Advent-Sponsored Community Art Project Graces Charles/MGH MBTA Station
Equal parts creative imagination, neighborhood organization, and community perspiration, the collage of art work envisioned and championed by Advent students last September was unveiled at the T’s newly renovated Charles/MGH station in a morning ceremony on June 5 as the schools student body, faculty, MBTA representatives, and Boston commuters looked on.
Addressing the crowd at Charles/MGH opening ceremony.
credit: Gus Freedman
Entitled “Be The Change You Wish To See in the World,” the work is a collage of 40 panels of woven recycled materials and 20 paintings on acrylic glass. Over 30 local businesses and schools helped to create the work from recycled materials donated by Beacon Hill families, Advent neighbors, and the Children Museum’s Recycling Center. The title of the work is derived from a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, the spiritual and political force behind Indias move to independence in the 1940s.
Speaking on behalf of the students at the ceremony, Advent Fifth Grader, Sophie Wasniewski reflected on how she and her fellow classmates used art to describe their hopes and dreams of the future. “I am hoping, along with other students, that people who see our artwork at the train station will understand how committed we are to the environment and that they will be willing to make the same change that we hope to see in the future. I want the people of Boston to learn that there is a change in the future and all you have to do is dream—and then make it happen.”
Two Advent boys enjoy the Charles/MGH opening ceremony.
credit: Gus Freedman
“When the T project was first conceived, we envisioned children from The Advent School—with their compelling desire to preserve the environment—-spearheading a community work of art made from recycled materials,” said Advent School Head Nancy Harris Frohlich. People from every corner of the neighborhood quickly joined in, bringing new ideas to the collage-making process. Looking at the outcome of our shared action, we are in awe of the energy this project generated and of all those, like our children, who imagine our world as a better place.”
“It’s truly a community project,” says Jaime Bard, Director of Admission and Community at The Advent School, and the person who initially conceived the project. “The Charles/MGH stop is literally and symbolically the portal to our Beacon Hill community, and we wanted to create something that reflected the people and places of the neighborhood while welcoming visitors to our community. It was important for us to involve as many people as possible.”
“The MBTA has been, and continues to be, a supporter of placing art in stations to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere for the commuting public,” said MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas. “The present collection has grown to over 90 pieces on six transit lines—and today we add Charles/MGH to that list.”
Advents students pose on the stairs above the art installation in the glass wall of the new Charles/MGH subway station.
credit: Gus Freedman
“What is absolutely unique [about the Advent School] is the judgment, creativity, and developmental attention with which its rich multi-cultural program has been constructed. If any school will underscore and illuminate the opportunity and challenge with which multi-cultural education can be considered, this fine, small, humane scholarly little school can do it for us all.”
— citation from the U.S. Department of Education
- Advent Art Sampler
