LOCAL ECOLOGIES is an exhibition, newly commissioned artworks, and public programming across three UMass campuses. Spanning Eastern Massachusetts, the campuses of UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, and UMass Lowell belong to landscapes with diverse coastal and river ecosystems, as well as layered indigenous, colonial, and industrial histories. The LOCAL ECOLOGIES initiative presents contemporary, place-based art practices that bring our ecologies and land use histories into new focus.

The centerpiece of LOCAL ECOLOGIES are multidisciplinary artworks commissioned from artists who have lived and worked in Eastern Massachusetts. These will include both site-specific works for individual campuses, and additional works featured in a touring exhibition to be presented in Boston, Lowell, and New Bedford throughout fall 2019 and spring 2020. The initiative includes programming specific to each campus community and a scholarly catalogue.

Artists:

Dan Borelli, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Duy Hoàng, Sarah Kanouse & Nicholas Brown, Plotform: Jane Marsching + Andi Sutton, Matthew Mazzotta, Evelyn Rydz, and Andrew Yang

Traveling Exhibition Schedule:

UMass Boston

University Hall Gallery

September 3, 2019 – October 26, 2019

Reception: Thursday, September 19th | 5-8pm

UMass Dartmouth (Star Store Campus in Downtown New Bedford)

University Art Gallery

November 7, 2019 – January 10, 2020

Reception: Thursday, November 14th, AHA! Night, 6 – 8:30 pm

UMass Lowell

University Gallery

January 21, 2020 – March 6, 2020

LOCAL ECOLOGIES is organized by Kirsten Swenson, Art History, UMass Lowell; Sam Toabe, Gallery Director, UMass Boston; and Rebecca Uchill, Art Education, Art History, and Media Studies, UMass Dartmouth.