Boston is on a mission to revitalize its approach to public art, and a number of Wellesley alums have joined the city’s effort. Jenn Duan ’21 and Anita Yip ’07 are involved in Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument: Transforming Boston, a multiyear project featuring a collection of works of art that rethink what a monument can be, and Rose Coffey ’05 has worked with Boston Public Art Triennial, an organization that supports artists and communities through what it calls “bold, contemporary, public art.”
As an artist with a psychology background, Duan is interested in using art to build community and process complex emotions. They first learned about public art opportunities at Pao Arts Center, Boston Chinatown’s first arts center, through Shaina Lu ’12, an educator and community artist. In 2023, they were accepted as a mural artist for the center’s Experience Chinatown Festival and created a mural for APM Coffee in Chinatown.
“Being my own biggest advocate led me to take calculated risks in my career, throw my name in the sea of many art applications, and go for opportunities even when I felt underqualified,” says Duan, who previously had worked only on smaller-scale illustrations.
Duan also worked on a piece that is part of the Un-monument initiative, collaborating with artists Katelyn Lipton and Stephanie Li on Ping Pong Tables of Chinatown: A Celebration of Diversity and Nature, a public art project presented by Pao Arts Center that debuted in October 2024. It features two mobile and interactive painted table-tennis tables that the artists hope will promote “intergenerational gathering, playing, and wellness.”
Duan says Ping Pong Tables of Chinatown was inspired by “our fond memories of playing ping-pong growing up and how playful gatherings can bring people together.” Each table has a theme: The Flora and Fauna of Chinatown table Duan and Lipton worked on depicts local plants and birds coexisting in the community. Li painted the People of Chinatown table, which celebrates the people who live, work, and play in the neighborhood.
Throughout the process, the artists invited the community to gatherings, such as live painting and table-tennis tournaments. They worked closely with Pao Arts Center and the Asian Community Development Corporation, to which they donated the tables after the event.
“It has been rewarding to directly collaborate with fellow Asian American artists in the community,” Duan says. “The process of navigating the logistics of the project, budgeting, drafting designs, and prepping the tables for painting felt interminable at times, but the painting process itself and seeing the art come to life was wonderful.”
Yip’s first public art project, The Thousand Bloom: A Chrysanthemum Grows in Chinatown, presented by Pao Arts Center and part of the Un-monument initiative, celebrated Chinatown’s past, present, and future. As founder and creative director of Project Asian Joy, Yip is reimagining how art can transform communities and preserve cultural legacies. Together with local businesses, cultural organizations, and community leaders, she seeks to bridge creative expression with collective growth, creating spaces where joy and culture thrive.

Chinatown’s identity is built on generations of stories and experiences, Yip says, and she wanted her project to be a “living monument” that will continue to evolve. The Thousand Bloom, an installation of 1,000 naturally dyed silk chrysanthemums bundled into nine bouquets to form a single chrysanthemum, creates a visual metaphor that honors the Chinatown community’s strength and unity.
The project was featured at the neighborhood’s first Double Ninth Festival, traditionally observed on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month to honor elders and promote good health. The festival included performances and community activities such as qigong, Chinese square dancing, and arts and crafts.
“One of the most gratifying moments came when an auntie told me the installation had brought back memories of her university days in China, when visual displays like this were common,” Yip says. “She fondly remembered the lively dances that often accompanied them and mentioned that it had been over 50 years since she’d experienced anything like it. …This experience really underscores how deeply our heritage can shape our creative expression, allowing us to honor traditions and create similar experiences, even if we haven’t personally lived them.”
Coffey says there are many different ways to get involved with public art. As an installer and shop hand for BRM Production Management, a public and corporate art construction management firm, she has taken on physical and logistical tasks for a variety of events and installations.
This past year, Coffey was part of a team that installed artworks featured in the Boston Public Art Triennial’s Lot Lab, an outdoor community gathering space for experimental, site-specific contemporary public art in Charlestown. Coffey helped transport Ifé Franklin’s 700-pound sculpture The Resurrection of Mark, Phillis, & Phebe to the installation site and prepare its supporting structure. She also helped stage Hugh Hayden’s hybrid sculpture Gulf Stream.
“I call it ‘artistic grunt work,’ and I love it,” Coffey says. “Bringing artists’ big ideas to life has been really fulfilling.”
Duan encourages Wellesley students interested in working in public art to believe in their artistic ability, remember that there is no “right” place or time to begin their journey as an artist, and reach out to alums and community organizations. “Your skills do not need to be perfect, and you do not need to wait to feel ready,” they say. “The course of your entire career may change by applying to something on a whim.”