FIGMENT and the Rose Kennedy Greenway have teamed up to install Winter Lights, a display of LED lit artwork along the winding park pathways that run from Chinatown to the North End.
As a pure volunteer operation, FIGMENT relies on creative artists to submit proposals for public art display and help make art more appreciated and accessible to all of the city’s residents, artists and viewers alike. FIGMENT seeks to provide imagination and innovation to underutilized public spaces, providing a free space for families and neighbors to meet and enjoy art together.
Winter Lights accomplishes this by lighting up the beautiful Greenway parks that meander through crowded streets and buildings with colorful, innovative new art. Beginning in Chinatown Park, between Beech Street and Essex Street, color-changing LED lights lead the viewer on a walk stretching to the North End.
Featuring rotating installations from January to March, Winter Lights has already taken down some displays. Fish Luminaries, which ran until the first week of February, was comprised of larger-than-life paper lantern fish, a Chinese symbol of prosperity to celebrate the Chinese New Year. A launch party for the outdoor exhibit hosted by FIGMENT and the Greenway also included musical and dance performances.
Today, a winter walk through the Greenway is illuminated by creative pieces that use abstract sculpture and colored light. The Blueway, a twisted line of pulsing lights, forms the illusion of water running through a dry streambed of rock in Chinatown Park. The implied motion of the structure, along with the subtle, soothing fluctuation of colored light, creates a sense of peace and clarity. The sculpture hangs over higher rocks at the end of the streambed to make a mock waterfall of color.
Floodlights cast varying colors across the pavement light the way for walkers to continue the journey into the next string of Greenway parks just outside of the Financial District. Dewey Square, the former site of the Occupy Boston camp, is still roped off for more renovation but small trees lining the sidewalk around it are strewn with soft white string lights.
The serenity continues to thrive between the traffic of Surface Road. As the paths approach the waterfront, complex geometrical sculptures break up the grass and rock. Emitting cool purple lights, the lantern-like structures contrast the hot reds and yellows of car lights speeding past on either side.
Just before the fountains by Hanover Street in the North End, towering, flat sculptures radiate with glowing neon light. Pulsating blues, greens and reds light up the grass from above.
The FIGMENT display enriches the nature beauty of the Greenway by incorporating modern structure and electric visuals. As the mild winter gives way to a warm spring, the innovative artwork shouldn’t be missed on an evening stroll.
