In the form of Cheap Art, this project celebrates the oft-unheralded field of Community Art in Boston, and the essential and inspirational leadership role of women in the field.
The ten women honored in this set of trading cards are putting their remarkable and diverse creative talents to the profound task of meeting our city’s most pressing social and emotional needs. An eleventh card commemorates Boston Community Arts legend, Samantha Sadd.
The printed trading cards format is a nostalgic, novel, and affordable way to hold and share this meaningful content. Complete trading card sets are available for purchase here.
This is the second semi-annual set of Women in Community Arts Trading Cards produced by Neil Horsky. The artist bios are written by Boston-based arts journalist and musician, Rachel Flood Page.
This project is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts + Culture.
The 2020 Samantha Sadd Honorees:
Silvia Lopez Chavez
We have Silvia’s incredible drive and talent to thank for adding color and vibrancy to Boston’s public spaces. Each of her bold, graphic murals is created in relationship with those who use the space. In collaboration with local communities, female artists, and young people, she empowers lives as she enlivens walls. As an artist-in-residence at the Boston Children’s Hospital, she guided anxious patients and their families to use their creative energy to heal — mind, heart and soul.
Ashleigh Gordon
Not only a virtuoso on the viola, Ashleigh is the co-founder and Artistic/Executive Director of Castle of our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black Artistry through music. Ashleigh is changing the landscape of Boston music, bringing unheard voices of brilliant Black musicians and composers to concert halls, and sharing classical music with communities who are frequently underrepresented in the genre.
Carolyn Lewenberg
A creator of community-engaged public artworks and events, Carolyn connects social and environmental ecosystems. Her project, Schools of Thought on Climate Change, highlighted the struggles of the fishing industry in the wake of climate change. Among her many collaborations with youth, she worked with 8th graders to design and build a rain garden in Everett, inspiring residents to understand natural systems and their potential to become environmental stewards.
Lilly E. Manycolors
An artist of mixed Choctaw heritage, Lilly brings power, profundity and personal experience to her stunning works. The Red Dress Lodge installation on Boston Common expresses the trauma of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Womxn, and seeks to heal communities living on colonized land. As a Resident at Boston Center for the Arts, Lilly challenges us to examine our bodies and identities, as well as the role of indigenous peoples in cultivating humanity’s well-being.
Fallon Leigh O’Brien
Beginning in 2014 on Somerville Community Access Television (SCATV), Fallon has championed her peers and neighbors with Fallon’s Daily Toast. Her eclectic show is a true delight, featuring people whose stories are worth hearing. With wit, charisma, and enthusiasm, she interviews artists, activists, and politicians, highlighting their efforts to improve the world around them. She recently transitioned to New Orleans, a city now graced by one of New England’s true gems.
Zenaida Peterson
Manifesting passion and strength, Zenaida’s poetry speaks of being Black and queer in a world that does not tell us how to be either. They recognized that most art spaces do not give enough room or recognition to feminine voices, and so created the Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam (FEMS) Tournament, an event for feminine-identified poets to share their truths. Zenaida’s words are found in a brilliant book of poetry entitled Breakfast for Dinner & Other Blasphemous Things.
Samantha Sadd
This 2020 trading card set commemorates Samantha Sadd, longtime director of Hawthorne Youth and Community Center in Roxbury. She inspired the young people of Highland Park to be creative and recognize their excellence, and humbly maintained that she learned from them as much as they did from her. Sam’s dedicated community organizing work kept generations of families strong and connected. Her mission and legacy continues at HYCC to this day.
Angela Sawyer
Renaissance human, of Preggy Peggy and the Lazy Babymakers fame, Angela Sawyer invites audiences to surrender to the strange. Every Sunday she hosts Midway or The Highway, a comedy open mic in JP, displaying her raucous hilarity, and welcoming others to perform and join in the laughter. She shares her love of storytelling, stirring insight and intimate connection, as host of Tales from the Inside, a weekly event at the Comedy Studio in Somerville.
Chanel Thervil
Collaboration with fellow artists and showcasing the voices of her peers are central to all of Chanel’s social practice artwork. As an artist-in-residence at Mass MoCA, she painted a series of murals which depict Black community change-makers in the Boston area. Her installation, Warm and Fuzzy Feels, at the Boston Children’s Museum features vibrant portraits of women in multicultural friendships as an homage to the beauty and strength of human connection.
Crystal Bi Wegner
An artist and Boston Public School teacher, Crystal’s work echoes her connection to her identities and community. Crystal co-founded Moon Eaters Collective, a zine series presenting stories and artwork by queer and API artists. Through the Residence Lab project, Crystal, collaborator Lily Xie, and Chinatown residents designed and built A House Shaped Dream, an installation inviting people to share their ideas and dreams about the future of Chinatown.
D. Farai Williams
With a deep understanding of how the arts can open our hearts to embrace racial equity, Farai’s work transforms society. She founded the organization, Dynamizing Equity, which uses physical movement to help people process and heal from trauma. Her Idjeli Theater Works workshops are a resource for fighting oppression, within and without. She continues her social justice and healing work as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for METCO.
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Learn about the first edition 2018 Elma Lewis Women in Community Arts Trading Cards here.
