New England Foundation for the Arts' Creative City Program Announces THE CHROMA LINE

The New England Foundation for the Arts Creative City program announces The Chroma Line, a public curated artwalk across the Franklin Footbridge in Allston (between Lincoln and Cambridge Streets). Produced by lead artist and architect Jillian Wiedenmayer, the project is a group mural painted by a team of artists to make the Franklin footbridge more inviting, safe-feeling, and community-involved.

The artists began installing the painted street murals in November, after Wiedenmayer held community listening meetings at the Jackson Mann Community Center. She asked members of the neighborhood what they wanted from art on the bridge, and folks shared they wanted something that felt uplifting and safer. According to Wiedenmayer, The Chroma Line project was designed "to evoke emotion and to spark conversation. It embraces the community and marries both sides of the bridge gracefully by creating a new urban texture. The mural layout and color palette masterfully softens and generates a new energy with ever step across it. It's about bringing people together and connecting them."

The artist team includes muralists Genaro Ortega, "Rant," and Nick Sullivan, as well as teens from the West End House in Allston, a youth development agency.

About Jillian R. Wiedenmayer, lead artist

In the years spanning her practice, Jillian R. Wiedenmayer has explored escapism and place through an impressive variety of different materials and mediums. As an architect and artist, she offers each piece as an invitation for her audience to explore. She states, "My installation pieces are, at a fundamental level, pranks. They are jokes in the form of art. My intention is to delight, surprise, and occasionally threaten-- to challenge our notion of place." Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally, including recognition by the Corcoran, Parsons, Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, and the National Foundation for the Advancement of Arts. She graduated with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Architecture, and a Liberal Arts concentration in Social & Cultural Dynamics in Design. www.jillianrene.com

About Muralist Genaro Ortega

'GoFive' is a Boston-based visual arts specialist who has taught painting and drawing for over 20 years. Currently, Ortega is a painting mentor at South Boston's Artists for Humanity as well as the Mural Curator for Madison Park High School. Ortega's proposed mural pays homage to current equality movements. Ortega graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a Bachelors in Fine Arts in Art and Design with a focus in Illustration.

About Muralist "Rant"

'Rant' is a Boston-based underground street artist who is most well known for his elaborate freestyle and his ability to create graffiti masterpieces under pressure. Like many notable graffiti artists, he must conceal his identity. However, his portfolio of icon work has gained credibility, integrity and legion of fans and imitators in the street work.. He has inspired hundreds of conversations about the apparent double standards of Massachusett's anti-graffiti laws and gained widestread recognition for his cohesive artistic style.

About Murlaist Nick Sullivan

Nick studied illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and began working as a freelance illustrator in 2011, doing work for Cross Pens, Zink Imaging, and local periodicals. His art comes from a love of portraiture, caricature, nature, and nostalgia. Nick works primarily from digitally collaged references, hacking together material both found and photographed himself. Contact: nicksullivanart@gmail.com

About Community Partner Allston Village Main Streets

Allston Village is home to nearly 300 storefront businesses including retail, restaurants, bars, and service based businesses and approximately 90% of them are small businesses who employ people that live in Allston Brighton and the immediate surrounding areas. www.allstonvillage.com

Further Creative City projects extend into Boston neighborhoods including East Boston, Allston, and more, and feature creative expression of many disciplines including theater, music, dance, visual art, and culinary culture. Programs offer a variety of opportunities for community participation, including performances, workshops, receptions, and more.

Creative City was launched in 2015 by New England Foundation for the Arts with hopes to support individual artists to enliven neighborhoods and engage communities. The grant program has awarded $445,000 to 46 projects in five rounds of applications. In addition, Creative City has also awarded $27,000 to 27 community partners ($1,000/each) to support/collaborate with the individual artist project (more partner applications are in process now). The deadline for the fifth invitation for individual artist applications was September 25, 2017. For grant eligibility and criteria, visit https://www.nefa.org/creative-city-grant. Creative City is made possible by the Barr Foundation with additional funding from the Boston Foundation.

"Artists are important voices in community life, and it's wonderful to recognize the imagination and vision of these creative leaders," said Cathy Edwards, NEFA executive director. "We are proud that Creative City has supported over three dozen projects including public art installations, bilingual theater, murals, urban dance, story-telling, music composition/performance, web television series, and more--that animate neighborhoods including East Boston, South Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Roxbury, Allston, and others."

San San Wong, Barr Foundation's Director of Arts & Creativity, noted that, "Creative City is supporting artists to work directly with communities. Together they are creating platforms for connection, reflection, and conversation on vital topics like immigration, religious tolerance, and gentrification. Having already reached more than half of Boston's neighborhoods, we are excited to see this model replicated in other parts of Boston."

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