The City of Boston recently launched Color Flows on Winter Street, a multi-week event spotlighting a public art installation, as one of the first programs in the Planning Department’s Design Vision for the city.
The program, running from Oct. 11 to Nov. 16, features live performances, community events and a mural by artist Massiel Grullón that spans the full street.
Diana Fernandez Bibeau, deputy chief of urban design at the BPD, said Winter Street is one of the city’s busiest streets due to its proximity to public transit and is a pedestrian-only zone between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
“We thought that was a really great opportunity for us to bring in more semi-permanent design elements,” Fernandez Bibeau said. “Winter Street was the perfect candidate for bringing the Design Vision to bear.”
Grullón, who has painted murals all over New England, grew up visiting the shops lining Winter Street. She said she was excited when the city offered up the opportunity to revitalize the “dull” brick path.
“What [the City] really liked was that my work has this very wayfinding type of style,” Grullón said. “I wanted to create a piece of work that has that wayfinding feel to it but very colorful, and it just brightens up the space too.”
Grullón has adorned the ground of Winter Street with a wide, flowing painted path that shifts between shades of yellow and blue, guiding visitors past storefronts and restaurants.
“Public art is very powerful because it brings the community together, and it also activates the space and transforms it and makes it bright and beautiful,” she said. “It makes people want to come to its location and be around it and interact with it.”
Joanna Smith, a Rhode Island resident working in the city, pressed pause to enjoy the live music and take in the art on Tuesday. She said she has noticed a change in the atmosphere of Winter Street since the mural premiered.
“It’s much brighter. It feels cleaner,” Smith said. “I think it has made a significant improvement to the street.”
Fernandez Bibeau said the City is still working to incorporate more art into the space.
“Our artwork is now going from the ground up into the buildings, which I think is going to be really exciting,” she said. “In addition to that, we wanted to make sure that we were making space for performative art to occur here.”
Marguerite Wynter, director of partnership and engagement at the Boston Public Art Triennial, said the goal of public art installations is to foster community.
“[Public art] is thought-provoking, experimental work that is really site specific,” Wynter said. “The piece has to either respond to the neighborhood that it’s in, or it has to have some connection to community.”
Fernandez Bibeau said Boston remains committed to creating spaces for artistic expression and securing affordable housing for artists.
“We see ourselves as a world class city that is trying to bring the creative economy into the forefront of our work,” Fernandez Bibeau said. “We see it as a really important driver of innovation here.”
