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Liz LaManche (born Elizabeth Manicatide 1967) is an American artist based in
Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 81, ...
, known for creating large-scale public installations and street art in the Boston and Washington, DC, areas.


Education

LaManche received a B.A. in
Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
at Yale University studying
graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...
under
Inge Druckrey Inge Druckrey (born 1940 in Nazi Germany, Germany) is a German-born American designer and educator, who brought the Swiss school of design to the United States. She taught at Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, University of Hartford, ...
, and did a thesis project in architectural ornament/site specific urban installations advised by sculptor
Kent Bloomer Kent Cress Bloomer (May 5, 1935 – October 22, 2023) was an American sculptor of architectural ornament. He taught classes on ornament for over forty years at the Yale School of Architecture, and many of his public works of ornament have become ...
.


Career


Early

LaManche spent her early professional career in software
user interface design User interface (UI) design or user interface engineering is the design of user interfaces for machines and software, such as computers, home appliances, mobile devices, and other electronic devices, with the focus on maximizing usability and the ...
,
web development Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications, ...
and graphic design, painting in her spare time.


Festival Art

At
Burning Man Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the Western United States. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the penultimate night of the event: the ...
in 2005, LaManche began to experiment with large-scale
murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...
illuminated with programmed color-changing LED lighting, later known as "art for kinetic light". These murals and their successors were some of the first experiments in this genre of
LED art LED art is a form of light art constructed from light-emitting diodes. LEDs (light emitting diodes) are very inexpensive to purchase and have become a new way to make street art. Many artists who use LEDs are guerrilla artists, incorporating LED ...
as architectural LED lighting first became available to makers and artists. LaManche's murals appeared for several years at the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, NV, and at the Boston and New York Decompression events.


Art in Public Spaces

The "bright color, fanciful characters" and "playful figures" of LaManche's festival work and its layered use of symbolic & iconographic details" proved a crowd-pleasing combination, and commissioned work for large-scale
mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...
s and installations in the Boston and Washington D.C. areas followed. Her work in
Hyattsville, Maryland Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is an urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States census. History Before Europeans reached the area, the upper Anacostia ...
achieved national notice for both its innovative use of LED technology and its role in that city's urban renewal, launching opportunities for local projects in her home state. A goal of Lamanche's work is to humanize the urban environment, the legacy of her architectural training. In a 2016 interview, LaManche stated: "I'd like to provide ways for people to engage with each other and break down barriers, contributing to greater understanding, peace and justice in our society. Literally, I believe we need this to be sustainable as a species." to , and create a more inclusive, progressive vision of human society."


Works


Public Commissions


"After Dark, Hyattsville" (2011)

A 40x14-foot mural for kinetic light on the Franklin's Brewery building, facing Route 1 in
Hyattsville, Maryland Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is an urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States census. History Before Europeans reached the area, the upper Anacostia ...
, part of the designated Arts District. ""After Dark" has been described as the first permanent outdoor mural for kinetic light. The piece features colorful characters and dreamlike imagery alluding to aspects of the neighborhood, including the local college's mascot and a humorous reference to another piece of public art in a nearby park. Programmed light shows projected on the piece via architectural lighting are designed to make the colors in the painting appear to swap and move.


"Stairs of Fabulousness" (2014)

This 2014 installation in the Boston City Hall building was the product of a
New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating Walkability, walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has ...
design competition run by Boston Mayor
Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and trade union official who served as the 58th mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021 and as the 29th United States Secretary of Labor from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democr ...
's Office of New Urban Mechanics, aimed at improving public spaces in Boston with temporary, low-budget installations designed to "surprise and delight." One of 9 winners of the 2014 Public Space Invitational, LaManche's "Stairs of Fabulousness" placed 1,200 linear feet of safety non-skid tape on the large central brick staircase in
Boston City Hall Boston City Hall is the seat of local government in the United States, city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the List of mayors of Boston, mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in ...
's main atrium, a building renown for its off-putting
Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...
aesthetic and failure to create a "welcoming public space." LaManche's tape, in an array of fluorescent colors, created a large rainbow gradient over the whole height of the staircase, which served "to essentially transform the concrete milieu into something colorful and inviting." "Stairs of Fabulousness" was described as "simple yet tremendously effectiv''e."'' The installation was praised for having brought vibrant, attractive color to the Boston City Hall stairs, and LaManche was lauded for her work as one of "Fifty on Fire" in the Boston culture scene: "anyone who can successfully spice up the facade of Government Center through creativity is on fire in our books''."''


"Connected By Sea" (2014–16)

"Connected by Sea" or the "Dock Tattoo Project", also dubbed "The 1000-foot tattoo" is located in a sculpture park in a working shipyard in
East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which was annexed by the city of Boston in 1836. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Revere, Mas ...
that is part of the
Boston Harborwalk Boston Harborwalk is a public walkway that follows the edge of piers, wharves, beaches, and shoreline around Boston Harbor. When fully completed it will extend a distance of from East Boston to the Neponset River. History The Harborwalk is a c ...
. A series of 19 large
tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...
-themed designs, stained into the cement surface of a 1000-foot long pier, forms a walking path to its end and a view of Boston Harbor. The work illuminates :"the cultures local maritime trade has connected with around the world" to a "poignant" effect, memorializing the "indelible bond" Boston maintains with its harbor. This inclusive and multicultural story of Boston's history was ranked as one of the "50 best pieces of Boston public art" by WBUR's ARTery in 2016.


"Salem's Connected World" (2015)

A sister project to "Connected By Sea", this temporary installation made up a walking path that covered three city blocks of the
Downtown Salem District Downtown Salem District is a historic district roughly bounded by Church, Central, New Derby, and Washington Streets in Salem, Massachusetts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and represents a major expansion ...
in
Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...
. It consisted of painted tattoo-themed symbols and designs from the different cultures specifically connected to Salem's maritime history. Installed in the spring of 2015, it was the first project funded by the new Salem Public Art Commission. Some of the designs are still visible along the cement walk of Artists Row.


"Lowell: Water and Work" (2016)

A commissioned piece for the City of Lowell, Massachusetts, the entire installation included a 16-foot mural, and 2 blocks of sidewalk and other wall art along a new pedestrian walkway, and "rain art" using hydrophobic coating on the pavement to make art that appears when it rains. The entire project, called the Decatur WAY Green Alley, created a pedestrian walkway from a disused back alley in a program to use green technology to deal with storm water runoff. The mural depicts the Lowell mills and canals with a portrait of a young
Harriet Hanson Robinson Harriet Jane Hanson Robinson (February 8, 1825 – December 22, 1911) worked as a bobbin doffer in a Massachusetts cotton mill and was involved in a turnout, became a poet and author, and played an important role in the women's suffrage movement i ...
, a mill worker who became a labor leader and suffragette.


Small-scale public art & street art

* Wraparound building exterior in Bartlett Yard, Boston. * Cambridge Brewing Company mural, 2014. * "The Goddess of Winter Hill", Somerville, MA 2014: 8x10-foot panels on the rear of Somerville post office. Client: City of Somerville. * "Safety Dance" crosswalk, 2016: 96-foot long crosswalk depicting pedestrian safety figures dancing. * "The Tattoo Heart", a Boston street piano, 2016. * "The Soul's Journey As A Series of Weird Old Cars" Somerville, MA 2016.


See also

*
Firefly Arts Collective Firefly Arts Collective is an American non-profit organization that facilitates the annual New England regional burner festival 'Firefly'. Firefly is a regional event inspired by the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. Firefly is held in Verm ...


Writing

*''"Connected By Sea" The Artists Working: Theory and Practice'', Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 59–72. May 2016


References


External links

*
''Art in Public Places,'' Boston Globe Big Picture (November 7, 2014)''Connected By Sea,'' Documentary video by Patrick Torphy, News Director of WERS, October 2014''Artist's Dock Tattoo Connects Boston To Its History As An International Trade Port.'' Amy Gorel, WBUR ARTery. (October 14, 2016)''Performance Art: Exclusive Interview with Artist Liz LaManche.'' You Are Here, WERS 88.9fm (November 23, 2014)''Salem's Connected World,'' The Salem (MA) News. Video by Cheryl Richardson (May 20, 2015)''Artistry'' Documentary entry in Now You See Me Festival by Laura Sweet (November 29, 2014)''‘A Series of Weird Old Cars’ honors community work by late Al Riskalla'' by Manna Parker, The Somerville Times (November 30, 2016)''Art For All'' by Eliza Rosenberry, SCOUT Somerville, The Arts Issue, (February 28, 2017)''‘Stairs of Fabulousness’ At City Hall Are Pretty Fabulous'' by Megan Turchi, Boston.com (September 17, 2014)
{{DEFAULTSORT:LaManche, Liz American women installation artists American installation artists American street artists 1967 births Living people Artists from Massachusetts Artists from New Jersey People from Hackensack, New Jersey Yale University alumni 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American artists