HISTORIC WORK OF ART: Ruben Toledo, in yet another of the artist/designer’s ambitious projects, has completed an immersive mural at the Historic New England Center, which opened last June in Haverhill, Mass.
The mural inaugurated the organization’s first artist-in-residence program launched this summer with programming and participation by local artists and the community.
Toledo’s mural reimagines Historic New England’s collection of more than one million objects. “I love being at the beginning of something,” said Toledo. “Historic New England is opening the doors to an extraordinary collection, and I wanted to approach it like a visual dictionary — an A-to-Z of design. Every object tells a story, and together they speak a timeless language of design, innovation, and the joy these bring to our everyday life. My hope is that this mural becomes the beginning of a conversation the community continues to engage in long after I’ve put down my brush.”
“With the Historic New England Center, our goal is to create a place where history inspires creativity, where our collections become a catalyst for new artistic voices, and where residents and visitors alike can gather to experience New England’s cultural heritage in new ways,” said Vin Cipolla, president and chief executive officer of Historic New England. “Ruben Toledo’s residency exemplifies the kind of programming that will define the center as it continues to grow.”
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Toledo immersed himself in Historic New England’s collections, working with curators Nora Ellen Carleson and Michelle Tolini Finamore. In the mural, Toledo interprets furniture, textiles, clothing, wallpaper, decorative arts, photographs, and everyday artifacts through the lens of fashion illustration. Haverhill residents painted alongside Toledo, transforming the installation into a work reflecting Historic New England’s collection and the community’s creativity. Toledo has had a multifaceted, prolific career as a painter; sculptor; illustrator; fashion chronicler and critic, and designer of mannequins, costumes, theater sets, awards, wallpaper, textiles, scarves, dishes, furniture and store windows.
The artist-in-residence program is supported in part by a $55,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Historic New England is considered the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive independent preservation organization in the U.S.
