Boston, USA | ’20

Dominican-American Silvia López Chavez is a Boston-based artist. She believes in the power of the creative process as an agent for positive change and uses art as a vehicle for connection.

"I am an interdisciplinary artist, interested in the role that art plays in the human need to connect. My work investigates connection on multiple levels; socially, environmentally and culturally.

My creative process is multilayered which includes experimentation with medium, color, line, repetition, and form. In my studio practice, I combine traditional methods of drawing and painting with experimental techniques in printmaking and collage, finding a balance between representational and abstract. My work has gradually grown into the public realm as part of my social practice.

My work is fueled by my curiosity of understanding the context of the site and its relationship to the way the public engages with that space. Each art piece I create involves a meaningful investigation of the unique social and historical background that makes up a place. The imagery that I select is intended to celebrate, inform and inspire connection with each ecosystem. My approach to mural design incorporates layered graphic elements juxtaposed with a more realistic rendered style. The visual collective is meant to be approachable and understood by diverse audiences.

When executing large-scale work I employ female artists to strengthening the comradery and community among women in the public art realm; empowering women and girls to take up space through visual art."

"IMAGINE is a Nepali artist who paints mindful mantras in her native language and meshes the aesthetics of Sanskrit scriptures with graffiti influences. Being the first to mesh Nepali Alphabets with American graffiti, she has shown her work in several exhibitions, commissioned works and public walls around the world from Boston to Kathmandu. Her show “Mindful Mandalas” was recently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Imagine has collaborated with international companies like Reebok, Neiman Marcus and Red Bull. Her work is held in the private collections of Facebook, Google, Capital One and Fidelity Investments.

Imagine is also an educator and social entrepreneur. She established Nepal’s first Children’s Art Museum to provide a creative space where children and youth can develop 21st century skills through project based art experiences.

Imagine received her Master’s degree from Harvard University. During her time at Harvard, Imagine explored effective leaderships in education and the intersections of creativity, learning and technology. Besides painting larger than life murals and paintings, Imagine passionately supports Asian art by working as the Arts Program Manager at Harvard’s Mittal South Asia Institute."

"My work is often an attempt to transform sterile scientific facts into a rich visual landscape that can be easily accessed intellectually and emotionally by a wide range of people. In particular, I am drawn to mural work because of the inherently democratic viewership. To experience a public mural, the viewer does not need money, education, status, or access to spaces of privilege such as galleries or museums. When a mural is painted in a public space, through content, form, and sheer size, it has the enormous power to transform that space into a “place.” It can provide the seed for a more active, vibrant, collaborative, and discursive arena, and even set the intention of the actions that occur in that space through its collaborative creation and subject matter.

My work is focused on the natural world, our place in it, and the conflicts and collaborations we find ourselves in everyday with nature. My bright, carefully researched murals often aim to disrupt deeply embedded beliefs about Aristotle’s hierarchy of nature. I render birds, animals, and plants to evoke a sense of awe and reverence for these beings. Although extinction and loss loom in the man-made Anthropocene era, I hope that my paintings call attention to the magnificent beauty that still exists in nature today."

"Julia "Julz" Roth is a Boston based artist and arts therapist. She finds meaning in assembling the fragments of the human experience. From large scale murals to mixed media paintings and collage Julz works to transform old narratives into new creations. Her work explore themes such as human behavior, cultural patterns, identity, emotion, and femininity though color, texture and form. She works with a variety of mediums including spray paint, acrylic, newspaper, found objects, pastels and other recyclables.

Julz received her B.A. double majoring in Transpersonal Psychology and Visual Arts, from Burlington College in Burlington, Vermont in 2009 and went on to received her M.A. in Expressive Art Therapy from Lesley University, in 2011. Since then Julz has been using art to activate communities and evoke creative expression. "

"Cedric "Vise1" Douglas is an artist and designer who integrates graffiti ideology into his art. Vise's (Virtuously Intercepting Society's Emotions) work is inspired by every day life idioms and the subculture of guerilla, or street art. Cedric uses this approach to express his social views on the world."

Vise1 produced the first Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans in Boston during HubWeek in 2019.

Artists For Humanity (AFH) provides under-resourced teens the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in art and design.

AFH is built on the philosophy that engagement in the creative process is a powerful force for social change, and that creative entrepreneurship is a productive and life-changing opportunity for young people.

Bridging economic, racial, and social divisions, AFH enriches urban communities by introducing young people's creativity to the business community.​

A team of teens, including teen leaders from East Boston, and their mentors, created a youth-driven, designed, and painted mural for Sea Walls Boston in 2020.

Felipe Ortiz is a Colombian-American artist based in Boston, MA.

"My paintings and murals are a unique fusion of artistic themes, from representational views of urban scenery to my “Explosive Nature” series. My multicultural upbringing and travels between my native Colombia and United States has helped me gain a wider perspective in my artistic interests. From Colombia’s vibrant culture, colors, sounds and dense natural scenery, to the States’ vast landscape and fast-paced urban environments, there are multiple elements I can pick from each location and merge into the pictorial and self-idealistic vision I'd like to represent."

He is the co-creator of Fresco exchange, a team of muralists, designers, makers, organizers and community engagers who promote and connect artists internationally. Their core mission is to share ideas between creative economies and exchange best practices in the arts. Through the cultural experiences Fresco creates, they encourage artistic leaders across nations to make progress overcoming the challenges to creative success in their communities.