Join fellow educators for an evening of art and community. Learn about field trip offerings, teacher resources, and more. Explore current exhibitions, including Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s to Today, and consider form, transformation, and light while making your own shadow puppet in Shadow Play, the Bank of America Art Labinstallation developed by Boston artist Lily Xie.
Active and pre-service K-12 teachers of all disciplines, school administrators, and out-of-school time educators are all welcome.
Veronica Robles Cultural Center Day of the Dead at the Watershed
Drop by the Watershed on Sunday, October 29 for El Dia de los Muertos produced by Veronica Robles Cultural Center (VROCC). VROCC has collaborated with local artists, organizations and community centers in East Boston to create 20 ofrendas, or Day of the Dead altars, to honor the lives of their ancestors. These altars can include numerous items that represents a part of the journey and cultural celebration to honor life and death.
Schedule:
11 AM–12 PM: Day of the Dead Opening at the ICA
12–2 PM: Parade to Central Square Park
2–3 PM: Performances in Central Square Park, East Boston
The ICA Watershed will be open from 11 AM–5 PM for viewing of El Dia de los Muertos. ICA Water Shuttles will not be running.
Oompa
DJ Jo.
Past Events
Black Joy Day 2023
Fri, Sep 8, 5–9 PM
Free / Free tickets required for gallery admission / All ages welcome
The ICA partners with Thaddeus Miles—photographer, community activist, and founder of the Black Joy Project—to kick off a weekend of festivities centered around the fourth annual Black Joy Day in the City of Boston. This outdoor program at the ICA features performances by some of the city’s best talents, including Oompa, Gogo, and DJ Jo.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Tori Tori and Latrell James will not appear as originally planned.
Black Joy Day is FREE, and tickets are not required to attend the performances! Museum admission is free from 5 to 9. Free tickets will be available at 10 AM on September 8.
More than just a jubilation, Black Joy Day stands tall as a radiant beacon of resistance. Through the harmony of Black music, the depth of poetry, and profound dialogues on restorative justice, we aim to amplify the empowerment and resilience of Black voices worldwide. In the words of Thaddeus Miles, “Black Joy Day is more than a moment, it’s a movement. A symphony of voices, talents, and spirits, echoing the resilience, love, and vibrancy of our community. Let’s come together to feel, heal, and revel in the rhythm of joy.”
Photo by Igor Emmerich.
Past Events
Little Amal
Sat, Sep 9, 1–3 PM
Free / no tickets required!
Little Amal — whose name means ‘hope’ in Arabic — is a 12-foot puppet of a refugee Syrian child who has traveled to 13 countries. She began her journey from the Syrian border and carries a message of hope for displaced people everywhere, especially children who have been separated from their families.
Join the ICA as we welcome Little Amal to East Boston in a special event at the ICA Watershed, where she will be met by music and dancing by Veronica Robles and young performers from the Veronica Robles Cultural Center (VROCC). Meet Little Amal at the corner of Orleans Street and Sumner Street and walk with her as she makes her way to the Watershed for a celebration with music and dancing. Plus, get a final bonus opportunity to view Guadalupe Maravilla’s mesmerizing exhibition at the Watershed, featuring large-scale installations, paintings, and sculptures that retrace and tell the story of the artist’s own migration journey.
There will be no Water Shuttle service.
Schedule
1–2 PM | Procession with Little Amal and young performers from VROCC Starting point: Zumix building, Orleans Street x Sumner Street, East Boston Ending point: ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal Street, East Boston
2 PM | Celebratory musical and dance performances with VROCC ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal Street, East Boston
Following the event, be sure to visit the East Boston Latin Music and Dance Festival in East Boston Memorial Park. The festival will include Latin American music and dance, delicious food, kids’ activities, local arts & crafts vendors, and will provide a welcoming, family-friendly environment for people of all ages and backgrounds.
The ICA along with American Repertory Theatre (ART) at Harvard University, ArtsEmerson, Company One Theatre, Lars Jan, Boston University Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University Arts Initiative, Extinction Rebellion Boston, Foxborough Public Schools, RefugePoint and The Puppet Free Library, will welcome Little Amal to the city of Boston on September 7–9, 2023. Boston will kick off the 35-city tour from Boston to San Diego where 1,000+ artists and arts organizations will create 100+ events to welcome her.
Amal Walks Across America is produced by The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company.
Amal Walks Across America was made possible through the generosity of the Doris Duke Foundation and the Bezos Family Foundation, with additional support from the Backstage Trust, the Barr Foundation, Sunny Bates, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Choose Love, The Conrad Prebys Foundation, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, Ruby Lerner, the McMillan Stewart Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Opportunity Fund, The Shapiro Foundation, Students Rebuild, the Thorne Cox Family Foundation, and Barbara Tober.
After Hours with the Curator: Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today
Tue, Oct 17, 6–8 PM
RSVP Required
Join fellow Director’s Circle members for a glass of wine on the waterfront, private in-person tour of Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today and gallery conversation with Jeffrey De Blois, Associate Curator and Publications Manager. Please contact dcevents@icaboston.org to RSVP.
For Director’s Circle members +
Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today was organized by Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The exhibition was originally presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and was curated by Carla Acevedo-Yates, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator, with Iris Colburn, Curatorial Assistant, Isabel Casso, former Susman Curatorial Fellow, and Nolan Jimbo, Susman Curatorial Fellow. The ICA/Boston presentation is coordinated by Jeffrey De Blois, Associate Curator and Publications Manager.
Major support for Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today was provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
With warmest thanks, we gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the ICA’s Avant Guardian Society in making this exhibition possible.
Participate in artist Nari Ward’s artwork Naturalization Drawing Table, in conjunction with his exhibition Nari Ward: Sun Splashed. Based on Ward’s personal experience of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, this interactive artwork gives museum visitors a better understanding of that process. Each participant will receive a set of prints from the artist.
Individuals must be 16 years of age or older and have a valid photo ID to participate.
Adam J. Kurtz (aka ADAMJK) is an artist and author whose illustrative work is rooted in optimism, humor, and a little darkness. He is interested in the ephemera of daily life and creating honest, accessible work. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages and his work for clients like Strand Bookstore and Urban Outfitters has been featured in the New Yorker, VICE, Adweek, and more.
His latest book, Things Are What You Make of Them, is a handwritten essay collection that tackles the creative process and realities of entrepreneurship. At this event, Adam will perform a short reading, followed by a signing and an ICA retail pop-up featuring a selection of his books, pins, patches, and tableware.
In Hybrid-Digital Home New York-based artist Saya Woolfalk has collaborated with her six-year-old daughter, Aya Woolfalk Mitchell, to reinvent the ICA’s Bank of America Art Lab as a warm domestic environment. From 11 AM to 4 PM, contribute drawings to be digitally patternized and added to the wall, creating a collaboratively generated portrait of home.
Focusing on the work of black female artists, this is the first exhibition to highlight the voices and experiences of women of color—as distinct from the primarily white, middle-class mainstream feminist movement—in order to reorient conversations about race, feminism, political action, and art in this significant historical period.
Artist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Arthur Jafa has stated his hope to create cinema that “replicates the power, beauty and alienation of black music.” Set to Kanye West’s stirring gospel-inspired “Ultralight Beam,” this single-channel video installation presents a nuanced, multifaceted look at black life in the United States, which the artist sees as both beautiful and painfully fraught.
This installment of the ICA’s annual collection exhibition showcases artists’ engagement and entanglement with the everyday. Interest in common materials and quotidian subjects has been a defining theme of artistic practice in the 20th century; by observing and being in the world, artists make ordinary textures and experiences extraordinary.
The Watershed—a 15,000-square-foot converted warehouse in the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina in East Boston—is the most talked about art destination of the summer. Ferries from the Seaport to East Boston are free on Labor Day and are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so reserve yours early!
Diana Thater
Diana Thater illuminates the Watershed with immersive projections that reflect on the fragility of the natural world in its inaugural exhibition. Immerse yourself in fields of color, move among projected doplhins, and come face to face with a northern white rhino.
Tomashi Jackson will activate Strange Fruit, a sonic sculpture in the exhibition Kevin Beasley.
Visual artist Tomashi Jackson combines painting, textile, sculpture, video, and collage in works that examine the relationships between the aesthetic and the political. She teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Lesley University and exhibits her work widely.
