MLT to celebrate 4th of July with outdoor art installation

Although there are no current live performances in the Marblehead Little Theatre firehouse following the state’s COVID-19 policies, MLT will celebrate the arts and The Fourth of July with seven custom painted canvases to be installed on the façade of its historic brick building located at 12 School Street in Marblehead.

The project was proposed and executed by Marblehead native and artist Jeremy Barnett.

Upon hearing The Marblehead Festival of Arts had been cancelled like so many community events across the country, Barnett wanted the arts to still be celebrated during Fourth of July week.

Barnett said, “Marblehead Little Theatre is important to me, my family, and to the quality of life in Marblehead, which I still consider to be my home despite having lived elsewhere for many years. I wanted to pay homage to MLT in a way that would keep MLT visually alive during this unusual period when theatres are closed.

“If people cannot gather inside MLT’s Firehouse Theatre, then let its exterior offer the inspiration and joy that its performances have provided for so long,” he said. “History tells us that when the unexpected occurs, that is when the arts become fuel for the creative spirit.”

Barnett’s entry into the backstage world of theater was as a member of the run crew for Marblehead Little Theatre’s 1992 production of “Oliver” when he was 14 years old. Since then he has been an award-winning scenic designer for theatres across the country and, as an artist, has exhibited in venues on three continents.

Barnett’s installation artwork uses simple shapes and bold colors to create strong, joyful feelings. His goal is to make his art accessible and relatable to all audiences. The canvases for MLT are inspired by the joy of summer, dedicated to the ideas of hope and community within the context of current events. “They are an aggressively non-cynical response to these challenging times,” he said.

The canvases will be arranged as 2 vertical canvases on the lower left and right of the firehouse façade – measuring 10 feet high by 30 inches wide – featuring large organic shapes serving as abstract supports for a frieze made of two canvases across the top of the wooden doors. The fifth canvas – 7 feet high and 20 feet wide – on the Firehouse’s second story is a series of vibrant shapes suggesting the energy of summer, fireworks, ice cream sprinkles and bursting bottles of champagne. Barnett has just expanded the installation with two smaller canvases for a total of seven separate pieces.

Barnett is planning a Phase 2 project that will invite Marblehead children to create their own smaller canvases that will be sewn together to replace his original work.

About Jeremy Barnett: Jeremy Barnett is a Detroit-based scenic and event designer. He is a co-founding member of Amarant Design Collective, a Detroit-based installation art organization. Jeremy is a graduate of Marblehead High School. He earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in Scenic Design from Boston University and a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University. He studied photography at Pittsburgh Filmmakers Institute and at Studio Art Centers International in Florence Italy. He studied Stone Sculpture at the Tengenenge Sculpture Gallery in Guruve, Zimbabwe. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2003 to 2005. Barnett teaches scenic design and related crafts at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. His wife Kendra Soule Barnett and children Jacob, 10, and Vivienne, 7, are spending the summer in his hometown of Marblehead, Massachusetts. For more information, visit jeremybarnett.com.

About Marblehead Little Theatre: Started in 1955 by members of the Marblehead Woman’s Club, the award-winning Marblehead Little Theatre is one of the oldest community theatre groups in New England, having consistently presented live-theater productions for over six decades.