North Square Art Installation Discussed at Residents’ Association Meeting

At the May 2017 North End / Waterfront Residents’ Meeting, the A+J Art+Design Team showed new renderings of the public art to be placed in North Square. The sculptures will be erected throughout the North Square renovations beginning this Summer.

Before the public art was discussed, future renovations to the square were shown. The project manager on the North Square construction, Joseph Fleury, said that design is 75% finished at the meeting. He stated that the square will remain mostly the same, but will become more accessible and “brought to twenty first century standards.”

North Square will have four bronze sculptures added that aim to represent the many stories that have happened there throughout history. Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier of A+J Art+Design walked the Residents’ Association through the four new public art pieces and their meanings. “As a way of organizing all of the different historical threads that are coming into the square, we have identified four main themes that we are focusing on,” said Angier.

Jump to the time in the video with each main theme.

Stories of Immigrants and Their Families (13:10)

A 3D map of Boston will allow people to locate themselves in the city. Hirsch stated that the map may have “identifiers in the bronze” that could connect users to a website with stories of how people’s grandparents arrived in Boston as immigrants.

Stories of Early Colonial History (14:19)

This sculpture will capture the essence of life in the earliest days of North Square. Ideally this Historical Colonial Relief will be positioned facing the Mariners House.

Stories of Maritime History (15:20)

This sculpture will be a “Nautical, celestial, navigation instrument,” said Angier. While it will be interactive, it will not be a functioning navigation instrument. It may show a story of a historic North End moment taking place in North Square. The sculpture features a small step for younger children to be able to reach the nautical instrument.

Stories of Cultural Traditions, esp. Feasts and Processions (16:29)

In this sculpture, Saint Rosalia and Madonna Della Cava will be placed inside a cave that could possibly be made with the collaboration of local school children.

For full coverage, watch the video above. Questions from NEWRA members begins at (20:25). For portfolio images and previous project descriptions by A+J Art+Design Team, see www.aandjartanddesign.com.

Though there are no final models of the sculptures as of yet, the artists are seeking input from the neighborhood for their ideas on the project. To contact A+J directly, email them at info@aandjartanddesign.com; to Karin Goodfellow, Director of the Boston Art Commission and North Square Public Art project lead, at karin.goodfellow@boston.gov; and to Maria Lanza, North End Office of Neighborhood Services representative at maria.lanza@boston.gov. Feedback and opinions can also be entered below in the comment section of this post.

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