Watch art “Rising Up” on the trails this weekend

Above: Organizers of the annual art exhibit on Beals Preserve trails are inviting the public to view artists installing their works this Saturday and Sunday – in person and virtually.

This year marks the 5th time (and 4th summer running) of Art on the Trails in Southborough. This year’s exhibit along trails at the Beals Preserve is themed “Rising Up”.

While the traditional opening ceremony won’t be held, organizers are still looking to mark the opening. This year, Southborough Open Land Foundation is encouraging the public to hit the trails during the installation weekend to watch artists at work. Organizers will also be live streaming the action.

The exhibition is made possible through the support of Southborough Open Land Foundation and the Southborough Community Fund. Here is the announcement along with a couple of contributed photos:

Art Installations Schedule for June 6 and 7 for Art on the Trails at Beals Preserve in Southborough

The Southborough Open Land Foundation invites the general public to visit Beals Preserve to watch artists install their work for the 4th annual Art on the Trails on June 6 and 7, from 10 am to 5 pm each day. We will also be live streaming the process and interviewing the artists as they work. This year’s theme is Rising Up. The exhibition will take place again this year at the Elaine and Philip Beals Preserve in Southborough, Massachusetts.

A juried exhibition of sculptural installations will be on view beginning June 7th and closing on September 22th. The exhibition is juried by Hilary Zelson, artist and Cambridge Arts Public Art Administrator.

Artists exhibiting are Sarah Alexander (Hopedale), Todd Bartell (Watertown), Darcie DeAngelo (Lowell), Kevin Duffy (Arlington), Pamela Esty (Southborough), Kelly Goff (Norton), Michael Greenberg (Hopkinton), Jen Hansen (Southborough), Sara King (Bridgewater), Cecelia Lamancusa (Ashton, Maryland), Melissa Randall (Lancaster, MA), Christine Rowley (Somerville), Sarah Samways (Pawtucket, RI), and Catherine Weber (Southborough).

Art Juror Hilary Zelson said “the theme of this years exhibition, Rising Up, took on an unfortunate new meaning related to the current Coronavirus Pandemic. Each artwork in the exhibition explores the complexity of facing challenges and how we process these obstacles. DeAngleo will rope off faux minefields inspired by her time working in Cambodia where “landmines contaminate the landscape”, making an invisible enemy, visible. Samways “envisions a thicket of trees covered in mask”. Goff will install sculptures “constructed of two-inch-diameter steel pipe salvaged from a construction dumpster” and transform them into large tangled forms twisting and growing in all directions. Other artworks address environmental growth, meditation, balance, loss, community, and hope. Together, this outdoor exhibition of fourteen artists parallels our current uncertainty and ambition especially as we begin to reopen Massachusetts.”

Deborah Costine, Vice President of Southborough Open Land Foundation (SOLF) said, “SOLF is again pleased to host Art on the Trails at Elaine and Phillip Beals Preserve. In this year of the Global Pandemic of Covid-19, people have been required to stay home. Since this can cause feelings of isolation and even depression, many quickly found themselves seeking the wonderful healing balm of nature. Art on the Trails has already connected people to nature who might not have otherwise sought it out and now they return to Beals Preserve when they particularly need to feel uplifted. This new season of Art on the Trails with its theme of “Rising Up” when facing adversity is particularly appropriate.”

In addition to the installations, the program will include poetry written in response to the work and will be juried by Route 7 Press founder, poet, and Westborough resident Maura Snell. A prize winning poem will be selected from submissions by Tianli Kilpatrick, editor of the Worcester Review.

Learn more about this event at www.artonthetrails.com or by contacting Catherine Weber at cweber@artonthetrails.com or 508-523-3605.

A post on the website clarifies that the live videos will be posted to the website. As for what you may see, below are examples from Weber’s posts in 2017 of artists working on installing their art:

   

Click here to follow Art on the Trails on Facebook. 

Updated (6/1/20 10:39 am): I forgot to include a map for the trails and parking. Click here.

Updated (6/5/20 3:19 pm): Organizers released a map detailing the location of this year’s exhibits. Click here.