Town of Middleborough and Middleborough High School Innovation Lab Fabricates and Facilitates Public Art for Downtown windows

Artwork Created by Savannah Byrne

MIDDLEBOROUGH – The Town of Middleborough is pleased to announce that the grand opening of a public art window installation, supported by a generous grant, will take place later this month.

Hosted by Middleborough Community Cable Access Media (MCCAM), the grand opening of the public art window installation will take place on Saturday, June 24, from 5-7 p.m. at MCCAM’s window, located at the corner of Center and Main Streets. The window art was created by artist and Middleborough High School student Savannah Byrne who will speak about the creative process behind her artwork at 6 p.m.

Last fall, the Office of Economic and Community Development (OECD) received a generous grant of $4,000 from the Middleborough Cultural Council for the downtown public art window installation.

In search of an artist, the Town of Middleborough contacted Middleborough High School Innovation Lab Coordinator Tony Chiuppi. Byrne was selected as the artist to create an installation at MCCAM after she submitted her proposal featuring her sketches and her idea of a poem as text-based art. Byrne is known for her songwriting poetry, visual artistic talent, and her powerful short film about procrastination and depression.

This is Byrne’s first public art installation and it will feature text-based artwork of her poem about the sun and a visual representation of Middleborough’s rural and urban landscapes. 

The art installation is called “The Byrne Project,” a play on words of the artist’s name and the installation’s reference to the sun’s power. The project will utilize Middleborough’s High School Innovation Fabrication Lab for all its fabrication needs, including CNC milling, in an effort to expose youth to new ideas around design, fabrication and public art.  

The windows downtown are not ultraviolet-protected, so the project will use stencils that will be laser cut using the CNC mill and UV light to exploit this feature. The UV light will be used to illustrate the nature of impermanence, like how towns change, plans change, and people and places are constantly in flux.

Once placed, the stencils will burn the poem’s words and imagery onto a fabric backing. The result will be burnt and bleached-out images and words over fabric that will be up for four weeks. These images will include imagery of Middleborough’s industrial past and a design of a winding river and herring to illustrate its rural character.

Ariel Hallgren, who runs the woman-owned design business H2DesignStudio specializing in museum displays and three-dimensional design, acted as a mentor to Byrne throughout the process. Hallgren worked with Byrne to ensure that the fabrication of the work followed the proposal and would fit inside MCCAM’s windows. Hallgren also agreed to act as the fiscal sponsor for the artist.

Town Manager James McGrail spoke on the importance of the project saying, “The installation will illustrate a sense of place to foster community pride. The work will provide opportunities for interaction on a downtown street corner and draw a broader connection to ecological sensitivity, climate change and notions of impermanence.” 

OECD also used part of the MCC grant funds to hire former Middleborough High School media lab graduate and MCCAM Cable Access User Joe Escolas as a production editor to document the making of Byrne’s installation. Escolas created five short 1-4 minute films to advertise the project. Part of the funds were used last October during the Downtown Branding event for live music in the window of The Bridge Church.

During the grand opening event, the public will be invited into the MCCAM’s studio to watch Excolas’s short documentaries and Byrne’s short film.

The event is part of a larger event called Fab Fest which includes a Pride fest
on the town lawn, a Fashion Show on Thatchers Row, live street music at Kramer Park, and after-hours events. The Byrne Project is proud to participate in this first and hopefully annual event. For the full Fab Fest schedule of the day and evening events, click here.

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