City Hall Galleries
The galleries at Boston City Hall promote and exhibit the work of Boston area artists.
You can find information about the galleries, as well as what's currently showing, on this page.
Current and upcoming exhibits
Exhibits- Location: Emerging Gallery, 8th Floor
- Dates: March 4th - April 12th, 2024
This collection explores her fascination with the connections between people of the African Diaspora [including Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas] and how we pull inspiration from each other. This collection explores our different traditions such as how we style/wear our hair, the garments we choose to wear, and how we live different experiences but share similar trials and tribulations. These pieces also include an element or reference to nature and how we as humans connect with all living organisms. In this collection, she plays with different mediums and textures to convey messages about the Black experience.
To learn more about her art, visit youvelinescreations.com or email Youveline at jyouveline@gmail.com.
- Location: The Mayor’s Office Gallery Display Case, 5th Floor
- Dates: February 26th - April 12th, 2024
The presented work is an expression of the process of simultaneous deconstruction and growth of women as they age. Each piece in this exhibit is split, altered, and reassembled to form a final piece. Some gestures are subtle, while others are untamed. The viewer will note the variation in finishes; some are classic ceramic celadon glazes, others are saggar fired with compostable items, and the rest are finished in flowing glazes. The backdrop fabric is reused from her studio, a nod towards her constant focus on the materials used in her art. Gena Mavuli is also the owner of Create, a small art business in Roslindale Village. She lives in Boston, MA.
- Location: The Mayor’s Office Gallery, 5th Floor
- Dates: March 4th - April 12th, 2024
To the wonderfully Modern structure of City Hall, I offer some of the Victorian sensibility of Boston Public Garden.
The diversity of trees, flowers, and people, the friendly squirrels and birds, the winding paths, and the gentle quiet at the heart of the bustling city astonished me on my first visit to the Garden. What charming Wonderland is this? How is such a beautiful place created and maintained? How is it protected while also remaining so openly accessible to all?
Then I met the citizens advocacy group The Friends of the Public Garden. I learned about the turbulent history of the garden and the current alliance between The Friends and The City of Boston. This dedicated partnership and the hard work of many individuals makes the magic happen.
In this exhibit you can find artworks inspired by features in the Garden, such as the Boy & Bird fountain, swan boats, tropical plant displays, and Ducklings sculpture. You may also sense themes of climate change, imagination, and whimsy.
I made the artworks by drawing or painting directly onto the surface of antique photographs. The larger images were faint solar enlargements filled in with charcoal and ink by 19th century artisans. The portraits date back to the early years of the Garden. As the Garden is both preserved and reinvented by additional plantings and new visitors, I reimagined the old photographs.
To inquire about Laura’s art, email laura.chrstnsn@gmail.com
- Location: The Mayor’s Neighborhood Gallery, 2nd Floor
- Dates: March 4th - April 12th, 2024
- Artist Reception: March 7th at 6:00-7:30pm
My art is always intentional in the connectedness of people. There’s a thread of familiarity, a reminder that we are more alike, than we are different.
In the exhibition “Celebrating Her Story” I wanted to show women up close and moving forward, with a fluidity, that much like glass, moves so slowly, that at times it appears to have not moved at all. Being a woman can be like that, taking one step forward and having to take two steps back. As in the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, a law that worked for 50 years, that gave women the right to make health decisions over her own body, which has since been snatched away.
My paintings are a contemporary narrative, that use texture for depth and detail, expressive of the complexity and vast combinations that are the human condition of womanhood. The color red is symbolic of her boldness, the dangers, and the obstacles she faces every day, from genderism to sexism. What does it look like when she moves from generation to generation, leaping over hurdles and hitting glass ceilings? What does hard work, dedication, and perseverance look like? What happens, when a woman is given an opportunity? She arrives.
In Boston, she’s a daughter, a wife, a mother and the Mayor.
To learn more or inquire to purchase her art, contact: technygal@comcast.net
- Location: Scollay Square Gallery, 3rd Floor
- Dates: March 4th - April 12th, 2024
- Artist Reception: March 7th at 6:00-7:30pm
“Mine is a quiet exploration—a quest for new meanings in color, texture, and design. Even though I sometimes portray scenes of poor and struggling people, it is a great joy to paint.” - Lois Mailou Jones.
This exhibition showcases art inspired by Boston's history, geography, and social diversity. The Atlantic shoreline, rocky terrains, federalists, brutalists, colonial architecture, the public gardens, the changing seasons, Symphony Hall, and art and design districts describe Boston. The Boston Women’s Heritage Trail discourages disparities by highlighting the outstanding accomplishments of a diverse range of women throughout history. Boston Muse: Womxn’s Art acknowledges the atrocities committed against native Americans, racial tensions, and gender discrimination. The exhibiting artists draw from the extraordinary power and rebellious spirit embedded in the nature and culture of this city and the immigrant experience. They embark upon new journeys in the physical, societal, and personal landscapes to create work that questions, challenges, and celebrates diversity and acceptance of self and others.
To learn more or inquire to purchase any of the art, contact: president.nawama@gmail.com
- Location: 3rd Floor Mezzanine, Boston City Hall
- Dates: Ongoing
We Belong is a light-based public art installation with the intent to promote ideas of belonging and inclusion among communities in Boston. In LED neon, the work forms the text “We Belong – here – together – guided by the same stars” in a circular format, with a constellation that maps and connects Boston’s neighborhoods.
With the support of a City of Boston Transformative Public Art grant, the installation will travel to multiple Boston neighborhoods in 2022-2023, beginning with the East Boston Social Centers from July-September 2022. Local residents are invited to participate in the project by sharing what the concept of “belonging” means to them.
Yu-Wen Wu is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Boston. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Wu’s subjectivity as an immigrant is central to her artwork. Arriving in the United States at an early age, her experiences have shaped her work in areas of migration—examining issues of displacement, arrival, assimilation, and the shape of identity in a new country. Passionate about data, mapping, and its storytelling, Wu’s work lies at the crossroads of art, science, politics, and social issues. Her wide range of projects include large-scale drawings, sculpture, site- specific video installations, community-engaged practices, and public art. Wu has been awarded numerous grants, exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is included in several private and public collections.
The Mayor's Poetry Program is an annual program in which Boston residents are invited to submit poems to be displayed throughout City Hall and in an online gallery for one year. The theme for 2023, selected by Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola, was "Love".
All poems are displayed next to the elevators on the south side of Boston City Hall. On the fifth floor, there is only one poem displayed on the wall to the left of the Mayor's Office reception area.
First floor- "Facetime" by Vivienne Shalom
- "Love in Downtown Crossing" by Ann Doyle
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"Boston: Mother to the World Behind My Ears" by Clementine Zei
- "I Want to Lay Alone With Love" by Zofia Provizer
- "Jefferson Avenue" by Tashanna Edwards
- "a calendar of solar and lunar eclipses" by Emily Li
- "On Deserving" by Naomi Westwater
- "In Memory of My Wounded Survivor" by Rachel Hammerman
- "Carrots" by Fatima Seck
- "Photographs" by Marsha Kaminsky
- "Boston Grocery Store" by Allison Tervo
- "On a walk in the neighborhood without my son" by Ariel Friedman
- "The Quiet Lake" by Harry Yu
- "When We Were Young" by Mayank Chugh
- "For the Ones I Am (Re)membering" by CoCo Rosenberg
Gallery locations
Mayor's Art Gallery
The Mayor's Gallery exhibits work by Boston area artists who have received recognition for their artwork through grants, awards and other types of public display.
Directions: It's located on the 5th floor of City Hall. From City Hall Plaza or Congress St. entrances, take South Elevators to the 5th floor, follow signs to Mayor's Office: signage marks the gallery entrance. If you are planning to attend an opening you must enter from Congress Street.
Mayor’s Neighborhood Gallery
Directions: Located on the 2nd floor near the South Elevators. From City Hall Plaza or Congress St. entrances, take South Elevators to the 2nd floor.
Scollay Square Gallery
The Scollay Square Gallery showcases the many arts organizations and artists community groups that support local artists throughout the City.
Directions: It's located on the 3rd floor/main lobby of City Hall. When entering from Congress St, take elevators to 3rd floor, proceed through lobby, passing the information desk on your right. The gallery is ahead of you. When entering from City Hall Plaza, proceed through lobby, passing the information desk on your right. The gallery is ahead of you. Signage marks the gallery entrance. If you are planning to attend an opening you must enter from Congress Street.
The Emerging GalleryThis is the newest of City Hall's galleries. It showcases Boston's up and coming artists.
Directions: It is located on the 8th floor of City Hall. When entering from Congress Street or Cambridge Street, take the elevators to the 8th floor. The gallery is in the hallway to the left of Room 801, which is perpendicular to the elevators.
Videos
Maya Erdelyi's Gallery Tour
Artist Maya Erdelyi gives a tour of her show in the Mayor's Gallery and her mural on the 8th floor.
Real F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Artist Talk with Jamaal Eversley and Beacon Gallery
This exhibit was on display in the Mayor's Gallery of Boston City Hall from November - December 2020.
Recurring Programs
Fay Chandler Emerging Artist Awards
These annual awards recognize fresh, original and contemporary works of art created by Boston artists.
National Arts Program
The City of Boston's National Arts Program invites City of Boston employees and their immediate family members to submit artwork every year.
Gallery Highlights
Re-imagine City Hall
In honor of Boston City Hall’s 50th anniversary in February 2019, we sent out a call artists to reimagine and redesign the exterior of City Hall.
National Arts Program 2018
As part of this program, City of Boston employees and immediate family members were invited to display their art.
'Alone Together: Photos' by Jerry Russo
An examination of people while confined to the crowded spaces of the MBTA.
Boston Public Schools Youth Arts Month Festival
Each year we showcase the work of young Boston Public Schools artists from across the district.
'The Art of Science'
"The Art of Science" featured artists who work in new media, including Michael Moss and Claudia Ravaschiere's piece "Precious", an interactive mixed-media sound installation.
'A Summer Proposal'
Paul C. Ha invited eight Boston and Cambridge-based artists to create work for Boston City Hall, keeping in mind the building's architecture.