Related Projects

Temporary Installations
  • Man from City Hall

    • Boston City Hall becomes a giant character for First Night celebrations

  • River Runes

    • A trail of installations focused on the river at Art Park

  • Submerge

    • Video collaboration by Mags Harries & Catherine Siller for Art on the Marquee at the Boston Convention Center

  • River

    • An illusionary river of water, light, and shadow

  • Lucid Moment

    • Bringing together light, liquid, movement, and space

  • Communal Well

    • A participatory installation in Hawaii about drinking water

  • Playback

    • Reclaiming a derelict tennis court with sound and nylon straps

  • One Legged Table

    • Bringing communities to the table to discuss global warming

  • Border Garden

    • An installation at the La Jolla Museum of Art, CA about the Mexican-US Border, water, land, and immigration

  • Demon Trap

    • An installation where vacuum cleaners become Sin Eaters with poet Peter Finch in Wales,UK

  • Our Charles River

    • Exploring the connections between people, water and rivers

  • Solstice Iceland

    • An installation exploring the path of the Sun on the edge of the Arctic Circle

  • The Gallo Wars of Civitella

    • Video work by Mags Harries and Lajos Héder

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

Parks, Trails & Land
  • Windows on the Floating World

    • A project using refracted light and other day/night lighting effects for a new mixed-use building

  • Meeting Place

    • A green community oasis in the Downtown Greenway, Greensboro, NC

  • Xixi Umbrellas

    • Floating umbrella sculptures in the Xixi Wetland Park of Hangzhou, China

  • Terra Fugit

    • A park design that explores the changing Everglades environment to help visitors relate to a rapidly transforming landscape

  • The Zanjero’s Line

    • A recreational path along 4 miles of the Highline Canal in South Phoenix, AZ

  • Topiary – A Twenty Year Project

    • A sculptural gateway to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo that measures time with growing boxwood

  • Mud Life of the Maumee

    • Whimsical drawings of small creatures choreograph movement along paths in a Toledo, OH neighborhood park

  • Ben’s Circular Tower

    • A place for storytelling and imagination on top of Boston’s Mission Hill

  • Kenduskeag Roots

    • Four sites along the river trail using fallen trees and recorded sound

  • River Runes

    • A trail of installations focused on the river at Art Park

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

Massachusetts
  • Man from City Hall

    • Boston City Hall becomes a giant character for First Night celebrations

  • Portrait Chairs

    • Seats of honor for readers in Norfolk, MA

  • In the Dense Words

    • A book environment for a book distribution company

  • Glove Cycle

    • Gloves go through a life cycle while leading passengers down into a Cambridge subway station

  • Asaroton, 1976

    • Bronze garbage embedded in a Boston crosswalk commemorates a produce market.

  • Ben’s Circular Tower

    • A place for storytelling and imagination on top of Boston’s Mission Hill

  • Gateway

    • An oversized table creates a fanciful gateway in a Cambridge middle school

  • Drawn Water

    • A permanent piece at the Cambridge, MA Water Treatment Plant about where water comes from and where it goes

  • 300 Summer Street

    • An artist-owned live/work studio building in Boston’s Fort Point area with recycled steel plate sculpture for the public spaces

  • The Bay Circuit Trail

    • A community project traversing the “Emerald Necklace” surrounding Boston

  • Submerge

    • Video collaboration by Mags Harries & Catherine Siller for Art on the Marquee at the Boston Convention Center

  • Winding Down the Charles

    • A performance piece in Cambridge, MA about the length of the river and time

  • Speed of Light

    • Mags’ students illuminate the future route of transit connecting eight communities around Boston

  • River

    • An illusionary river of water, light, and shadow

  • Lucid Moment

    • Bringing together light, liquid, movement, and space

  • One Legged Table

    • Bringing communities to the table to discuss global warming

  • Our Charles River

    • Exploring the connections between people, water and rivers

  • Reclamation Art

    • Reclamation Artists Boston

Three Gardens

  • Location: DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA (1983)
  • Client: DeCordova Museum
  • Size: 15′ x 45′ x 7′
  • Materials: Topiary planting, glass reflector, tire planter, planting, pavers, metal border
  • Budget: $11,000
  • Artist: Mags Harries
  • Photography: Kathy Chapman

This installation was based on the gardens of British row houses.  The Gardens reference the small front yards of these houses, the formal frontispieces to modest dwellings.  They are as formally conceived as the grander gardens of stately homes.

Concept Drawing of Three Gardens

Concept Drawing of Three Gardens

These gardens were a prototype for a larger project, The Nine Garden Maze. The Decodova Museum maintained this temporary installation for 20 years.

Rooms with a View

The site of the Gardens was chosen so that they could be seen from above at the museum buidling, a view that highlights their architectural design.  The Gardens themselves offer a view of the more naturalistic grounds of the museum.  The intimacy of the one space contrasts with the expanse and freedom of the other.

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