The Kaleidoscope: Reflecting the Moment exhibition at the Somerville Museum. Runs now through August 23. ~ Photos courtesy of Stephanie Marlin-Curiel

 By The Times Staff

Step into a reflection of our reality during the summer exhibition at the Somerville Museum, going on now until August 23.

The immersive, multi-sensory exhibition invites visitors to experience and explore shifting concepts in the community during a time of transformation.

“This summer, we wanted the Museum to serve as a contemplative community space,” said Stephanie Marlin-Curiel, Executive Director of the Somerville Museum.

The Kaleidoscope exhibition presents participatory installations that reflect a multitude of feelings and emotions that community members are experiencing in a rapidly changing world. The show started on June 5, and the general admission is $8.

“Immersed in shifting color and light, visitors encounter words drawn from interviews with Somerville residents – an invitation to reflect on how language and perception shift in a rapidly changing and divided world, and how we might return to what grounds us and reconnects us with one another,” explained Marlin-Curiel.

The exhibition is curated by Flor Delgadillo, a multidisciplinary artist, who created the multi-sensory art experience to explore home, community, memory, and transformation, and provide opportunities for quiet reflection with moments of participation and co-creation.

“When we were talking about how rapidly things were changing from December to the opening of the reception, we were trying to find a way to really highlight the change in a way…with all the hardness and difficulty that is happening,” said Delgadillo.

Delgadillo is an “artivist” who relocated from California to Boston, where she has become a vital voice for inclusive and community-centered art.

An alum of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts University, Delgadillo facilitates hands-on workshops integrating artistic practice with engineering concepts and leads public art activations across the region.

Her work explores material culture and aims to elevate underrepresented narratives through collaborative expression and public engagement.

One of the many interesting parts of the exhibition stems from a collection of bones she’s amassed as a result of a dish her aunt made for her. “I have a series called bone kisses,” says Delgadillo. “I collect these bones from a traditional dish called Birria.”

The exhibition delves into histories of resilience, displacement, and reclamation, using vibrant materials and participatory installations to encourage connection and insight. Visitors are invited to listen, observe, reflect, and contribute their own stories and perspectives to an evolving community chorus.

“Kaleidoscope: Reflecting the Moment invites the audience into a space where light transforms, sound evokes memory, and art becomes a shared moment of pause and creation,” says Delgadillo.

The Museum added three dynamic public programs to accompany and complement Delgadillo’s exhibition. On July 24, the Museum held its first of three interactive complements, Sounding Her Voice: The Kalliope Reed Trio Celebrates Women Composers, a trio concert featuring saxophone, clarinet, and bassoon, the Kalliope Reed Trio highlights contemporary works by Mexican and American women composers – alongside a rare piece by French composer Claude Arrieu.

This coming Thursday, July 31, there will be an interactive dance-and-painting performance, where audience-submitted words become a real-time visual expression as Delgadillo moves and paints live. The Voice in Motion: Painting & Performance event will introduce an innovative fusion of language, movement, and art, embodying Kaleidoscope’s exploration of community-generated creativity.

The Glow Within: Meditative Self-Portraits in Watercolor is the third installment of interactive reflection on Saturday, August 2, that combines a family-friendly, meditative watercolor workshop using vibrant – and glow-in-the-dark – paints to create self-portraits that reflect mood, memory, and inner light. Participants will explore art as a form of self-care and communal reflection.

This exhibition was supported in part by a Tufts University Community Grant.

For more information visit https://www.somervillemuseum.org/