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Beautiful artwork can inspire great stories. Write and illustrate your own story inspired by the artwork you find during your visit to the ICA or in the online collection at www.icaboston.org/collection. Use the artwork as a source of inspiration for your story. 
 

Materials:

 

Icon of a pencil

Pencil

Paper icon.

Paper

Icon of a handphone.

If exploring virtually, access to www.icaboston.org/collection 

 

Instructions:

If exploring virtually, browse ICA collection artworks. If at the ICA, explore the galleries. Have a question about an artwork? Ask a Visitor Assistant in the galleries!

Using the Story-making Prompts, choose artworks that will help inspire your story and make a quick sketch of each of the artworks you choose in the table to the right.

Using the artworks from your exploration as inspiration, write your short story. 
 

 

Story-making Prompt 

Example 

Which artwork will you choose? Create a sketch of your chosen piece. 
Who or what is your main character? Choose one artwork to inspire who the main character of your story is. 

A sculpture composed of a colorful costume covering the body of a mannequin a chandelier-like headpiece decorated with ceramic birds and strings of beads.

“Nick Cave’s figure in Soundsuit (2009) is the inspiration for the main character for my story.” 

 
Where is your main character? Choose one artwork to inspire the setting of the beginning of your story. 

A video still of a stack of sugar cubes covered in dark oil on a silver plate.

“My character will travel through Kader Attia’s video piece Oil and Sugar #2 (2007).”
Where is your character going? Choose one artwork to inspire a journey your character will take.

A watercolor of a five-headed hydra eating avatars of the artist surrounded by other avatars.

“My character will meet the figures from Ambreen Butt’s mixed media piece Multiplicité, from the series Cirque du Mond (2007) during their journey.” 
Your character may come across an obstacle or face a problem along their journey. Choose one artwork to inspire the obstacle or problem. 

A long, bright green photograph that attaches to the wall and extends onto the floor to look like a green screen backdrop.

“Together, they will enter a new world through a green portal, as inspired by Liz Deschenes’ Green Screen #4 (200½016).”
How does your character handle the obstacle or solve the problem? Choose one artwork to inspire the resolution and ending of your story

An abstract, mixed media work comprised of geometric sections with various colorful patterns attached together to make an irregular shape.

“My characters will create a new world full of different colors and patterns, inspired by Ruth Root’s artwork Untitled (2016).”

 

Create an illustration for your story, using your sketches as reference.

Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab or email us your photos at familyprograms@icaboston.org. 

 

Artwork credits:

Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2009. Mixed media, 97 × 26 × 20 inches (246.4 × 66 × 50.8 cm). Gift of Steve Corkin and Dan Maddalena. Photo by James Prinz Photography. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. © Nick Cave

Kader Attia, Oil and Sugar #2 (still), 2007. Single-channel video (color, sound; 4:30 minutes). Gift of James and Audrey Foster. Tate Modern, London. Purcahsed using funds provided by the Middle East North Africa Acquisitions Committee 2010. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne and Berlin; and Lehmann Maupin, New York, and Hong Kong. © Kader Attia

Ambreen Butt, Multiplicité, from the series Cirque du Monde, 2007. Watercolor, white gouache and thread on Mylar, and handmade paper, 15 × 12 inches (38.1 × 30.5 cm). Promised gift of James and Audrey Foster. Courtesy the artist. © Ambreen Butt

Liz Deschenes, Green Screen #4, 200½016. Double-laminated inkjet print on Duratrans, 183 × 71 inches (464.8 × 180.3 cm). Acquired through the generosity of Erica Gervais and Ted Pappendick. Installation view, Blue Screen Process, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, 2001. Courtesy the artist and Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York. © Liz Deschenes

Ruth Root, Untitled, 2016. Plexiglas, fabric, enamel, and spray paint, 94 ¾ × 48 inches (241 × 122 cm). Gift of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York; Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Funds, 2018. Courtesy the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. © Ruth Root

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I’m a worrier. Are you a worrier too? This art project can help us honor and soothe our anxieties, and transform them into a visual reminder of our own resilience.

NOTE: This activity includes one blunt sewing needle and small beads.

Suelo preocuparme mucho. ¿Eres tam-bién de esas personas que se preocu-pan mucho? Este proyecto de arte puede ayudarnos a respetar y aliviar nuestras ansiedades, y transformarlas en un recordatorio visual de nuestra propia resiliencia.

NOTA: Esta actividad incluye una aguja de coser roma y cuentas pequeñas.
 

Materials/Materiales:

Icon of pen and papers.

Paper and something to write with
Papel y algo para escribir

Icon of two dowel sticks.

2 dowels
2 pasadores

Icon of elastic string.

String
Hilo

A needle icon.

Blunt sewing needle
Aguja de coser roma

Icon of three circular beads.

Beads
Cuentas

Roll of tape icon.

Tape
Cinta adhesiva

    

Instructions / Instrucciones:

1. On a piece of paper, write down or draw all of your worries. What is weighing on you? In the dark, where does your mind go?

2. Using a writing utensil, scribble out all of your worries. Rip up the paper and crumple the pieces into balls. Let this feel good.

1. En una hoja de papel, escribe o dibuja todas tus preocupaciones. ¿Qué te causa pesar? En la oscuridad, ¿hacia dónde se dirige tu mente?

2. Con un utensilio para escribir, anota rápida-mente todas tus preocupaciones. Rompe el papel en pedazos y arrúgalos, formando bolas. Permite que esto te haga sentir bien.

 

Three panels: Left-most shows hands ripping apart paper filled with handwriting, center panel shows balled up pieces of ripped paper, right-most panel shows balled up paper, beads, and needle with string.

 

3. Create a frame for your mobile. Tie one end of your string around the middle of one dowel and secure with a knot. Hold the two dowels in an “X” shape and wrap the string around the middle of the “X”, then tie a knot to secure the frame of the mobile. Leave enough length of string to hang your mobile, then cut o! the extra string to use in step

4. Using a needle and thread, create four garlands of worry paper. Thread the needle, then string a bead and tie it into place. Spear a piece of worry paper by carefully pushing the needle and thread from one side of the crumbled ball to the other. Repeat until you’ve “lled up the string, making sure to leave some room between the sections.

3. Crea un marco para el móvil. Ata un extremo del hilo alrededor del medio de un pasador y haz un nudo para que quede “rme. Sostén los dos pasadores en una forma de «X» y envuelve el medio de la «X» con el hilo, luego haz un nudo para que el marco del móvil quede “rme. Deja hilo su”ciente para colgar el móvil, luego corta el hilo que sobre para usarlo en el pas

4. Con aguja e hilo, crea cuatro guirnaldas con el papel de las preocupaciones. Enhebra la aguja, luego ensarta una cuenta y átala para que quede en su lugar. Atraviesa un pedazo de papel de las preocupaciones, empujando cuidadosamente la aguja y la cuenta de un lado al otro de la bola arrugada. Repite este paso hasta que hayas llenado el hilo, y asegúrate de dejar algo de espacio entre las secciones.

 

Three panels: Left-most shows hands threading a bead, center panel shows hands threading balled up paper, right-most panel shows three balled up papers threaded along a string.

 

5. Tie one garland to each of the four corners of your dowel frame. If you have tape you can also use it to help attach your garlands.

6. Hang your Worrymobile up next to an open window. Let it be a reminder of your bound-less capacity for transformation.

5. Ata una guirnalda a cada una de las cuatro esquinas del marco que hiciste con los pasadores. Si tienes cinta adhesiva, puedes usarla para sujetar mejor las guirnaldas.

6. Cuelga el móvil de las preocupaciones cerca de una ventana abierta. Permite que sea un recordatorio de tu capacidad in”nita de transformación.

 

Three panels: Left-most shows hands taping string with balled up paper to popsicle sticks, center panel shows four strings of balled up paper attacked to different ends of two attached popsicle sticks, and right-most panel shows the mobile of strung up paper balls hanging down, suspended by string.

 

Lily Xie is a Chinese-American artist, educator, and researcher whose socially engaged work explores radical imagination, reimagined histories, and other routes to collective resilience. Lily uses strategies adapted from her drawing and bookmaking practices as tools for community empowerment and justice. She lives in Jamaica Plain, MA.

 Lily Xie es una artista, educadora e investigadora chino-estadounidense que explora la imaginación radical, las historias que se vuelven a imaginar y otros caminos hacia la resiliencia colectiva. Lily aplica las estrategias adaptadas a partir de sus prácticas de dibujo y creación de libros como herramientas de empoderamiento y justicia para la comunidad. Reside en Jamaica Plain, MA.

 

Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab

Comparte tu experiencia en redes sociales con #ICAartlab

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In creating these postcards, artist Gabriel Sosa was inspired by an issue of Coqueta, a pop culture magazine published in Miami in the 1980s, that his grandmother had saved. In these difficult times, the colorful and playful aesthetic of showbiz gossip allows us to disconnect from reality for a while. Sosa converts that same aesthetic into postcards that invite us to reconnect with our loved ones.

Para crear estas postales, el artista Gabriel Sosa se inspiró en un ejemplar de Coqueta, una revista de cultura popular publicada en Miami en los años 80, que su abuela había guardado. En estos tiempos difíciles, la lúdica y colorida estética de la farándula nos ayuda a desconectarnos de la realidad un rato. Sosa convierte esa misma estética en postales que nos invitan a volver a conectarnos con nuestros seres queridos.

Materials/Materiales:

Icon of pencil and pen.

Writing materials
Materiales para escribir

Icon of stack of postcards.

Postcards
Postales

    

Instructions / Instrucciones:

  1. Reflect on some news, a fond memory, some gossip, a surprise, or a hope for the future.
  2. Think about someone that you want to share these things with.
  3. Write a postcard to that person.
  4. Mail the postcard. They are already stamped and ready to be sent.
  1. Refleja sobre alguna novedad, un recuerdo lindo, un chisme, una sorpresa, o una esperanza para el futuro.
  2. Piensa en alguien con quien quieres compartir estas cosas.
  3. Escribe una postal a esta persona.
  4. Envía la postal. Estas postales ya llevan sellos

 

Gabriel Sosa is a Cuban-American artist and linguist based in Boston whose work explores the power of language and memory.

 Gabriel Sosa es un artista y lingüista cubano-americano radicado en Boston cuya obra explora el poder del lenguaje y la memoria.

 

Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab

Comparte tu experiencia en redes sociales con #ICAartlab

 


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Use the step-by-step instructional card to perform the break-dancing move called “The Wave.” Break-dancing or B-boying is one of the five elements of Hip-Hop and started in the late 1970s. The movement was created by young Black and Hispanic kids in New York City. This creative movement has grown strong and has spread all over the world. The wave is a part of a type of break-dancing called popping and locking, which started in California in the early 80s. Practice the movements of the wave until you master it, then teach friends and family!

Usa esta tarjeta de instrucciones para hacer el movimiento de break dance llamado “La ola.” El break dance o B-boying es uno de los cinco elemen-tos del hip hop y comenzó a finales de los setenta. El movimiento fue creado por los jóvenes negros e hispanos de la ciudad de Nueva York. Este movimiento creativo cobró fuerza y se divulgó en todo el mundo. La ola es parte de un tipo de break dance llamado popping and locking, que comenzó en California a inicios de los ochenta. ¡Practica los movimientos de la ola hasta que los domines y después enséñaselos a tus amigos y familiares!

Instructions / Instrucciones:

  1. First hold your right arm out straight and par-allel with the ground. Bend your hand up as if you were going to say goodbye to someone. Your left arm should be relaxed at the side of your body, DO NOT MOVE IT!
  2. Next, snap your wrist down, as if you were saying goodbye.
  3. Next, snap your right elbow up towards the ceiling. Remember not to move your left arm.
  4. Next, snap your right shoulder towards your face almost touching your face. Remember not to move your left arm.
  5. Next move your head toward your left shoulder. Then lower your right shoulder and raise your left shoulder with a snap. Now lower your right arm and keep it completely still.
  6. Next, raise your left arm up, mirroring the motion you just made with your right arm in a snapping motion. Remember to now keep your right arm completely still.
  7. Next, ball your hand up as if you were going to be knocking on a door. Remember to now keep your right arm completely still.
  8. Next, straighten out your hand as if you were balancing a ball on top of your hand. Remember to now keep your right arm completely still.
  9. Practice these movements until they become fluid. Share and teach your new move with family and friends!
  1. Primero mantén el brazo derecho extendido y paralelo al suelo. Flexiona la mano hacia arriba como si fueras a despedirte de alguien. Debes dejar el brazo izquierdo relajado al costado del cuerpo. ¡NO LO MUEVAS!
  2. A continuación, quiebra la muñeca hacia abajo, como si estuvieras despidiéndote.
  3. A continuación, quiebra el codo derecho hacia arriba, hacia el techo. Recuerda no mover el brazo izquierdo.
  4. A continuación, quiebra el codo derecho hacia la cara, casi como si quisieras tocarla. Recuerda no mover el brazo izquierdo.
  5. A continuación, mueve la cabeza hacia el hombro izquierdo. Luego baja el hombro izquierdo y levanta el hombro izquierdo con un quiebre. Ahora baja el hombro derecho y mantenlo completamente quieto.
  6. A continuación, levanta el hombro izquierdo, imitando el movimiento que recién hiciste con el hombro derecho en un movimiento de quebrarse. Recuerda ahora mantener el hombro derecho completamente quieto.
  7. A continuación, cierra el puño con la mano hacia arriba como si fueras a tocar una puerta. Recuerda ahora mantener el hombro derecho completamente quieto.
  8. A continuación, estira la mano como si estuvieras sosteniendo en equilibrio una pelota sobre la palma de la mano. Recuerda ahora mantener el hombro derecho comple-tamente quieto.
  9. Practica estos movimientos hasta que te salgan de manera natural. ¡Comparte y enséñales tu movimiento nuevo a familiares y amigos!

 

Cedric “Vise1” Douglas is a Boston-based artist and designer who uses his art to explore social issues in the world. Inspired by hip-hop culture, he integrates graffiti ideology into design and public art. His work is inspired by everyday life idioms and the subculture of guerilla, or street art.

 Cedric “Vise1” Douglas es un artista y diseñador con sede en Boston que recurre al arte para explorar las problemáticas sociales en el mundo. Inspirándose en la cultura del hip hop, Cedric integra la ideología del grafiti en el diseño y el arte público. Su obra se inspira en el lenguaje de la vida cotidiana y en la subcultura de la guerrilla o el arte callejero.

 

Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab

Comparte tu obra de arte en las redes sociales con #ICAartlab

 

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Create a tiny masterpiece and mail it to someone you care about to brighten their day. Paint, color, stitch, sticker, collage…be brave and try something new! This is guaranteed to lift spirits.

NOTE: This activity includes one blunt sewing needle.

Crea una diminuta obra de arte y envíala por correo a alguien importante para ti para alegrarle el día. Pinta, colorea, cose, pega, haz un collage… ¡Anímate a intentar algo nuevo! Queda garantizado que esto levanta el ánimo.

NOTA: Esta actividad incluye una aguja de coser roma.

Materials/Materiales:

A postcard icon.

Postcard
Tarjeta postal

Icon of pencil

Pencil
Lápiz

A hole puncher icon.

Hole punch
Perforador

A needle icon.

Blunt embroidery needle
Aguja de bordar roma

Icon of elastic string.

Embroidery floss
Hilo de bordar

An envelope icon.

Envelope with postage stamp
Sobre con sello postal

    

Instructions / Instrucciones:

  1. Think of someone you want to surprise with some awesome snail mail.
  2. Get their mailing address.
  3. Think about that person. What do they love? What makes them smile? What do you love about them? How do you want them to feel?
  4. With them in mind, create a tiny artistic masterpiece on the postcard provided.
    • a. You can use whatever art tools you like, but we’ve included a needle and  embroidery floss in case you, like me, love to stitch and want to add some fancy embroidery to your art!
    • b. Using a pencil, draw a simple design on the dot grid by connecting the dots. Using your hole punch, make holes through selected dots. Thread the needle and sew through the holes.
    • c. More advanced? You can freehand embroider onto the postcard using the needle and thread!
  5. Slide your finished artwork into the envelope. Address the envelope, include your return address in the top left-hand corner, and seal the envelope. You can decorate the back of the envelope too for some extra sparkle. A pre-paid stamp is already included.
  6. Drop the envelope into a mailbox.
  7. When your person receives their art, have them take a selfie with it if they are comfort-able and then share your joy and art on social media to inspire others to make and mail art to their friends and family!
  1. Piensa en alguien a quien te gustaría sorprender con un increíble correo postal.
  2. Obtén su dirección de correo postal.
  3. Piensa en esa persona. ¿Qué le gusta? ¿Qué le hace sonreír? ¿Qué te encanta de ella? ¿Cómo quieres que se sienta?
  4. Pensando en esa persona, crea una diminuta obra de arte en la tarjeta postal proporcionada.
    • a. Puedes usar los medios de arte que prefieras, pero hemos incluido una aguja e hilo de bordar por si acaso, como yo, te encanta dar puntadas y quieres agregar un bonito bordado a tu obra de arte.
    • b. Uniendo con un lápiz los puntos en la cuadrícula de puntos, dibuja un diseño sencillo. Haz orificios con el perforador en los puntos seleccionados. Enhebra la aguja y cose a través de los puntos.
    • c. ¿Quieres algo más avanzado? ¡Puedes bordar a mano libremente en la postal con la aguja y el hilo!
  5. Coloca la obra de arte terminada dentro del sobre. Agrega la dirección en el sobre, incluye tu dirección de remitente en el extremo superior izquierdo y cierra el sobre. También puedes decorar el reverso del sobre para agregar un toque adicional. Se incluye un sello o estampilla prepagado.
  6. Coloca el sobre en un buzón.
  7. Cuando la persona que hayas elegido reciba la obra de arte, pídele que si no le incomoda se saque una selfi con ella y luego comparte tu alegría y tu obra de arte en las redes sociales, para inspirar a otros a crear arte y enviarlo por correo a sus amigos y familiares.

 

Shannon Downey, aka Badass Cross Stitch, is an artist, craftivist, community builder, and general instigator. She blends her politics, activism, and art into projects that are designed to inspire others to take action, think, discuss, engage with democracy and their community, and find some digital/analog balance. She uses art as a vehicle for positive change through creative interven-tions, whether that be through open-source street art campaigns or global craftivism projects.

 Shannon Downey, también conocida como Badass Cross Stitch, es una artista, activista artesanal, constructora de comunidad y promotora en general. Combina política, activismo y arte en proyectos que están diseñados para inspirar a otros a actuar, pensar, debatir, comprometerse con la democracia y la comunidad, y encontrar cierto equilibrio entre lo digital y lo análogo. Recurre al arte como un vehículo para el cambio positivo mediante intervenciones creativas, ya sea a través de campañas de arte callejero de acceso abierto o proyectos de activismo artesanal global.

 

Share your tiny masterpiece in the hands of your lucky mail recipient on social media with #ICAartlab and @BadassCrossStitch!

Comparte tu diminuta obra de arte en manos del afortunado receptor de tu carta en las redes sociales con #ICAartlab y @BadassCrossStitch!

 

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Poetry is a wonderful way of expressing emotions, feelings, ideas, and thoughts. Poetry allows you to describe your own reality and also connect with yourself. In this activity, we invite you to use your zip code to inspire a poem about the place where you live. Each digit of your zip code determines the number of words that you can use in that specific line. (The digit “zero” is your “wild card” so you can use as many words as you want). Find inspiration through Alondra Bobadilla’s poem and write about what your zip code area has meant for you during this pandemic and past year.

Example:
0 Jamaica Plain
2 Weekly protests
1 puppies
3 and masked walks
0 make this neighborhood home

La poesía es un modo maravilloso de expresar emociones, sentimientos, ideas y pensamientos. La poesía te permite describir tu propia realidad y también conectar contigo mismo. En esta actividad, te invitamos a usar tu código postal como inspiración para escribir un poema sobre el lugar donde vives. Cada dígito de tu código postal determina el número de palabras que puedes usar en una línea determinada. (El cero es tu “comodín”: te permite usar tantas palabras como quieras). Inspírate en el poema de Alondra Bobadilla y escribe sobre lo que el área de tu código postal ha significado para ti durante el último año y la pandemia.

Materials/Materiales:

Icon of paper.

Notebook or piece of paper
Cuaderno o papel 

Icon of pencil and pen.

Pen or pencil
Bolígrafo o lápiz

    

Instructions / Instrucciones:

  1. In your notebook or on a piece of paper, write your zip code vertically along the left hand side of the paper.
  2. Take your time to reflect on your neighborhood and your experience spending time there this year. Write your poem, or try a few versions, until you find one that expresses how you feel. 
  1. En el cuaderno o en una hoja de papel, escribe tu código postal de manera vertical sobre el margen izquierdo.
  2. Dedica un momento a reflexionar sobre tu vecindario y sobre el tiempo que has pasado allí este año. Escribe tu poema o ensaya diferentes versiones hasta que encuentres una que exprese cómo te sientes.

3/19/20 12:33pm

by Alondra Bobadilla

It’s not often life is forced to a halt.
Forced to slow down on command,
brought to a screeching stop

It’s not often the noise is called to a whisper,​
and the bustle reigned in

“Stay home”
They say,
“Stay safe”
“Stay in”.

The streets are fogged with quiet,
once busy roads are like a ghost town,
every human being walking staying six
     feet distanced.

It’s a tragedy to the mind and soul.
A break in the system burdened busy
     bodies are used to.
The torture of the routine we all once
     groaned to lift ourselves up to, is now the
     exact routine we crave.

In these four walls, caught in my front yard,
I’ve been forced to be ever more in touch
     with myself.

All the places I’ve shut out through
     meaningless productivity
have flourished like vines from their cages,
taking up spaces where I told them not
     to go.

It’s scary, yet beautiful, to be in tune again
     with home.

With the music deep in my spirit,
with the slow pace of my heart beat,
     pulsing,
A reminder of the life in me that I don’t
     enjoy enough.
The bittersweet cup of living.

  

Caught up in the webs of society’s dos
     and do nots and success schemes,
the outside world doesn’t have an answer
     to this one.

I think of this like an extended
     Ash Wednesday.
A reminder that we are dust formed
     and to dust we return.

A grim but real reminder that life
     is unpredictable,
that we cannot control it, and that we
     shouldn’t try.

For it is peaceful to ride the waves
     of uncertainty
than to scream for them to calm down,
for who are you to tell fate what to do?

I think of this as a golden moment,
an opportunity to let the soul inside you
     speak buried truths,
an opportunity to extend yourself beyond
     your limit,
to pick up old instruments from which you
     once found purpose,
to pick up old relationships with people you
     love that gave your heart a reason
     to keep pumping.
A chance.
To mend wounds that have been
     left unattended,
to bring light to places that have for so long
     been abandoned.
 

In January 2020, Alondra Bobadilla was named Boston’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate. Born and raised in Boston, Alondra has been nurturing her love for writing since she learned her first letters. Alondra uses her writing to highlight social issues that impact her and her community. Through her work, she demonstrates how creative expression can be a powerful tool for youth to examine feelings around issues, find their voice, and speak up about the changes they want to see for their future.

 

19 de marzo de 2020, 12:33 p.m

por Alondra Bobadilla

No es frecuente que la vida se detenga
a la fuerza.
Que se reduzca la velocidad a pedido,
hasta frenar de forma estridente.

No es frecuente que el ruido se vuelva
     susurro
ni que domine el bullicio.

“Quédate en casa”
Dicen,
“Mantente seguro”.
“Quédate adentro”.

Las calles se han nublado de quietud,
los caminos antes concurridos parecen
     pueblos fantasmas,
cada ser humano se mantiene a seis pies
     de distancia.

Es una tragedia para la mente y el alma.
Un alto en el sistema, usual para cuerpos
     ocupados, agobiados.
La tortuosa rutina que deseábamos
     abandonar es la que ahora añoramos.

Entre estas cuatro paredes, atrapada en
     mi patio delantero,
me he visto forzada a conectarme como
     nunca conmigo misma.

Todos los sitios que había enterrado por
     su insignificante productividad
han florecido como enredaderas desde
     sus jaulas,
ocupando espacios antes prohibidos.

Produce miedo, pero es hermoso, volver
     a estar en sintonía con el hogar.

Con la música en lo profundo de mi
     espíritu,
con el lento ritmo de mi corazón que late
     y vibra
me recuerda una vida de la que no disfruto
     lo suficiente.
La copa agridulce de la vida.

  

Atrapada en las redes de lo que la sociedad
     te dicta
que debes hacer o no, y en los esquemas
     del éxito,
el mundo exterior no tiene una respuesta
     para este.

Lo imagino como un Miércoles de
     Ceniza extendido.
Un recordatorio de que polvo somos y
     al polvo volveremos.

Una sombría, aunque real advertencia
     de que la vida es impredecible,
de que no podemos controlarla ni
     deberíamos intentarlo.

Pues se halla la paz al navegar las olas de
     la incertidumbre
y no al pedirles a gritos que se calmen.
¿Quién eres para decirle al destino
     qué hacer?

Pienso en esta época como un
     momento dorado,
una oportunidad para dejar que el alma
     cuente sus verdades ocultas,
una oportunidad para desplegarse más
     allá de los límites,
para retomar viejos instrumentos que
     antaño ofrecían un propósito,
para retomar antiguas relaciones con
     personas amadas
que dieron a tu corazón una razón para
     seguir latiendo.
Una oportunidad.
Curar heridas que han quedado abiertas,
iluminar espacios por mucho tiempo
     abandonados. 

En enero de 2020, Alondra Bobadilla fue la primera persona en ser nombrada poeta laureada juvenil de Boston. Alondra nació y creció en Boston, y ha cultivado su amor por la escritura desde que aprendió las primeras letras. Esta joven poeta usa su escritura para destacar cuestiones sociales que la afectan a ella y a su comunidad. A través de su obra, ha demostrado cómo la expresión creativa puede ser una herramienta poderosa para que la juventud examine sus sentimientos en torno a determinados asuntos, encuentre su voz y exponga los cambios que desea para el futuro. 

 

This activity was created by Sergio Salicio-Lupiañez, Visitor Assistant.

 Esta actividad fue diseñada por Sergio Salicio-Lupiañez, asistente de visitantes.

 

Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab

Comparte tu experiencia en redes sociales con #ICAartlab

 

 

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The installation on the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall is often the very first artwork visitors see when entering the ICA. Spanning an entire wall, the artwork can shape the environment or feeling of the museum’s entrance. The artwork changes regularly and is designed by different artists from all over the world. We invite you to explore the current artwork and imagine your own.

What do you notice right away?

How does it make you feel?

What does it make you think of?

How would you describe it to someone?

 

A line illustration of the ICA's Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall

FIND INSPIRATION & IMAGINE YOUR OWN ARTWORK

What will you be inspired by? Artists find inspiration in all sorts of places. Explore your home, your neighborhood, or even the ICA! If you are in the museum, visit our galleries on the 4th floor and experience artwork made by contemporary artists. Wherever you are, keep a list of what excites you or what you have questions about. Some ideas of what to look for are unique materials, unusual patterns or textures, and artwork of different sizes and shapes.

 

Write your ideas to reflect, then make a drawing of your unique vision for the wall.

What would it look like?

What materials would you use?

What story would you tell?

Share your artwork on social media with #ICAartlab or email us your photos at familyprograms@icaboston.org.

(Boston, MA—May 27, 2021) This summer, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) offers an exciting season of art on both sides of Boston Harbor, featuring dynamic new exhibitions by artists Virgil Abloh and Firelei Báez, and—for the first time in over a year—the return of live programming on the museum’s waterfront plaza and at the Watershed. Tickets for Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” will go on sale to ICA Members starting June 1 and to the general public on June 22. Admission to the Watershed is always free, and Water Shuttle transportation between the ICA and the Watershed is included with the price of ICA admission, first come first served. Visit icaboston.org for more information and to reserve timed tickets.

More details about the ICA’s summer season and upcoming exhibitions below. For more information and to confirm schedule, please contact Margaux Leonard at mleonard@icaboston.org or 617-478-3176.

Summer Events

Seaport Waterfront

Harborwalk Sounds
Co-produced with Berklee College of Music
Thursdays, Jul 8–Aug 26, 6–8:30 PM
FREE
An ICA summer favorite returns. Harborwalk Sounds, the museum’s free outdoor concert series, features an array of Berklee’s best student, faculty, and alumni musicians.

ICA Summer Sessions
Fridays, Jul 9–Aug 27, 5–9 PM
Tickets available at icaboston.org
Join us on the waterfront on Fridays all summer long for evenings of art and live music. Enjoy sets from great local Boston artists while you kickback with a cocktail and take in sweeping harbor views.

ICA Watershed

Watershed Family Days
Jul 14 + Aug 21, 12–4 PM
FREE
Join us in the East Boston shipyard for special family days at the ICA Watershed featuring art-making kits, music, and community.

ICA Exhibitions

Firelei Báez
Jul 3–Sep 6, 2021
ICA Watershed
In summer 2021, the ICA Watershed will feature a newly commissioned, monumental sculpture by acclaimed artist Firelei Báez (b. 1981, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic). In her largest sculptural installation to date, the artist reimagines the archeological ruins of the Sans-Souci Palace in Haiti as though they were revealed in East Boston after the sea receded from the Watershed floor. The Watershed’s location—in a working shipyard, trade site, and point of entry home for immigrants over decades—provides a pivotal point of reference. Báez embeds Sans-Souci within the geological layers of Boston, where histories of revolution and independence are integral to the city’s identity. This site-specific installation will invite visitors to traverse passageways and travel through time, engaging with streams of influence and interconnectedness. The work’s intricately painted architectural surfaces include symbols of healing and resistance, patterning drawn from West African indigo printing traditions (later used in the American South), and sea growths native to Caribbean waters. Báez’s sculpture points to the centuries-long exchanges of ideas and influence between Europe, the African continent, and the Americas. Organized by Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator.

Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”
Jul 3–Sep 26, 2021
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is the first museum exhibition devoted to the work of the genre-bending artist and designer Virgil Abloh (b. 1980, Rockford, IL). Abloh pioneers a practice that cuts across media and connects visual artists, musicians, graphic designers, fashion designers, and architects. Abloh cultivated an interest in design and music at an early age, finding inspiration in the urban culture of Chicago. While pursuing a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology, he worked on album covers, concert designs, and merchandising. In 2013, Abloh founded his stand-alone fashion brand Off-White™ in Milan, Italy, and, in 2018, assumed the position of artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and set in an immersive space designed by Rem Koolhaas’s renowned architecture firm OMA*AMO, the exhibition will offer an in-depth look at defining highlights of Abloh’s career, including signature clothing collections, video documentation of iconic fashion shows, distinctive furniture and graphic design work, and collaborative projects with contemporary artists. Organized by Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The ICA’s presentation is coordinated by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator.

The Worlds We Make: Selections from the ICA Collection
Aug 14, 2021–Jan 2, 2022
With every call for social change arrives the possibility to make the world anew. The Worlds We Make: Selections from the ICA Collection explores how artists have visualized beyond present reality to imagine, dream, and realize the world-otherwise. Drawn from the ICA’s permanent collection and Boston-area collections, these works consider world-making in relation to broader themes such as climate and the natural environment, historical narratives and speculative fictions, the supernatural and the planetary. Expansive in subject and medium, the exhibition includes works by artists such as Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jeffrey Gibson, Lorraine O’Grady, Matthew Ritchie, and Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA), among others. Together, the works in this exhibition celebrate the emancipatory potential of artistic imagination and invite other ways to see, create, and belong in the worlds we make. Organized by Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.

Raúl de Nieves: The Treasure House of Memory
Sep 1, 2021–Jul 24, 2022
Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983, Michoacán, Mexico) is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist, performer, and musician whose multifaceted practice ranges from stained-glass style narrative paintings, to animated performances, to densely adorned figurative sculptures encrusted with bangles, beads, bells, sequins, and other homespun materials. For the ICA, de Nieves is creating a body of interconnected works rooted in memory and exploring themes of personal transformation. The Treasure House of Memory expands the artist’s inventive adaptation of iconographic traditions inherited from the past through vibrant amalgamations of form and material rendered in an energetic and accessible visual language. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.

2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize
Sep 1, 2021–Jul 24, 2022
The 2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition features Marlon Forrester (b. 1976, Georgetown, Guyana), Eben Haines (b. 1990, Boston), and Dell Marie Hamilton (b. 1971, New York). This group of artists works across a range of media with unique artistic practices that share the impulse to build platforms and create connections with others through their work. Developed against the backdrop of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the stand-alone projects conceived for this exhibition reflect each artist’s approach to community and exchange. First established in 1999, the James and Audrey Foster Prize is key to the museum’s efforts to nurture and recognize artists working in and around Boston, showcase exceptional artwork, and support the city’s thriving arts scene. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.

Deana Lawson
Nov 3, 2021–Feb 27, 2022
This exhibition is the first museum survey dedicated to the work of Deana Lawson (b. 1979, Rochester, NY). Lawson is a singular voice in photography today. For more than 15 years, she has been investigating and challenging the conventional representations of Black life. Drawing on a wide spectrum of photographic languages, including the family album, studio portraiture, staged tableaux, documentary pictures, and appropriated images, Lawson’s posed photographs channel broader ideas about personal and social histories, sexuality, and spiritual beliefs. Lawson’s highly-staged large-format color photographs depict individuals, couples, and families in both domestic and public settings, picturing narratives of family, love, and desire. Engaging members of her own community as well as strangers she meets on the street, she meticulously poses her subjects in a variety of interiors to create what the artist describes as “a mirror of everyday life, but also a projection of what I want to happen. It’s about setting a different standard of values and saying that everyday Black lives, everyday experiences, are beautiful, and powerful, and intelligent.” Lawson’s works are made in collaboration with her subjects, who are often nude, embracing, and directly confronting the camera, destabilizing the notion of photography as a passively voyeuristic medium. This survey exhibition will include a selection of photographs from 2004 to the present and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated scholarly catalogue, featuring the perspectives of a variety of scholars, historians, and writers. This exhibition is co-organized by ICA/Boston and MoMA PS1. Organized by Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator, ICA/Boston, and Peter Eleey, former Chief Curator, MoMA PS1, with Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant, ICA/Boston.

About the ICA

Since its founding in 1936, the ICA has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with its audiences. A museum at the intersection of contemporary art and civic life, the ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and expanding the museum’s role as educator, incubator, and convener. Its exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA, 02210. The Watershed is located at 256 Marginal Street, East Boston, MA 02128. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at icaboston.org. Follow the ICA at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About the Watershed

On July 4, 2018, the ICA opened to the public its new ICA Watershed expanding artistic and educational programming on both sides of Boston Harbor—the Seaport and East Boston. Located in the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina, the ICA Watershed transformed a 15,000-square-foot, formerly condemned space into a vast and welcoming space to see and experience large-scale art. The Watershed builds upon the extraordinary momentum achieved by the museum since opening its visionary waterfront building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in 2006. Admission to the Watershed—central to the museum’s vision for art and civic life—is free for all. The Watershed opened its inaugural year with an immersive installation by Diana Thater and its second year, 2019, with the U.S. premiere of John Akomfrah’s Purple. The Watershed was closed to the public in 2020 to support the city and state in their efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19. During the pandemic, the site has been used as a food distribution site to address a direct need within the East Boston community, which has experienced one of the highest rates of COVID-19 in Boston.

Firelei Báez

Free admission to the ICA Watershed is made possible by the generosity of Alan and Vivien Hassenfeld and the Hassenfeld Family Foundation.    

The Boston Foundation welcomes you to the ICA Watershed.

The ICA Watershed is supported by Fund for the Arts, a public art program of the New England Foundation for the Arts and Vertex.

          

Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” 

Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is organized by Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The exhibition tour is made possible by Kenneth C. Griffin.

The exhibition is curated by Michael Darling, former James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator at MCA Chicago, and is designed by Samir Bantal, Director of AMO, the research and design studio of OMA. The ICA’s presentation is coordinated by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator.

Major support for the Boston presentation of Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is provided by Encore Boston Harbor and Boston Seaport by WS Development.

       

Support is provided by Northern Trust

Neiman Marcus is the Lead Education Partner of Teen Programs associated with Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”

Additional support is generously provided by Kathleen McDonough and Edward Berman, Kate and Chuck Brizius, Stephanie and John Connaughton, Karen Swett Conway and Brian Conway, Jean-François and Nathalie Ducrest, Audrey and James Foster, Jodi and Hal Hess, Marina Kalb and David Feinberg, Kristen and Kent Lucken, and Mark and Marie Schwartz.

Raúl de Nieves: The Treasure House of Memory

Support is generously provided by Steve Corkin and Dan Maddalena and Charles and Fran Rodgers.

2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize

The exhibition and prize are generously endowed by James and Audrey Foster. 

Deana Lawson

Major support for Deana Lawson is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. 

 

Additional support is generously provided by Bridgitt and Bruce Evans, Aedie McEvoy, Kambiz and Nazgol Shahbazi, Kim Sinatra, Charlotte and Herbert Wagner III, and the Kristen and Kent Lucken Fund for Photography.