LexArt in Artscope

Crafting Change

NEW LEXART PROGRAMS EXPAND ORGANIZATIONAL REACH

By Cassandra Goldwater

(Co-Chair of LexArt Board of Directors and Metalworking/Weaving Studio Member)

Since 2017, Matthew Siegal, the first full-time executive director of LexArt, has been on a quest to revive and rejuvenate the role of arts and craft into community life in Lexington. After a 33-year career in museums, culminating in 19 years with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Siegal is using his experience to evolve LexArt from a local art/craft nonprofit with an 80-year history of relying on volunteers to survive, to a thriving resource for arts regionally.

“Trying to make the case for the primacy of the arts, and in particular, the primacy of the act of making, and the vast possibilities of making art/craft in a shared environment is a tremendous challenge,” Siegal said. “Art holds such great promise for self-discovery, as therapy, as solace, to communicate and to glean insights, I just want to scream it in the streets."

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