Pathways: Art on the Minuteman Bikeway
PATHWAYS was launched in 2017 to bring art into one of Arlington’s busiest public spaces: a section of the Minuteman Bikeway that traverses and connects the town’s Cultural District. Installations were sited on a segment between Linwood Street and Swan Place, a half-mile stretch lined by tall canopy trees and featuring vistas of Spy Pond. Each year we commission artists to create site-specific work inspired by the natural and social qualities of the Minuteman, a well-traveled green space that welcomes thousands of people of all ages for biking, walking with family and friends, or solitary contemplation of nature. If you have an idea for a project on the Bikeway, please contact our curator and public art consultant, Cecily Miller.
On View
Persistence, Dots and Dashes, Current II and Current III are currently On View for Pathways.
Persistence: A Community Response to Pervasive Plastic
Michelle Lougee & Arlington Craftivists
Sculptor and Crochet Artist Michelle Lougee and a group of community artists created 37 colorful sculptures crocheted from PLARN, a “yarn” made from plastic bags, to resemble micro-organisms found in water. The project’s goal is to raise awareness of the deadly impact of single-use plastic on the environment and human health.
Dots and Dashes
Johnny Lapham
“If this were a kind of lollipop Morse code dotting and dashing its way in and out of your awareness each time you pass by, what song might they be singing just for you?” Audio Tour is here.
ExtraOrdinary Birds
Resa Blatman
These collectible art postcards pay tribute to neighborhood birds with painted portraits by Resa Blatman and text by Ellen Reed. A combination of gorgeous images and pithy facts will get you started with birdwatching along the Bikeway and stewardship activities in your own back yard. Audio tour is available here.
Past Projects
Walking Poetry and Colony I, 2020; Room to Grow, Fall 2019. You can find more information about them here; Ripple, Current, and Flutter, 2018. Rhetoric of Opposites and City Fox, 2017.
Colony I
Christopher Frost
Sculptor Christopher Frost has created a playful architectural folly, a miniature village composed of imagined architectural elements perched on the trunk of a mature maple tree. Audio Tour is available here.
Room to Grow
Freedom Baird
Artist Freedom Baird has created an intimate outdoor room furnished with a chair, bed, and bureau salvaged from the curb and interwoven with native plantings. It’s a place to consider how humans and nature interact. Audio Tour is available here.
News and Press
What’s With The Art on Arlington’s Minuteman Bikeway? | Arlington Patch, October 25,2017
Where arts, culture take root and thrive | Boston Globe, September 29,2017
Arlington knitters create public art on the bikeway | Arlington Advocate, September 14,2017
Bikeway art cycles away from black/white thinking | Your Arlington, July 10,2017
Minuteman bikeway public artist wants to make you think | Arlington Advocate, July 10,2017
Minuteman bikeway to host art installations | Arlington Advocate, June 26,2017
Take some art in on your ride | Boston Globe, July 13,2017
Thanks to our supporters
PATHWAYS is supported by grants from the Arlington Cultural Council, a local agency, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and the National Park Service. Additional support generously provided by donations from individual supporters of the arts and the Town of Arlington.
PATHWAYS is curated by APA’s Public Art Consultant Cecily Miller in collaboration with a committee of representatives from the Arlington Commission on Art and Culture: Adria Arch, Lorri Berenberg, Barbara Costa and Stephanie Marlin-Curiel. Charles Tracy, National Park Service and Ali Carter, Arlington Planning Department, serve as PATHWAYS advisors. For more information contact Cecily at cecily.apa@gmail.com.