JP Resident Selected as Artist for Public Art Project at Jamaica Plain Library

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Courtesy photo

Matthew Hinçman is a sculptor and educator from Jamaica Plain. Best known for Jamaica Pond Bench, 2006, and STILL, 2014, both located in Jamaica Plain, his pieces are generally found in public places.

You may not know sculptor Matthew Hinçman by name, but you probably know his thought-provoking work from around the neighborhood. Come next year there will be another significant Hinçman art piece in JP, as he was recently selected to create a public art project at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library.

Courtesy photo

Matthew Hinçman is a sculptor and educator from Jamaica Plain. Best known for Jamaica Pond Bench, 2006, and STILL, 2014, both located in Jamaica Plain, his pieces are generally found in public places.

Hinçman, a JP resident, is a sculptor and educator, best known for the Jamaica Pond Bench (2006) and STILL (2014), both located in Jamaica Plain, and his pieces are generally found in public places.

The Jamaica Pond Bench is a bench with two backs, thus forming a U-shape. STILL references the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida, and is affixed to an abandoned lamp-post base in the shadow of the Civil War Soldier’s Monument at South and Centre streets.

“Still,” by Jamaica Plain’s Matthew W. Hinçman, is on an abandoned lamp post by the Monument.

"I am thrilled to be selected to create a new work of art for the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library," said Hinçman via press release. "I embrace the idea of being 'local', and focus much of my energies here in my neighborhood. To have been considered and ultimately awarded this commission is very humbling. I love making work for public spaces that disrupt the order of the everyday, and it is an honor to be working right here in my own backyard."

The budget for the project is $200,000, and the work will be determined by a continual community process. The project is expected to be installed in 2018.

Hinçman was chosen after the city released a request for proposals earlier this year for a public art project to complement the Jamaica Plain Branch Library that reopened this year after significant renovations.

"The recent renovation has allowed the Jamaica Plain Library to accommodate more visitors, provide better access to resources, and strengthen the surrounding neighborhood, and this project will enhance these efforts," said Mayor Martin Walsh via press release. "It's great to see someone who has such a strong understanding of Jamaica Plain's cultural identity and a proven connection to the larger community take on the project."

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