Articles by Stewart Ikeda

This spring, visitors wandering through the West Concord Cultural District may have stumbled upon something unexpected: the sound of jazz drifting from a pop-up gallery, a master luthier explaining the mysteries of guitar bracing to a packed audience, a Celtic harp performance in an intimate exhibit space, or families gathering around an artist-painted piano outside a future museum still years away from opening.

Meet two extraordinary Concord artists:  Catherine LeComte Lecce and Shima Taj Bakhsh

In 2025, the lively Concord250 Arts, Literature, and Music Subcommittee is looking to the arts to bring fresh and expanded perspectives to local history, elevate lesser-told stories, and look ahead to the “next 250.” From Liz Helfer’s Freedom’s Silhouette interactive sculpture recently installed in Monument Square to newly commissioned musical compositions and more, local artists and cultural organizations are creatively re-examining history and bringing it into the now.

Meet Kyle Johns, whose work deconstructs traditional industrial mold-making processes to create unique new forms that explore “the grey area” between the practical and the sculptural, and Barbara H. Willis, whose extraordinary fiber artworks are always unique.

Meet Jill Goldman-Callahan and Ponnapa Prakkamakul, two remarkable artists whose work can be seen at The Umbrella Arts Center.

Meet artists Max Payne and Nayda Cuevas. 

Meet local artists Sally Lee and Zachary Mickelson. Lee works in ceramics, painting, sculpture, textiles, and more. Mickelson is a ceramic artist, teacher, and Manager of the booming new Ceramics Studio at The Umbrella Arts Center.