The Friends hired HarborArts and The Pangeaseed Foundation to manage the replacement of two murals. Both will be located on the Greenway, on the underpass walls on the Parks Department Section of the Greenway.

Sea Walls Boston is an art event planned in collaboration between the PangeaSeed Foundation and HarborArts as part of Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans. The new Greenway murals will be part of a larger art effort in East Boston that will be completed between now and 2021. The two new Greenway murals will be painted with a purpose, to raise awareness about the importance of our oceans. The public artworks will serve as educational tools and conversation-starters about key issues affecting East Boston’s ocean, environment, and its people.

The new murals will be located on the Sumner and Porter St underpasses. This means that we will need to say goodbye to some of our current art pieces: the Train mural at the Sumner Street Bridge underpass and the ZUMIX mural at the Porter Street Bridge underpass. Both murals have lived a long life and will be remembered fondly. We will be documenting these murals with the help of HarborArts volunteers and local East Boston photographers to preserve and celebrate the memory of the artworks.

Current state of the murals that will be replaced

The murals should be installed in mid-September. We will post more information murals over the next few weeks.

Funding for the murals is from a grant to the Friends of Mary Ellen Welch Greenway from the Barr Foundation.

Sea Walls Boston is presented by Linda Cabot of Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs in partnership with the Friends of the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway, Boston Harbor Now, the East Boston Foundation, East Boston Main Streets, Eastie Farm, Artists for Humanity, the Donald McKay School, and members of the East Boston community. The project is made possible by the Boston Parks Department, and the Boston Arts Council.

Poster for original event adapted because of COVID-19