Arts & Entertainment

After Decade of Work, LandWave Sculpture Complete

Project depended on generous volunteers, donations, leaders said.

After 10 years, half a million dollars and the volunteer efforts of many, the South End’s infamous LandWave was officially dedicated Monday morning, with Mayor Thomas Menino in attendance.

A small crowd gathered near the blue-tiled sculpture outside Myers + Chang on Washington Street as Menino and the project’s leaders unveiled a plaque etched with a map of the narrow stretch of land that once connected downtown Boston to the mainland. The LandWave sculpture was built to commemorate that land, once known as “the neck.”

“This is preserving the past for the future, continuing to educate Boston folks on how the city was years ago,” Menino said on Monday. “This little neck here connected us all.”

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Planning for the sizable sculpture began back in 2000, and the road to completion was often rocky, said Bob Wells, who led the project alongside Ann McQueen.

“This has been a much bigger enterprise than anyone anticipated,” he said. “Things that you can imagine are not always easy to build.”

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Wells praised the dedication and flexibility of the many volunteers that helped make the sculpture a reality. A program distributed at Monday’s dedication ceremony recognizes nearly 100 businesses and individuals who donated time, work and money to the LandWave.

“We’ve waited a long time for this event,” McQueen said. “And it’s finally here.”

Though getting the project completed was a complicated process, the sculpture itself is based on a simple concept, said artist Shauna Gillies-Smith.

“So much of Boston that is land was once water,” she said. “LandWave is really about commemorating that idea – it’s about land that was once water.”

One side of the each wave is covered in blue tiles, signifying water, while the other is made of mulch and planted with purple flowers. A strip of LED lights atop each wave adds some "night-time magic."

“It’s a very simple idea that…took an incredible number of people and a lot of work to implement,” she said.

The sculpture, which will be jointly maintained by the Friends of Peters Park and the Old Dover Neighborhood Association, will brighten up a busy South End intersection and add a new feature to South End Baseball games, Menino said.

“It’s a beautiful site,” he said. “I just wonder how many foul balls are going to hit it.”


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