News + Ideas

MGAC was founded on a simple promise: to take the most interesting, ambitious project ideas and make them a reality. Getting there is a matter of countless small steps, conversations, and carefully-calibrated decisions, taking place between day one and that long-awaited delivery day. These are the moments that make a project. With our Behind the Build series, we take a closer look at the roads that lead to a final product, delving into the ways our talented, passionate team makes a project possible. Today, we revisit our work on The Embrace.

Across MGAC’s nearly three decades, our team has had the distinct privilege of working on impactful projects around the globe and across sectors. Still, there are a handful in our portfolio that are true projects of the heart—efforts designed to embody values, celebrate legacies, and inspire generations—that we couldn’t be prouder to have a hand in. The Embrace was one of those projects.

Created by renowned conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas in collaboration with MASS Design Group, the monumental bronze sculpture draws inspiration from an iconic photo of a joyful embrace between Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King following the announcement that King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Featuring the couple’s intertwined arms, the larger-than-life sculpture beautifully memorializes this historic moment in time and stands as a striking representation of the power of love.

Once constructed, it would become a permanent fixture on Boston Common, America’s oldest public park and an anchor of the city where the Kings met and fell in love. Notably, it would be one of the largest US memorials dedicated to racial equality, and the first addition to the 350-year-old Common in more than 30 years. To say we were humbled to manage this historic monumental build would be an understatement.

A LANDMARK LEGACY PROJECT

With so many eyes fixed on this exciting and long-awaited addition to Boston Common—and knowing that there was much to be done to make it all possible—Thomas and his public art manager, Sam Giarratani at Negative Space, enlisted MGAC to facilitate the delivery of The Embrace.

Requiring extensive planning, design, permitting, and construction work, the fundamental process of bringing public art installations into being is comparable to delivering a sizable development project. From refining commission agreement language to project planning and partner procurement, all the way through fabrication and installation, we were Thomas’ advisor and advocate every step of the way. We joined the dynamic project team that included MASS Design Group and general contractor Wes Construction, who together were designing and building out the new 1965 Freedom Plaza. Honoring 69 civil rights and social justice leaders who were active in Greater Boston, the Kings would forever be in good company.

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP

Through the four dozen public art projects that MGAC’s Cultural team has worked on since 2006, we have seen that the pulsing heart of any successful large-scale public art effort is collaboration. And indeed, transforming The Embrace from Thomas’ vision into a full-scale reality called for a full cast of players, with MGAC in the role of director. Our work organizing the business side of the commission and coordinating its many key partners began on day one. Though the commission had already been awarded, it still required a written project plan and commission agreements. These seemingly straightforward tasks would prove to be complex due to the sheer number of stakeholders involved.

First, we had the new private nonprofit Embrace Boston, which would negotiate a gift agreement with the City of Boston in order for the city to officially approve the sculpture. But the Boston Arts Commission was involved with the award process to Thomas, and would eventually take ownership of the work, meaning the organization also had to grant approval throughout. Boston Parks and Recreation, too, was involved, and charged with building the infrastructure and plaza. This delicate dance called for avoiding 100-year-old water lines running through the site and watching for possible archaeological finds, all while using limited heavy equipment to avoid disrupting nearby train tunnels—part of the country’s oldest underground rapid-transit system.

All told, it took nearly two years for us to finalize the commission agreements, shepherding the sculpture through each and every stakeholder. With all in place, it was time for the essential step of outlining roles, responsibilities, liabilities, and obligations among the project partners. Armed with a clear project plan and multiple agreements in place, we could proceed into fabrication work.

ALL EYES ON THE EMBRACE

The Embrace is monumental in every sense of the word. Physically, it is commanding, standing some 22 feet tall and stretching 25 feet wide; the fingers alone range in length from 3 to 4 feet. And, designed to memorialize and celebrate the King’s legacies, advance racial equity and community, and outlive the many people who brought the sculpture to life, its purpose was profound, as well. By the time MGAC got involved, it had all been years in the making.

The project’s high-profile nature only amplified its challenges, with the media and members of the public eagerly following the storied sculpture’s progress. So, when we identified likely budget overages early on, our paths to shaving costs were limited, as the design had already been conceptually approved in a public arena. We helped study the materials, methods, and planned maintenance plans to endure Boston’s climate. We also found ways to bring efficiency to the structural systems, organized the intended handoff between bronze and the finished paving system, and helped facilitate the evolution of the artwork in a way that allowed greater accessibility for visitors, affording them a new perspective and a more immersive experience along the way.

The project was also pinched by time, as The Embrace’s public debut was ceremoniously planned for the weekend ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2023. And so we worked backward, diligently outlining every key milestone that would be essential to clear in order to make the hard (and very public) deadline. We budgeted two weeks for installation alone, allowing ample time for finished landscaping and hardscaping of the surrounding plaza. Factoring in the requisite months for fabrication, it was clear there would be no cushion for miscommunication or delay.

FINDING A FOUNDRY AND MOVING A MONUMENT

Securing a foundry that could produce the two-story, 25,000-pound bronze sculpture proved an appropriately considerable feat. In fact, given the scale of the sculpture and engineered internal stainless-steel armature, only a handful in North America could handle its fabrication. We sought proposals from those capable of engineering, fabricating, shipping, and installing the artwork on-site. No sooner had we selected a foundry, we needed to pivot, when lengthy contract negotiations made the massive project no longer conducive to the foundry’s workload.

It was back to the drawing board. But as fate would have it, we landed on the perfect partner for the job: Walla Walla Foundry in Walla Walla, Washington. Across 17 months, the Walla Walla team took care and responsibility to get it right: advancing the digital model before casting some 600 pieces of bronze in order to assemble the colossal sculpture’s outer shell. The lengthy fabrication timeline meant the artwork began to take shape long before Wes Construction was awarded the project—and even before the plaza detailing was approved. As that phase got underway, there was much to consider from a coordination and planning perspective: exact details of foundations, stormwater management, and contact points between the sculpture itself and pavers below. Clear and constant communication across parties was required to ensure no detail was overlooked.

As soon as The Embrace was fabricated and connections shop-tested, it was time to take it all apart to prepare for its cross-country transport. The sculpture was strategically broken into sections that could be loaded onto tractor-trailers. In total, six were enlisted to make the drive, each carrying the precious cargo across 3,000 miles of interstate on four of the busiest days of the year to be on the road: Thanksgiving weekend. En route to their final destination in Boston, the trucks would pass through a dozen states, each with unique rules and regulations for oversized trucks—chief among them Massachusetts. We helped oversee everything from the permitting process to the specific route to the site logistics at the end of the Common where the sculpture would be set.

Then, it was time for the installation. This was an exercise in precision: given its public park setting, it was paramount the sculpture was structurally sound and safe for pedestrians. With meticulous craftsmanship, its parts were bolted together, field-welded at the major joints, and patinated to completely cloak all seams.

A MOMENT IN TIME, MEMORIALIZED FOR ETERNITY

On Friday, January 13, 2023, The Embrace was unveiled before hundreds of Boston community members and local leaders. The historic moment was steeped in meaning, as both a celebration of legacy and a reminder of racial equity work still ongoing. The road to that point may have been paved with its fair share of challenges, but they were no match for a passionate project team operating in full alignment, inspired by a shared vision of what public art can mean for an individual viewer, a greater community, and an entire nation. Here: that a snapshot of an embrace—capturing both a singular moment in time and embodying the energy and passion of a movement—begins its own life in the public arena.