Concord is home to many extraordinary artists. In this ongoing column, we highlight two of those artists and celebrate the many organizations dedicated to uplifting the arts through education, advocacy, and exhibition.
CATHERINE LECOMTE LECCE
Catherine LeComte Lecce is an interdisciplinary artist, as well as the program manager and curator at the Photographic Resource Center in Boston, whose work explores motherhood, identity, and feminist perspectives through photography and mixed media.
She works out of a studio at The Umbrella Arts Center, where she originally served as the 2024 Winter/Spring Artist-in-Residence and been part of a two-person exhibition, Reflections: Selfhood/Motherhood, with Jasmine Chen.
Her curatorial projects at Photographic Resource Center, MassArt x SoWa Gallery, and Atlantic Wharf Gallery highlight her commitment to amplifying under-represented narratives in contemporary art, particularly in photography.
Catherine was recently honored with the 2025 Creative Entrepreneurship Fellowship from the Greater Boston Arts and Business Council and received the 2025 Mass Cultural Council Grant for Creative Individuals. Additionally, she founded and manages the Burlington Micro Gallery, an upcoming mobile exhibition space dedicated to making the arts more accessible.
SHIMA TAJ BAKHSH
Shima Taj Bakhsh is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist based in Somerville whose work explores the intersections of narratives, places, and multiple time frames. Working across sculpture, sound, and video, she engages nonlinear, time-based configurations that investigate the material conditions of bodies and borders.
She is currently the Artist-in-Residence at The Umbrella Arts Center (Fall 2024–Spring 2025) and a 2025 Fellow of the Artists for Humanities organization. She is also a recipient of the 2025 Mass Cultural Council Grant for Creative Individuals. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at Human Resources Los Angeles, Torrance Art Museum, Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, and the Second Contemporary Art Biennale at Niavaran Cultural Center.
The Umbrella’s Artist-in-Residence program offers a residency in a vibrant, multidisciplinary art center with more than 50 artist studios, a robust arts education program, performance and gallery spaces in the heart of historic Concord Center. The Umbrella is currently inviting applications through May 16 for two 2025-2026 residencies. Visit TheUmbrellaArts.org/AiR.
