Exhibition: April 14 – June 14, 2025
Opening Reception  April 14, 6PM

The Umbrella Arts Center in historic Concord Center will commemorate the semiquincentennial of the American Revolution and “the shot heard round the world” with an ambitious outdoor/indoor public and gallery art exhibition, Weaving an Address, curated by artist Marla McLeod.

For the first time, Weaving an Address combines The Umbrella’s popular Art Ramble public art installation, on view April 15 through October 7 at Brister’s Hill in nearby Walden Woods, with an indoor exhibition on view April 14 through June 14 in The Umbrella’s Allie Kussin Gallery. The exhibition features site-specific work by eight prominent Black artists combining sculpture, fiber art, installation and live performance inspired by little-known experiences of historical Black inhabitants of Concord and its Walden Woods.

Featured artists in the exhibition are Ifé Franklin, Stephen Hamilton, Whitney Harris, Ekua Holmes, Perla Mabel, Marla McLeod, Kimberly Love Radcliffe, and Anthony Peyton Young.

Outdoors, large-scale work will be installed on Brister’s Hill, named for Brister Freeman, an enslaved man who won his freedom by serving in the Revolutionary War and then bought the property and lived there along with other formerly enslaved.Indoors at The Umbrella, inter-related fiber artworks will weave narratives from fragmented pasts to offer a vision of how history shapes the present and influences the future.

Supporting community activities include an opening reception on April 14, monthly curator talks, a processional with artist Ifé Franklin, and participation in the town-wide Revolutionary Concordians Trading Card program.

This exhibition is presented as part of the Concord250 commemoration, in partnership with The Walden Woods Project and The Robbins House, in association with Gather 2025, a month-long exploration and celebration of fiber and textile art in Greater Boston, and with permission of Concord Natural Resources Division.

See https://TheUmbrellaArts.org/Weaving for more information about special engagements, wayfinding, artist bios, and background to the exhibition.

ACCESS: The Umbrella is wheelchair accessible, with ADA parking and marked all-gender bathrooms available. There is assessed parking for visitors to the Brister’s Hill site on Walden Street, just north of the intersection with Route 2. More details on our website.

This event explores our region’s revolutionary past! Learn about Freedom’s Way 250 and discover the many ways the Heritage Area and its partners are commemorating and celebrating our nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary.