SWAMPSCOTT — The Swampscott Historical Commission is partnering with Machon Elementary School Visiting Artist Beth Delforge for a public reception. There, residents can view murals she painted with students in 1992 that display the town’s history.
The event is scheduled for Tuesday from 5-7 p.m. and is free for community members. Historical Commission Chair Nancy Schultz expressed that it is an opportunity for community members who might not have seen the murals before, as there are plans to move the murals in the near-future.
“We’ve had the exhibition up for about a year, its winding down [and] going to be moving to a new exhibition, which is to be determined,” Schultz said. “And we hope that those who haven’t seen it get a chance to go.”
She continued, saying that she thought people would enjoy meeting the person behind the artwork.
Schultz added that it’s about “learning history through art. All of them have to do with Swampscott’s history.”
“I hope the takeaway for people is a greater appreciation for the town’s history and preserving its most important moments. … To appreciate and understand the importance of preservation,” Schultz said.
Vice Chair of the Historical Commission Jonathon Leamon explained that the exhibit was initially set up last summer to coincide with the new Elementary School.
He said it’s been part of the Essex National Heritage Area Trails and Sails event that highlights local history.
Leamon said the hope was that people recognize that the town values the preservation of its history through local artwork.
“We do value the work of artists in town, as sometimes that gets lost behind the scenes. … Particularly when schools have to cut budgets, art and music can be the first to go.”
He elaborated on one of the murals the community can see, which covers the origin of Indigenous names in Swampscott and now names in the area evolved from there. He added that “the students who worked with Delforge were telling a story of the town.”
“The exhibit’s closing, and if people haven’t seen it, it would be of interest to teachers and certainly anyone that attended Swampscott schools. … There’s a lot of material there that gets into the evolution of education,” Leamon said.
Delforge’s career built upon her studies in studio art, arts education, and educational leadership, which went on to shape her work as an art teacher, artist-in-residence, and a PreK-12 arts coordinator, according to the press release.
As an artist-in-residence in various school districts throughout the North Shore, Delforge provided opportunities for students to create large murals which highlighted interdisciplinary curriculum topics.
Delforge was also formerly a study group leader at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Project Zero’s classroom professional development. Currently, she serves as a facilitator to eighth grade social studies teachers across the state of Massachusetts who are incorporating a civics curriculum from the Democratic Knowledge Project (DKP), which is associated with Harvard University’s Ethics Department and Project Zero.