A+J ART+DESIGN

A+J Art+Design is a multidisciplinary collaboration between Somerville based artists Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier. We share a commitment to site-specificity, interactivity and community engagement. We offer a full range of capabilities in traditional object-making into which we incorporate new processes for digital visualization and prototyping. We believe that public art can provoke and entice while inspiring civic engagement.

Ann Hirsch has worked throughout the U.S. on public art projects such as Home (2014), a transitional space into Patriot Plaza at Sarasota National Cemetery which includes large for­mat bronze Bald Eagles’ nests; and the Bill Russell Legacy Proj­ect (2013-2015) which comprises bronze sculptures set within a field of granite and brick elements. Other projects include site-specific bronze figures that build upon and move beyond traditional statuary through stag­ing interactive encounters with the public, broadening the land­scape of the commemorated; and opening new spaces for visi­tors and discussion within monumental works. As 2016-2017 City of Boston Artist-in-Residence, Ann pursued social practice initiatives with local communities while developing additional skill sets in engaging communities in permanent public artworks. She teaches at Rhode Island School of Design.

Jeremy Angier works in a range of media including digital animation, drawing, painting and sculpture. As an animator he heads machinegraphics, a 3D animation firm which creates animations and scientific visualizations for documentary films and museum exhibits. His work is seen in many public venues around the US including the American Museum of Natural History in New York and Grand Canyon Visitor Center. He teaches figure drawing in the Boston area.

A+J Art+Design created the instal­lation SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) for the Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC) which debuted in 2016. The artwork includes 25 over-life size floating foam figures animated by the wind and currents, with one figure for every one million refugees in the world today. FPAC named the installation its “most successful project to date in terms of audience engagement.” SOS was among 49 works chosen by jury from a pool of 325 entries from across the country as out­standing project of the year by Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Year in Review in 2017. Also in 2017 SOS was a Fea­tured Project and Top 20 Artwork at ArtPrize 9, a 19-day international art competition which attracts over half a million visitors to Grand Rapids, MI each year. In 2018, SOS was featured by Forecast Public Art’s print publication Public Art Review #58 (PAR 58) along with 14 other public art and creative placemaking projects from around the world that “connect us to our shared humanity” and by CODA Magazine in its July 2018 issue “Art with a Message“. In 2019, Waterfront Toronto commissioned A+J to bring the artwork to downtown Toronto for a two-month installation in Lake Ontario. The touring project addresses the culture and history of local immigrant communities and their descendants in relation to the current global refugee crisis.