Executive Director of East Boston HarborArts Matt
Pollock was named a Harbor
Champion by the Boston
Harbor Association.
The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA) named Matt Pollock, a graphic artist and sculptor, and the executive director of HarborArts, in East Boston a Harbor Champion this week.
Three years ago East Boston became the site of the first outdoor public art exhibition at the Boston Shipyard and Marina on Marginal Street launched by HarborArts, a nonprofit sculpture park located in the shipyard.
The HarborArts’ Shipyard Gallery is Boston’s largest collection of contemporary public art.
Pollock and HarborArts have been key partners in TBHA’s Summer on the Waterfront, a three-month annual festival involving thousands of cultural and recreational events along Boston’s waterfront from Eastie through Dorchester.
Pollock was named a Harbor Champion for his work to increase Eastie’s visibility as a vibrant arts community.
“My goal as an artist and arts administrator is to redefine and expand Boston’s public art palate by working collaboratively to create, plan and implement alternative arts programming and exhibitions in the city,” he said.
In September HarborArts celebrated its 3rd annual festival. The monumental event of 30 large-scale public art pieces was made possible by Coastal Marine Management and organized in partnership with the Urban Arts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
The event celebrated the 30 large-scale outdoor pieces of public art by artists from three continents that was curated by Randi Hopkins from the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA).
The yearly event also includes local artists who line the Boston Shipyard and Marina’s pier to display their own creations as well as local food vendors.
HarborArts’ first project was the International Outdoor Gallery, set within Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina. This one of a kind gallery transformed Boston’s working waterfront into a vibrant 14-acre public art display of “art with a purpose”.
HarborArts uses public art displays to bring attention to issues and solutions that affect the quality of our harbors, waterways and oceans. It promotes environmentally responsible solutions and creative new ways of living and working that respect our water resources.
This ongoing initiative celebrates Massachusetts’ commitment to the Ocean Protection Plan as the first state to respond to the national call for a coalition dedicated to the awareness affecting our water resources.
Since opening in June 2010, the outdoor gallery has drawn thousands of visitors and media attention.