Above: Art on the Trails organizers announced the artists who will be part of the exhibit with a theme inspired by the program’s anniversary and numerology. (works will including pictured art by Julie Nussbaum and Lee Williams – images from website)
A week from tomorrow, artists will install works alongside the Beals Preserve trails for the 9th annual Art on the Trails exhibit. Organizers have announced the artists selected to be part of the “Number 9” themed exhibit.
Artists will be putting up their works between the hours of 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday, June 14th. (See schedule in map right or scroll down.)
The exhibit will remain open for the public to enjoy daily from dawn to dusk throughout the summer and early fall.
This year, 13 projects were selected from the pool of applications. (Scroll down for the list of artists.) An update on the website quotes Art Juror Madeleine Lord describing:
The works selected for this year’s Art on the Trails will hopefully give visitors a startle, a smile, and a pause to enjoy their placement in the landscape. Some are made from wood, so their return to a woodland trail is like a makeover reveal. Other works are composed of materials with origins completely foreign to nature, yet they combine like exotic tourists.
Under this year’s theme, “Number 9”, artists were encouraged to explore numerology and symbolism of the “powerful number” which:
represents completion, wisdom, and transformation, marking the end of a cycle and the beginning of something new. It is a number of universality and humanitarianism, embodying creativity, enlightenment, and reflection—perfectly aligning with the spirit of art in nature.
(You can read more about that here.)
Since the art will be exhibited on the preserve, artists are required to “Leave No Trace” after the exhibit closes this fall. The closing ceremony will take place on September 14th from 3:00 – 5:00 pm.
Following tradition, one of the installations will be a group project comprised of pieces created by Southborough 4th and 5th graders under the supervision of Neary Elementary School Art Teacher Denise Johnson.
This year’s work is titled “Ninth Letter of the Alphabet Portraits”. It will be installed at 10:30 am (at spot #2 on the map) between the meadows and the Wildlife Habitat.
The other dozen projects include five from returning artists. Below is the schedule for when and where you can find them installing their works:
- 10:00 am – Nine of Lace by Pam Bonaguide (of Wayland) at #3
- 11:00 am – Pivot Points by Rebecca Long (of Stow) at #6
- 11:30 am – Where am I going, I Don’t Quite Know by Sarah Alexander (of Sutton) at #8
- 12:30 pm – HMS Circle Dance by Julie Nussbaum (of Cambridge) at #7
- 1:30 pm – 9 Rungs of the Proletariat by Charlie Smith (of Jefferson NH) at #4
- 1:30 pm – Frenzied Returns by Lisa Barthelson (of Rutland) at #10
- 1:00 pm – Nine Sentinels by Paul Angiolillo (of Weston) at #1
- 2:00 pm – Bearing Gifts by Trish Dehls (of Woodstock, CT) at #5
- 2:30 pm – Infinite Delicacy by Lee Williams (of Shaftbury, VT) at #11
- 3:00 pm – Gateway by Clark Barnhart (of Worcester) at #12
- 3:30 pm – A Point of View, by Shawndavid Berry (of Newport, RI) at #13
- 4:00 pm – Through the Looking Glass by Chelsea Bradway (of Southborough) at #9
As in past years, the exhibit will also used to inspire poetry for a chapbook. This year’s will be juried by poet Fred Gerhard
Applications will open on June 15th. You can find more details here.
Once again, the outdoor exhibit is made possible through support from SOLF (Southborough Open Land Foundation) and the Southborough Community Fund. This year, additional funding comes from sponsors Jennifer Juliano, Middlesex Saving Bank, Fay School, and Root to Rise Pilates.
*(cover images clockwise cropped from photo by Chelsea Bradway of Matthew Haberstron’s 2023 contribution “Good Tree with its Voice”, 2024 theme image by art juror Marie Craig, and photo of Whitney Beals from Facebook)
Updated (6/6/25 4:16 pm): I had accidentally left in a subtitle from last year’s post with the old theme. I also had written that the map didn’t note the locations — text I meant to delete after I found and inserted the map and details.
