2018 -2020
Rockland, MA
Lead artist, with support from MAPC’s Arts and Culture Team

Participatory art was used to recall stories and inspire new thinking to revitalize the downtown area. As Artist in Residence for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), I worked with REiMAGINE ROCKLAND and as a team with Annis Sengupta, Senior Arts and Culture Planner to develop a creative placemaking project to engage the community in a downtown revitalization effort. To recall the town’s history of shoe manufacturing, the concept and design for an art cart emerged, modeled after a shoeshine cart. At the art cart, residents and visitors highlighted valued downtown places on a map, and created unique watercolor footprints. Click here to visit the MAPC website for more information!

Some footprints were turned into stencils and painted on the sidewalks at Rockland’s favorite places. Some footprints were hung in an empty storefront window with the help of Rockland High School Students.

The second phase as part of this project is to create sculptural seating that incorporates the shoeprints as markings on butterfly forms. A group of youth from Images, the student publication of arts and writing, put out an open schoolwide call for poetry and selected and organized submissions. Poems responded to thoughts/themes on transformation. Some works in progress: