Above: The public is invited to explore the “Mending” themed art exhibit at Beals Preserve this summer. If inspired, maybe you’ll also answer their call for poetry to include in this year’s collection. (images L&R cropped from installation weekend videos, center from Art on the Trails website)
Last week the 2021 Art on the Trails officially opened. As is their traditions, organizers are now putting out a call to poets to be inspired by the works.
The theme for this year’s exhibit is Mending:
art projects that bring people together and heal. Like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by joining the pieces with gold, and making the pottery stronger and more valuable in the process, artists are asked to consider how we can repair our fractured world through art and make our community and relationships stronger and more resilient.
The public is invited to explore Beals Preserve trails to enjoy the 18 exhibits (Scroll down for more details on each exhibit.)
Each year, Art on the Trails asks the public to submit ekphrastic poetry, written specifically about or inspired by the installations in the exhibition. Submissions are then reviewed and the top 25 selected for inclusion in the annual chapbook. (You can find ordering information for the 2020 chapbook here.) Poets whose work is selected will also be invited to read the poems at the closing ceremony at Beals Preserve on September 26th.
This year’s collection will be judged by Tianli Kilpatrick, editor for the Worcester Review. Submissions are being accepted now through August 8th. (Click here for the submission link.)
While organizers would love poets to experience the art in person, they do offer an alternative – viewing the videos on instagram from Installation weekend.
For those of you who are planning to hit the trails, you may want to bring a smart phone. This year, multiple exhibitors have included QR codes on their exhibit signs for a more interactive experience.
Below is the list of exhibits from the map with more detail on the artists. (For the map, click image below right or here for the pdf.)
“Monument for Healing” by Donna Conklin King (of Roseland, NJ)- “Pane #3262.1 A-G” by Nicole Harris and Karen Krolack (of Malden)
- “Wring” by Stephanie Garon (of Baltimore, MD)
- “Earth, Tree, Bowl” by Linda Hoffman (of Harvard)
- “aWays to Fathom: Worcester County Edition” by Nicole Harris and Karen Krolack (of Malden)
- “Persistance” by Paul Hackett (of Marlborough)
- “Moochhala/Views to a Restorative Self” by Nilou Moochhala (of Arlington)
- “Bound in Love” by Michele Mendelson (of Northborough)
- Stump Chair by Colby Unger (of Somerville)
- “A Sense of Time” by Shannon Astolfi (of Framingham)
- “RECOHERE” by Gab Duggan (of Greenville, North Carolina)
- “Limb Support 2021″ by Kelly Goff (of Norton)
- “Circle of Healing” by Samantha Lowe (of Waltham)
- “This is a Landview” by Todd Bartel (of Watertown)
- “Together We Mend” by Denise Johnson and the students of Margaret Neary Elementary School (of Southborough)
- “The Repair Reflex – Balance Redressed #10″ by Audrey Goldstien (of Newton)
- ”Terra-Scope” by Jay Cadwallader and Christian Borger (of Boston)
- “Swell” by Jason Peoples (of Southborough)
Art on the Trails is open dawn to dusk this summer, until the closing ceremony on September 26th from 3:00 – 5:00 pm.
