DIGI Award–winning projections on the Wenham Museum, part of LuminArtz’ Light Up the Night series.
Any artist who has filled out a grant form, or gone hat-in-hand somewhere for support, should meet Lyn Burke.
That includes visual artists, especially light artists. And sound artists. And performance artists. Because Burke’s company, LuminArtz, makes projects happen.
Like the ILLUMINUS festival in Boston. Like “Sea Lights” in Gloucester, or the Festival of Lights in Worcester. Like the “Light Up the Night” projections on the Wenham Museum, which won a DIGI award. Or ongoing projects at Haymarket and the Seaport.
And like the current Esplanade extravaganza, “Hatched,” a light and sound installation at the Hatch Shell along the Charles River that remains on view through late February.
LuminArtz facilitates large-scale light installations throughout Massachusetts. “It’s just me and a wonderful grant writer,” Burke says. “Our mission is to highlight culture in our cities through public art. That’s our focus. I want to give artists a platform.”
LuminArtz needs artists. Visual artists, musicians, installation artists. Artists who have a vision of a large-scale, public installation, and who need help negotiating the bureaucratic traffic that comes with those ambitions.
“My background is government relations,” the Gloucester resident says. “I have a degree in art, and in political science, and I lobbied. Now I do the same thing for artists that I did for the government.
Lynn Burke, co-founder of LuminArtz. “I do the same thing now for artists that I did for the government.”
“We raise money. We look for financial support, and we apply for grants.
“Light-based public art is more common in Canada, and Europe and Asia,” Burke says. “My work started with a curator from Vivid Sydney, and we put a project up on the Boston Public Library in 2015. At that point I realized I wanted to support regional artists.”
In the past year, LuminArtz had to adjust its ambitions. Gathering crowds has been discouraged, and “Hatched” on the Esplanade, which opened January 22, is the first real-life project the group has participated in since last spring. Like many artists and musicians though, LuminArtz shifted to virtual presentations.
“We adjusted when the government shut down non-essential businesses and events,” Burke says. “We created the Light Up the Night series, a sort of guerilla project on FaceBook. We set up without telling anyone until the last minute, and people watched online.” “Light Up the Night” remains available on LuminArtz’s FaceBook page.
Future plans—all with uncertain start dates due to the pandemic—include a Fisherman’s Wives memorial in Gloucester, in conjunction with the Cape Ann Museum.
“There’s a lot to be told about the fisherman, but what about this survival story?” she asks. “The strengths of the mothers and daughters and sisters. It would be great to coincide with the Schooner Festival on Labor Day weekend, but with Covid we don’t know. Our fallback is for the spring of 2022.”
Burke believes in the artists, but also the broad possibilities of large-scale installations.
“Public art is being used for important messages, to communicate, to build awareness,” she says. “There’s a lot going on in this world. Some projects speak to the diversity of the community, and the environment.
“It’s great if it has a message, but it could just be fun too. I had an installation that was a pinball machine on the side of the building, and everyone could play. I want to hear from artists with unique installations, who need help bringing a project to the public.”
“This is a way to get a message out in a safe way,” she says. “I want to focus on the state of Massachusetts, and bring things to my own community.”
Keith Powers covers music and the arts for Gannett New England, Leonore Overture and Opera News. Artists Alone is a series about musicians displaced by the pandemic. Follow @PowersKeith; email to keithmichaelpowers@gmail.com.