Chromatic Portals
Chromatic Portals is an immersive outdoor installation by Boston-based artist Silvia López Chavez at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Three large metal structures are draped with flowing fabric in blue, green, and violet, forming passageways that invite visitors to move through shifting fields of color, texture, and light.
The portals represent Land, Water, and Sky, connecting emotional experience with ecological systems. Patterns on the fabric reference leaf veins, underground mycelium, rippling water, and galactic spirals, emphasizing the relationship between the human body, nature, and the larger universe. The installation is part of deCordova’s GROUNDED series, which commissions new work inspired by the natural world, the museum’s grounds, and local ecology.
When: June 24, 2026–May 28, 2027
Venue: deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln, MA 01773
Tickets: Included with admission
Artist: Silvia López Chavez
Materials: Powder-coated steel and chiffon
Description: The installation uses vibrant colors, layered gradients, and the movement of fabric to explore how color can carry feeling, memory, and personal stories. López Chavez aims to create welcoming shared experiences that can be encountered across generations and communities, allowing visitors to bring their own interpretations to the work.
About the Artist: López Chavez was born in the Dominican Republic and lives and works in Boston. Her public and site-specific practice draws on her Afro-Caribbean heritage and focuses on connection, community, shared experience, and people’s relationship to the places where they live and gather. She studied at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Altos de Chavón in the Dominican Republic.
Artist Background: From 2021 to 2023, López Chavez was a Salon Luminary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Her recognitions include the Leadership in Public Art Award from New England for the Arts, a Common Good Award from MassArt, The Boston Foundation’s Brother Thomas Fellowship, and the Amplify Latinx 100 award.
Selected Commissions: Her work has been commissioned by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the Peabody Essex Museum, the City of Boston, SeaWalls Boston, MIT, the Barr Foundation, and Northeastern University.
Schedule: On view during the exhibition dates; no specific daily hours or showtimes are provided.
Ages: No age restriction is stated.