In collaboration with the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, Heritage offers an outdoor art exhibit in which artists from across the nation are invited to respond to a theme or idea with site-specific sculpture or installations that challenge us to explore the landscape and the interplay between the built and natural environments. A jury of art experts selects the works to be featured.

This year, we offer Commemorations.  In our current cultural climate, citizens are questioning the relevance and symbolism of public monuments, buildings, and honors. The building and installation of a public monument is, by definition, an act that seeks to define cultural values and norms and seeks to create a uniform view and interpretation of history and events among our citizens.

What is the purpose of public commemoration? Whose history do public monuments celebrate? Whose history is omitted? In Commemorations, we invited nine artists to create outdoor sculptures that explore these questions. Located throughout the gardens and grounds, some pieces pay tribute to a fellow human being, an idea, or an event. Others invite visitors to create and contribute their own stories. All of the works in the exhibition ultimately strive to engender dialogue about the purpose of public commemorations.

Heritage Museums & Gardens celebrates American culture and inspires people of all ages to explore, discover and learn together.  Storytelling is an important part of our work, as we help visitors make sense of the changing currents in American culture  — how they link to what has come before and to what is yet to come.

Artists:

Ashley Briggs, Marion, MA

Audrey Banks,  Boston, MA,

Brendan Stecchini, Belchertown, MA

Christopher Frost,  Somerville, MA,

Lisa Link,  West Roxbury, MA, @lisalinkfoto (instagram)

Mary-Ann Agresti,  Hyannis, MA,

Melanie Zibit,  Shirley, MA,

Ngoc-Tran Vu,  Dorchester, MA,