Multicolored Sheep Will Soon Float in the Fort Point Channel

Rendering provided

After fielding proposals for two months, the Fort Point Arts Community has selected local artist Hilary Zelson to create the next temporary floating sculpture to be installed in the Fort Point Channel.

Zelson’s installation, titled “Who Wears Wool,” features two large-scale multicolored sheep, a reference to the wool trade that boomed in Fort Point during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The sheep, made from both recycled and new materials, will stand about 12 feet tall on a dock in the channel’s Art Basin, located between the bridges on Summer and Congress streets.

Zelson is currently a Master of Fine Arts candidate at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts through Tufts University. Last year, she took the lead on the MFA’s Community Arts Initiative, working with children from after-school community organizations in the Boston area, introducing them to the museum’s collections and the art-making process. The resulting collage is currently on view in the museum’s Linde Family Wing. Previously, Zelson also contributed to the street piano project “Play Me, I’m Yours,” an alphabet art exhibit at the Boston Children’s Museum, and the murals at the now-demolished Bartlett Yard bus depot in Roxbury.

“Who Wears Wool” will be installed in early October, in conjunction with the Fort Point Arts Community’s annual fall Open Studios event. Previous public art projects, including “PYR2014,” a floating polystyrene pyramid by Don Eyles, and “Shimmer,” a multicolored plexiglass installation by Claudia Ravaschiere and Mike Moss, will also be on view.

The new installation will float in the channel for about six weeks.