Related Projects

Schools & Libraries
  • Passage

    • A multifaceted project for the new South Mountain Community Library, connecting people through words to the landscape of South Phoenix

  • Portrait Chairs

    • Seats of honor for readers in Norfolk, MA

  • Terullian Mantle

    • A multi-part response to the International Day Parade of New York City’s Public School 89

  • In the Dense Words

    • A book environment for a book distribution company

  • Pillars of Thought

    • Transforming architectural elements into guardians of thought in the Scottsdale Public Library

  • The Bay Circuit Trail

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

  • Light Gate

    • Glass laminated with prismatic film captures the sunset for the Centennial Art Project for Manhattan Beach, CA

  • Connections

    • A seating project connecting with the Stanley Tool Company and Central Connecticut State University

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

  • 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

  • Three Gardens

    • Domestic scale gardens make intimate spaces on the grounds of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA

  • 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

Gateway

  • Location: Longfellow Elementary School Cambridge, MA (1983, reinstalled 2007)
  • Client: Cambridge Art Council /1% program
  • Size: 10′ 5″ x 8′ 5″ x 8′ 5″
  • Materials: Wood, enamel paint, light
  • Artist: Mags Harries
  • Photo Credits: Greg Heins

Architecture & Furniture

Set in the main entrance hall of the Longfellow Elementary School Gateway is a public art sculpture that creates a memorable passage into this K-8 school.  Its exaggerated scale bridges between architecture and furniture.  Lighting bathes the books and crockery on top of the table in a pink light to create a magical landscape.  Walking underneath the sculpture, students and teachers feel like they are Alice in Wonderland with the dramatic change in scale.

A Children’s Table

The table is fabricated from ash with traditional wood joinery.  Proportionally large wads of bubble gum are stuck to the underside of the table, like a typical school desk.  The table has visibly been painted with many layers of different colored paints.  It is expected that over time the sculpture will be carved and initialed by the successive classes of students.

A New Site

Gateway was moved during the school merger with the Kennedy-Longfellow School to the school’s library.

back to top