns, forests, fields, gardens, and terraces on a rolling site along the shore of Flint’s Pond in Lincoln, Massachusetts. There are 62 sculptures on display in the Sculpture Park. The Sculpture Park reveals to visitors a cross-section of how contemporary artists work outdoors, and how outdoor art enters into complex dialogues with sites and environmental conditions.  

Now + There

Five Marble Leaves, by Claudia Comte 

Now + There

Sites are free and outdoors to view indefinitely

Details: https://www.nowandthere.org/projects 

 

​Now + There supports artists and the public to create “bold public art experiences that open minds, conversations, and spaces across Boston, resulting in a more open, equitable, and vibrant city.” They are a public art curator challenging Boston’s cultural identity through compelling projects and artistic risks. The projects are temporary and sight-specific, hence the name. 

 

Public installations currently on view: 

  • To Each Era Its Art. To Art, Its Freedom. by Jose Dávila, located across from the New England Aquarium at 250 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA. 

  • Patterned Behavior by Silvia López Chavez, located on the Charles River Esplanade near the Mass Ave. Bridge.  

  • Breathe Life 3 by Problak (Rob Gibbs), located at 808 Tremont Street 

  • Augment by Nick Cave, located at 555 Columbia Ave  

  • Deeply Rooted in the NeighborHOOD by “Johnetta Tinker & Susan Thompson”, located 345 Blue Hill Ave in the heart of Grove Hall. 

  • Pa*Lante by Rixy, located at 301 Highland Avenue in Roxbury’s Fort Hill.

  • Five Marble Leaves, by Claudia Comte Located at 250 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA

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The Embrace

Martin Luther King Embrace Memorial

139 Tremont Street, Boston Common

For more information on Embrace Boston, the organization behind this memorial, click here: https://www.embraceboston.org

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​Boston’s newest major public art memorial is a stunning sight on the Boston Common. It’s an ode to the cultural journey of love and acceptance our city is still undertaking. The 20-foot-tall, 25-foot-wide artwork masterpiece is based off of the infamous embrace King enveloped his wife in after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Though static, the sculpture includes a digital interactive experience online. It’s the perfect stop while enjoying a relaxing stroll on the Boston Common.  (City of Boston photo.)

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Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery

580 Mt Auburn St, Cambridge

Details: https://mountauburn.org/visit/enjoy-mount-auburn/

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There are many ways to experience Mount Auburn. It is a wonderful place to walk, to push a stroller, to look for wildlife, or to enjoy a bit of tranquility. We offer printed and electronic materials to help you learn more about the Cemetery’s history, the notable people buried here, the many monuments and buildings, and our plant collections. We also offer suggestions for exploring the Cemetery with young children. 

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If your main interest in coming to Mount Auburn is to take a leisurely stroll, the Cemetery offers miles of roads and paved paths to explore. We have two designated walking paths: an inner loop of 1 mile and outer loop of 2 miles.

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Forest Hills Cemetery

Forest Hills Cemetery

95 Forest Hills Ave, Jamaica Plain, MA

Details: http://www.foresthillscemetery.com/self-guided-scholars-tour/

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​Forest Hills Cemetery is one of the finest examples of the garden cemetery in the United States. It was founded in 1848 to provide a magnificent park-like setting to bury and remember family and friends. Set among the important jewels of Greater Boston’s “Emerald Necklace”— the linked collection of parks and green spaces (the “jewels”) that ring the city — Forest Hills Cemetery is a treasure trove of natural splendor and man-made beauty. In recognition of its unique qualities, Forest Hills Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. A guide book is available on their website as you walk through the cemetery authored by cultural and design historian Elise Ciregna, PhD. 

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Good Intentions - Artist: BKFoxx

21-15 Munroe St, Lynn, Photo ©Ann Marie Casey/NBCVB

North of Boston - Murals

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Details: http://northofboston.org/murals-in-the-area/

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​The North of Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc. (NBCVB) is a private, nonprofit, membership based organization responsible for promotion of Essex County as a travel destination.  Their website hosts a treasure trove collection of more than 100 of  the region’s outdoor, walkable murals available free to the public at all times in 15 different communities.  The link above takes you to a collection of our region’s outdoor, walkable murals available free to the public at all times. We encourage you to visit different communities and experience the art and culture that North of Boston has to offer.

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Dragon House of Jamaica Plain

ONLY ONLINE TOUR AVAILABLE

Boston Preservation Alliance

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Online tour of this private home: Click Here

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Thousands and thousands of buildings line Boston’s streets. But one house is different from all the rest. It takes a bit of determination to find it. The home is perched on a cliffside in Jamaica Plain and is accessible by a nearly vertical climb up a steep hill. But it’s worth it. At the top is The Dragon House. 

 

It’s a dodecagon or twelve-sided house. However, it’s the number six that makes this house special. The home is made of three large hexagonal columns that rise three floors. Two of the columns hold rooms. The third column is an entryway with a twisting staircase that snakes through the home. Hexagons adorn the windows, appear in the floor, and surround the home. There is not a single 90-degree angle to be seen.

Take an online tour of the interior and learn more about Bob and Joan, the current stewards of this amazingly unique Boston Home.

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Your support of the Boston Preservation Alliance is greatly appreciated.  For information on how you can help visit 

https://www.bostonpreservation.org

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