Silvia López Chavez: Community Tides
Community Tides will be a mural portraying the New Bedford’s community, the fishing industry, its diverse economy, and depiction of life at the intersection of land and water. Silvia Lopez Chavez will collaborate with New Bedford High School students to create her signature colorful patterns pulled from the student’s local landscapes and everyday lives. Utilizing acrylic paint, spray paint, and stencils to design various sizes of layered panels, New Bedford’s local youth will explore STEAM technology and design innovation to help contribute to the final design of Community Tides. In partnership with Northern Pelagic Group (NORPEL), the semi-permanent mural will measure 223 feet in length by 10 feet in height, the first piece of contemporary art on Fish Island.
Community Tides will be shown free and open to the public on the NORPEL exterior wall adjacent to a prominent New Bedford roadway along the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge, prominently viewable from the land, sea, and air. Join us for the artworks debut on June 22, 2023 at 5pm at our public opening celebration.
Based in Boston, Silvia Lopez Chavez is a Dominican-American artist whose community-centered murals form connections across disciplines and cultural boundaries. She uses joy as an act of resistance and celebration through her vibrant murals, and her work transforms urban spaces by honoring the identity of a place and its people. Silvia is a Neighborhood Salon Luminary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and was awarded the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Leadership in Public Art award (2021). Commissions include the U.S. Chinese Embassy in Beijing, Google HQ in California, SeaWalls Boston, MIT, Harvard University, Twitter, and Northeastern University. Artist residencies include Vermont Studio Center, Haystack, and Mass MoCa. She is an alumna of Altos de Chavon School of Art & Design in the Dominican Republic and Massachusetts College of Art & Design. www.silvialopezchavez.com
MEDIA INQUIRIES
For media inquiries, please contact: Edwina A. Kluender, KLÜNDER Communications [email protected] & PH 1.617.888.5859. Here is our downloadable press release: DATMA SHELTER2023 Press Release Announcement Here.
Events
New Bedford Symphony Orchestra Pop-up Performance
Music is both a doorway and a shelter. Musicians of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra will perform a concert at our Custom House Square installation with a program of music that embodies the spirit of both these enduring values.