Description

The Thinking Path
An Outdoor Art Exhibition on the East Boston Greenway

The Thinking Path is inspired by the idea that walking fosters creative thinking. The rhythmic motion of walking synchronizes thoughts and sharpens perception, allowing ideas to surface and perspectives to shift. Many great thinkers—Charles Darwin among them—relied on daily walks to nurture their most important insights. Darwin walked the same loop near his home each day—his so-called “thinking path”—where many of his foundational ideas emerged.

For many East Boston residents, The Mary Ellen Welch Greenway plays a similar role. It is both a physical route through the neighborhood and a mental space for reflection, restoration, and inspiration. It connects neighborhoods to nature, reflects the city’s adaptation to environmental change, and offers a public path where resilience and creativity unfold.

The Thinking Path explores the connection between walking and art. For many artists, walking is an integral part of their practice. Artists walk as performance, as study, as social activism. Walking can be used to explore space, collect materials, document a journey, or mark time. It is both subject and process—expressive, contemplative, and transformative.

The exhibition invites artists and visitors to examine the social, political, and creative implications of walking and its relationship to contemporary art practices. It also encourages to explore the act of walking not just as a personal practice, but as a way of witnessing and engaging with our environment, its histories, its futures, and its shared spaces.

The Thinking Path is presented as part of the Arts in the Park Festival in partnership with the Friends of The Mary Ellen Welch Greenway and the Trustees One Waterfront. This collaborative effort celebrates the power of art to deepen our relationship with nature, community, and resilience.

Submission Guidelines:

We are seeking visual art projects in which walking is central to the concept or creative process.
Medium: 2D visual works (photography, drawing, painting, collage, digital illustration, etc.).
Format: Selected works will be printed on weatherproof vinyl banners and mounted outdoors along the Greenway.
Eligibility: Open to all artists. Emerging, mid-career, and established artists are welcome to apply.
Theme: Submissions should relate to the act of walking as method, subject, or medium—reflecting its creative, social, environmental, or political dimensions.
Deadline: July 25th 2025
Festival Dates: September 6th 2025
Location: Mary Ellen Welch Greenway, East Boston, MA

To Apply, Please Submit:
Up to 10 artworks for consideration (JPG 300 dpi recommended)
A brief project description (max 250 words) explaining how your work relates to the theme
An artist statement and bio (max 150 words)
Your name, contact information, and website or social media (optional)
Apply through the link or send your submission to Anna Yeroshenko at yeroshenkoar@gmail.com