A Harbor of Hope Imagined by CVPA

Dec 12

`More than 100 people crowded into the atrium of the College of Visual and Performing Arts on Thursday, December 7, 2023.`

By Charlotte Van Voorhis

Those who found themselves on the campus of UMass Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) on Thursday, December 7, were treated to a climate-inspired creative feast for the senses. Original music scores evoking sounds of the ocean washed over the standing-room only audience while sculpted-foam whale marionettes undulated in front of a 12-foot tall projection of New Bedford’s iconic working waterfront illustrated by hand-cut silhouettes of ships, waves and buildings.

On the landing in the atrium, students playing the upright bass, flute and piano moved listeners with melodies responsive to climate change while cyanotypes—photographic prints exposed to ultraviolet light to produce images in shades of cyan blue—featuring found natural materials reminded visitors of their connection to the local communities.

Art inspired by themes of nature, tumult, history, resilience, local culture and community values came through in a variety of media filling the space entirely. The collective call to action, “Harbor of Hope: New Bedford Resilience and Connections Across the Seas,” was the culmination of a semester-long, multi-department cohort taking part in the 2023 Envision Resilience New Bedford and Fairhaven Challenge. Led by CVPA Associate Dean Ann Kim, nine CVPA faculty—Anna Dempsey, Jess Worby, Cathy Smilan, Allyn Phelps, Jing Wang, Ziddi Msangi, Fernando Goyet, Serra Fels and Lara Henderson—inspired their students to address a broad range of issues in climate change from the changing coastline to affordable housing through the arts.

The compelling impact of illustrating science, and difficult topics like climate change, through art was evidenced by all those in attendance last night. Students from Professor Worby’s illustration class developed activist posters that asked viewers to look towards the future, to reflect on what is worth preserving in a changing climate and to reimagine methods of adapting. Professor Serra Fels’ class used the photo negatives of iconic New Bedford scenes, including the ships in the port, the hurricane barrier, cobble-stoned streets and a statue of Frederick Douglass, to create cyanotype renderings of those photos in deep blue. The participants in 2-D Foundations created illustrations of scenes around downtown, like the Green Bean, the Star Store and the 18th century lamp posts as inspiration for their public painting of two electrical boxes this spring. CVPA was lit up not only with low blue lights but also the buzz of more than 100 guests packing the atrium to witness the final presentations of student artwork developed over a semester in collaboration with the Envision Resilience Challenge.

Dean of the CVPA, Lawrence Jenkens reflected on the evening, “It’s wonderful, just fabulous, I’m really so pleased.”

“I’m really pleased with the collaborative effort,” echoed Ann Kim, associate dean of the CVPA.“The whole semester felt like a really democratic process. It was a great example of working together from scratch, not knowing what it was going to look like at the beginning of the semester and then by the end, everybody came together to create some really beautiful work. The theme of resilience was especially fitting this year—since the closing of the Star Store. The grad students felt good about being able to be independent and make what they wanted to make. And so now I’m just excited to see all the schools put their work together in the New Bedford Art Museum exhibit in January.”

Stay tuned for more information about the 2023 Envision Resilience New Bedford and Fairhaven Challenge exhibition Envision Resilience: Designs for Living with Rising Seas opening Friday, January 26, 2024 at the New Bedford Art Museum.