Somerville's Newest Art Installation is Alive & Made From Your Neighbors' Stories

A new public artwork in Somerville being installed this week will soon literally be growing in Somerville’s Lou Ann David Park. Local artist Anna Fubini gathered the voices of Somerville residents through a writing process centered on themes of impermanence, transformation, renewal, and resilience. Her artwork, Letters Rewoven, transforms participants’ writings into paper pulp mixed with wildflower seeds that covers the sculpture’s panels. As the installation weathers and decomposes, the seeds will sprout, symbolizing regeneration and the cyclical nature of community and change.

To celebrate the installation, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the Somerville Arts Council, are pleased to invite community members to a small public reception. The gathering will take place on Saturday, November 8, from 12 to 1 p.m. at Lou Ann David Park (1060 Broadway).  Letters Rewoven will remain on view through Spring 2026.

About Letters Rewoven 

Developed by Fubini in collaboration with Brenda M. Echeverry, Expressive Arts Therapist at Art and Soul Clinic, Letters Rewoven challenges traditional ideas of permanence in public art by embracing organic transformation. As it fades, Letters Rewoven gives rise to new life, enriching the surrounding landscape both physically and symbolically.

This installation was commissioned through the Temporary Public Art by Emerging Artists Program, a grant initiative of the Somerville Arts Council funded by the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Making It Public Program. The program supports early-career artists in gaining hands-on public art experience while enriching Somerville’s parks and public spaces with new creative voices.

For more information about Letters Rewoven and opportunities to contribute writing to the project, visit annafubini.com.

About the Artist

Anna Fubini is an artist, community arts educator, and arts administrator working in experimental fiber and mixed media to create large-scale sculptural installations. Her work juxtaposes opposing materials, found objects, and subverted surface design techniques to explore themes of duality, contradiction, and deconstruction—particularly in relation to societal norms and gender binaries.

Fubini holds a Bachelor of Science in Studio Art and Gender Studies from Skidmore College (2015) and a Master of Science in Arts Administration from Boston University (2023).

Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy in advance at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or apomeroy@somervillema.gov.  

The City of Somerville can provide you with an interpreter in your language for free. To request an interpreter, please contact us at languageaccess@somervillema.gov or call 311 (617-666-3311) at least 7 days in advance of this event. 

This event will be videotaped by the City’s GovTV team. Watch it on-demand with optional closed-captioning (select the CC icon) on YouTube.com/SomervilleCityTV. Or watch on cable TV at GovTV ( somervillema.gov/video) Comcast Ch. 22 and GovTV Astound (RCN) Ch. 13 & 613. Videos generally post within one business day of recording.