Boston Blossoms
The Boston Blossoms project started during the pandemic in 2020, and pulled together artwork from local schools and community groups, who worked with artist Emily Cartwright and Transported to create designs for four brand new fire box installations.
Emily worked with primary schools, Boston College and local community groups when there were still many restrictions on daily life. All the sessions were conducted remotely, either via live Zoom workshops, video tutorials or teacher-led activities provided by Emily. Participants were provided with 'activity packs' containing everything they would need for the session, and the final artwork was photographed and sent back to Emily.
The overarching theme of all the workshops was natural forms, and each activity was focused on exploring a wide variety of different art techniques with the process being as important, if not more important, that the final image. As well as the primary aim of gathering source material for the fire box designs, the secondary aim of the whole project, including the fire garden at the end, was to inject some fun and creativity into lives that had been severely disrupted due to the pandemic. Using art to counteract the fatigue of restrictions on daily life, and to celebrate being part of a bigger event, reminding people of their communities, and seeing the town of Boston 'Blossom' after the hardship of Covid.
_edited.jpg)
Each final fire box design was themed according to the seasons, inspired by the ideas and imagery created by workshop participants.
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
The designs were plasma cut into mild steel by hand over the course of two weeks by both Emily and Jamie, then fitted up with their stands and flame systems by gas technician Brendon and Fyr gardener Adam.
The finished fire boxes were first shown at Gainsborough Illuminate in November 2021, having been delayed a year due to the winter lockdown of 2020-21.
The town of Boston saw their finished artwork on display the same month, at the Boston Illuminate event and Christmas Lights switch on.
Click on the gallery below to see photos from the Boston Blossoms project, from inception to completion.
A sample of the activity packs sent out to Hawthorn Tree Primary School in preparation for their Zoom workshop.
Activity packs boxed and ready to be delivered to Boston West Academy for their workshop, delivered via video tutorial.
The "Summer" Fire box at Gainsborough Illuminate. Photo credit: Aaron Swan.
A sample of the activity packs sent out to Hawthorn Tree Primary School in preparation for their Zoom workshop.