About my Socially Engaged Art Practice...

My socially engaged art practice is both informed by and informs my philosophical work on Place-as-Medium that I have been developing for over a decade. The core values are thinking-through-place, hospitality of place, shared authorship, and ecological thinking. The work is shaped by my zen practice. My creative practice has been expressed through community-based socially engaged art practice, art collectives, and an increasingly public-based creative teaching practice.

selected projects:

Greening From Within, Co-created by Dr. Marcia K. Wochner and Green Beverly, with Kate Farrington, Maura Cronin, Olivia Freeman, Ania Gruca, Kevin Herlihy, Cal Mcalvain, Nyeemah McDonald, Suze Runnells, Lynch Park Rose Garden, May 31 to June 1, 2025, Beverly, MA

Minga Walk around Salamander Reservoir, with Ocean School Collective (OSC), for World Minga Day, May 2025, Gloucester, MA

Future Monument to the Trees of the Public Garden, part of Un-MONUMENT, sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, Boston, MA

Farm/Art dTOUR, walking with María Patricia Tinajero, October 7 & 8, 2024, sponsored by The Wormfarm Institute, Sauk County, WI

Minga Walk around Salamander Reservoir, with Ocean School Collective (OSC), for World Minga Day, May 2024, Gloucester, MA

Ocean School, Artistic Research Laboratory, an experimental art school whose mission is to connect art, science, and technology through creative pedagogical events, in residence at Ocean Alliance, Gloucester, MA (since 2022)

Social Justice Group, Zen Center North Shore, Beverly, MA, co-facilitator with Dr. Esther Ngotho (2018 to 2020)

Zen and the Art of Jess Dugan, an evening program of zen meditation and tea within the exhibition, Jess Dugan: Every Breath We Drew, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, Beverly, MA

Crossing Water: A Festival at the Beverly/Salem Bridge, faculty advisor for student projects, and participant, Beverly/Salem, MA (September 2019)

Painting Peace: A Week in Beverly with Kazuaki Tanahashi, a festival of the city, art, zen, and peace, a community festival in partnership with Zen Center North Shore, Montserrat College of Art, Shodokan Aikido Studio, The Cabot, Atomic Café, Beverly, MA (July 16-21, 2018)

The Beast Seminars, a series of 4 student-led public seminars held within the artwork, John Preus, The Beast: Herd Mentality (2018), Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA

Social Justice Workshop inside the Beast, zen meditation and social justice workshop held within the artwork, John Preus, The Beast: Herd Mentality (2018), Montserrat College of Art, with Joan Amaral of Zen Center North Shore, Beverly, MA