Pilgrim Hall Museum to present student art exhibit ‘Illuminating Stories’ with Herring Pond Wampanoag and Community Art Collaborative
November 5, 2021
The Pilgrim Hall Museum, 75 Court St., will debut student art exhibit “Illuminating Stories,” on show through January 2022, with an opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 6.
“Illuminating Stories,” an exhibition featuring the art of Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribal members and Plymouth North and Plymouth South students, will be unveiled at the open-to-the-public reception. The exhibit will be on view in the Museum’s glass front entrance through January 2022.
Illuminating Stories is the result of an intensive workshop with Meclina Priestley, co-founder of Community Art Collaborative, and Plymouth North and Plymouth South art teachers Lauren Jezierski and Rushell Kwong. Plymouth students met with Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribal members, including Tribal chair Melissa Ferretti, Jennifer Harding, Kathleen Gately, Wâânutam, Ayanee and Ava, who shared traditions and stories about their people and guided students on a learning walk on tribal lands at Dina’s Path in Cedarville. Tribal knowledge and local natural materials are reflected in the students’ work.
The Herring Pond Tribe has lived in the Plymouth area for many thousands of years and maintains a vibrant community today, though many local residents are not aware of their history or continuing presence. “Illuminating Stories” is intended to shine a light on this history.
The centerpiece of the exhibit is a multi-celled honeycomb window installation featuring the art of more than 16 individual students and Herring Pond Wampanoag members, and also the work of Wampanoag artist and designer Quincy Harding, originally from Massachusetts and a recent Rhode Island School of Design graduate with a major in Illustration.
The installation is the fifth in the community-wide “In This Together” series, a project launched by the Community Art Collaborative in March 2021. The project features public art created by a diverse set of community members and displayed in many different locations around town, made possible by the support from the Plymouth Bay Cultural District, private donors and the community at large.