Northeastern art professor and her students transform Boston-area home into abstract art

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Northeastern art professor and her students transform Boston-area home into abstract art

Walking into this mid-century modern Chestnut Hill home you might not expect to find abstract art literally flowing off the walls. But that’s exactly where Sophia Ainslie, a Northeastern University associate teaching professor of art and design, has created her next masterpiece.

Ainslie’s abstract style, which combines bold pops of color and shapely-yet-formless flows of black and white, is impossible to ignore. It’s why, on top of her work in the classroom, she also brings her art out into the world through commissioned, large-scale pieces. Her work transforms spaces like Northeastern’s Ryder Hall, Boston City Hall and, now, a private home in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood west of downtown Boston.

“It’s always been more about the two dimensionality of a space, and now it’s interesting working more three dimensionally because it is more experiential,” Ainslie says. “You get more engulfed in it.”

But Ainslie doesn’t do this alone. She uses these projects as experiential learning opportunities, bringing her students along for the ride. The design is Ainslie’s, but her students use their own brushstrokes and style to help bring her vision to life.

 

Sophia Ainslie drew on the colors from the property owners’ art collection to connect her piece to the character of the Chestnut Hill home she was working in for this project. Photos by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

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