Carolyn Lewenberg
Visual Art
About Carolyn Lewenberg
Carolyn Lewenberg is a Public Artist whose practice explores possibilities of how our species can be in right relationship with each other and the ecosystems around us. She asserts that the strength and humility of these relationships will determine our ability to adapt to changing environmental and social conditions in ways that can make our communities more resilient. She creates work in collaboration with community organizations, non-profits, municipalities, and state and national groups including the National Park Service and Department of Conservation and Recreation. She was the 2017-2018 Artist in Residence at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Her reflections on working with planners and municipalities on public art have been featured on ArtPlace America and National Endowment for the Arts blogs. Carolyn received a Masters in Art Teaching from Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), and BS in Landscape Architecture from UMass Amherst.
Carolyn’s Be the Change piece
Vital Organs
Protecting trees and plants is critical for the survival of our own and many other species, and, foundational to do this work, equity issues must also be addressed. Boston’s Tree Equity Maps show how the health of urban forest ecosystems in different neighborhoods mirrors health and income disparities, and how communities of color are disproportionately affected by lack of access to greenspaces. Vital Organs shows a human rib cage protecting plant life, on a base of handprints of different skin tones blended in with leaf litter. This piece points people towards ways they can support environmental protection and restoration work in vulnerable communities.
Be The Change: Jewishly Inspired Public Art Movement
Be the Change is a 2022-2023 art and activism initiative that is inspired by the Jewish tenet of justice and drawing from the ritualistic Jewish Tzedakah box. Taking place in Boston, Cincinnati, L.A., and online, Be the Change will help viewers connect to issues of injustice and empower them to become agents of change.
View SeriesHow You Can Work Together
"I love working with municipalities, non-profits, and community organizations to create inclusive arts integrated opportunities to connect people and place. Past and present collaborations include: the Mystic River Watershed Association, the town of Medford, City of Chelsea, and Egleston Branch Boston Public Library; as Artist in Residence at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, I’ve developed community engaged public art projects with municipalities including the towns of Rockland, Natick, and City of Everett; and I have worked for many years with the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park using art as a point of departure to develop interpretive art-based community programs focused on history and ecology.
My artmaking practice is also informed and inspired by several years organizing arts initiatives aimed to bridge different cultural groups in Boston. My most successful projects were the Franklin Park Art Grove and the Arts and Culture Cruise in Boston Harbor. Both events were free, and were a platform for diverse artists working in different media and forms of expression to co-create fun, inclusive experiences for people who lived in different geographic areas around Boston and come from different cultural backgrounds."
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