New Cambridge Public Art

Sketch of Monique Aimee's mural design for the City’s new brine tanks at St. Peter’s Field.

New Cambridge Public Art: Mural At Cambridge’s St. Peter’s Field, Mosaic For Moses Youth Center

Two new public artworks are coming to Cambridge in the next few weeks from Cambridge Arts and the City of Cambridge. Monique Aimee will be painting murals directly on the City’s new brine tanks at St. Peter’s Field and David Fichter will install a mosaic at Moses Youth Center.

Monique Aimee (http://moniqueaimee.com) is an illustrator and lettering artist whose clients have included Coca Cola, Disney, Target, Coach and Chronicle Books. Beginning next week, the Cambridge artist will paint a mural on four new brine tanks the City has constructed at the parking lot for St. Peter’s Field, next to Danehy Park, as part of a pioneering program to reduce the use of salt in de-icing winter roads.

Aimee writes, “This mural celebrates the joys of going to your local park with scenes such as bike riding, dog walking, and gardening. The purpose of these brine tanks is to have a better environmental impact, so I wanted to make sure the theme of nature and growth is present from any angle. This mural also highlights a bit of the history of the clay pits and brickyards in the 1800's that would eventually become Danehy Park.”

The four 12-foot-tall brine tanks were installed for a pilot program that treats icy road surfaces with a brine solution of salt and water that reduces ice buildup on roads but uses a quarter of the salt that is normally deployed in reducing icy street surfaces.

In November 2019, David Fichter (left) worked with guests at Cambridge'sMosesYouth Center on the community mosaic for the exterior of the building.

Cambridge artist David Fichter (http://www.davidfichter.com) has begun to install a new 40-foot-long, 16-inch-tall mosaic above the front entrance of Cambridge's Robert and Janet Moses Youth Center. Cambridge youth and community members helped develop the artwork, including hands-on work arranging the mosaic tiles.

Fichter writes, “The mosaic celebrates both the activities that take place at the youth center and the legacy of Robert and Janet Moses, Cambridge residents who were important organizers in the Civil Rights movement in the South.”

Fichter’s mosaic is funded by Cambridge Arts' FLOW grant program, which has supported 11 percent-for-art cultural projects designed for Cambridge’s Port neighborhood in parallel with a major City infrastructure construction project to reduce flooding in this neighborhood between Central and Kendall squares.

In 2018 and '19, Fichter worked with students at Cambridge's Fletcher Maynard Academy to create a mosaic for the corner of the building at Broadway and Windsor Street. Fichter also created an outdoor mosaic at Community Art Center in Cambridge. He has painted landmark murals across the region, including murals on the Trader Joes on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, at the parking lot at Norfolk Street and Bishop Allen Drive in Cambridge's Central Square and at the Alewife MBTA station in Cambridge, as well as his Mystic River Mural Project along Mystic Avenue in Somerville.