Joyce Kozloff’s Harvard Square Mural Imperiled

New England Decorative Arts, the eighty-three-foot-long rainbow tile mural created by pioneering Pattern and Decoration artistJoyce Kozlofffor Cambridge, Massachusetts’s Harvard Square station in 1985, is at risk of disappearing,Hyperallergicreports. The work, depicting New England scenes and made of interwoven handpainted tiles that together recall a quilt, was Kozloff’s first public art installation. However, in the forty years since its arrival above the curving ramps connecting the subway station to the bus station, it has fallen into extreme disrepair. The artist toldHyperallergicthat inadequacies in the wall’s infrastructure have caused the tiles to crack, noting that she herself removed and repaired one section of the work as early as 1986. Photos additionally showed holes in the ceiling above the work.

“[The damage] gets worse and worse, and is not restorable,” Kozloff said. In her opinion, the mural needs to be completely remade. She estimates the cost of replacement tiles, shipping, and demolition and construction at more than $1 million. Kozloff toldHyperallergicthat to raise funds she needs the backing of either the Massachusetts governor or the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which along with the Cambridge Arts Council originated the program, now called Arts on the T, under which the work was installed.

The T, as the greater Boston subway system is known, is itself in need of funds: The MBTA has estimated that it needs $24.5 billion to repair its tracks and stations.

“The MBTA recognizes the importance of public art in humanizing our system and enhancing the travel experience of our riders,” MBTA spokesperson Lisa Battiston told Hyperallergic. “When new art is included today . . . the art is required to be composed of resilient and durable materials, like ceramic tile, glass, and concrete, that are easier to maintain and can withstand existing within the conditions of our public transportation network.” Battiston did not respond to queries about the agency’s plans for Kozloff’s mural but acknowledged that the MBTA “continues to explore and evaluate opportunities to upgrade its historic art pieces, including related costs, manpower, time, and access.”

The eighty-one-year-old Kozloff has been digitizing tile designs so that the work could be remade even if she were no longer alive. “I don’t know what else I can do,” she told the platform, “except make some noise!”