Curated by Laurie Bogdan and Kimberley Harding

Air is invisible and yet essential to life. Its quality affects our quality of life, as well as that of all living things. We seek works that illustrate human, animal and botanical interactions with air, and encourage exploration of the atmospheric aspects of the Hapgood Wright Town Forest.
We ask prospective artists or artist teams to consider these facets of air when formulating your submissions.

Living Things: Animals, insects, birds, and bats are capable of aerial locomotion, powered by flight and gliding in the air. How and why have these creatures and the way they use air for flight evolved over time? Plant life also depends on the gases in the air to create its food and to transport seeds and spores. What native plants and animals living in the Hapgood Wright Town Forest capture your imagination?

Atmosphere: Air temperature is a critical element of the world’s weather, affecting the rate of evaporation, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, and precipitation patterns and types. How do changing weather patterns affect the Forest now and in the future?

Play: Humans have creatively played with the air around us for millennia. Music, singing, kites, paper airplanes, and hot air balloons are all ways we play with the air. What’s your favorite way of using air as a vehicle for play?

Siting of Works
We would like to have many of the works displayed at eye level and above. However, we recognize that hanging works in trees has the potential to damage them, as well as being physically and economically challenging. We will take this factor into consideration when evaluating proposals. We encourage artists to formulate proposals that will be site-specific.

Application Timeline
Proposal Submission date: June 15, 2021. Artist notifications by June 25, 2021
Work must be installed August 21 – 31
Exhibit runs September 1-November 14, 2021
Deinstallation: November 15-21, 2021

Visit the Hapgood Wright Town Forest
We encourage independent exploration of the site prior to creating a proposal. Additional information regarding the installation site may be found in the Hapgood-Wright Town Forest Guide at the following URL: https://concordma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/29013/Town-Forest-Brochure

To Apply (You may submit more than one idea as separate submissions), email the following to
[email protected] by June 15, 2021, 11:59PM.
1. Project Statement: tell us how your project relates to the theme and the Forest (up to 500 words).
2. Resume, webpage, social media
3. Up to 6 images of proposed piece / design drawings / photo of a model of the proposed installation/art piece.
4. 5-10 high resolution JPEG images of past related artwork and/or projects labeled: LastName_FirstName(1) include an image list with dimensions, medium, date.
Installations are primarily around and near the Fairyland Pond.

Exhibition Information
Selected artists will be awarded an honorarium of between $200 and $250, depending on number of artists selected. The exhibition will be on view September 1 – November 14, 2021. Please note this is a Leave No Trace exhibit; from installation to dismantling, nature must be left intact, and all materials brought to the site must be removed at the end of the show. No pieces can be installed in or on the water. The Umbrella receives 30% commission on any works sold in the exhibit. By submitting a proposal, artists acknowledge The Umbrella Arts Center and the Concord Natural Resources Division assume no liability for artwork on the property during the exhibition.

For more information, see TheUmbrellaArts.org/Art-Ramble