Chelsea City Hall opens Black History Month with Caleb Hawkins’ ‘Held Intention’ installation

Chelsea City Hall opened its Black History Month program with an installation titled “Held Intention” by artist Caleb Hawkins onstage during a community reception.

Caleb Hawkins, who described the work as rooted in architecture and technology, read an artist statement and explained the piece’s materials and meaning. "Held intention is a light based installation situated within a civic corridor of Chelsea City Hall," Hawkins said, adding that the installation is "composed of wire rope, reflective surfaces, and light" and is designed to "draw lines of force through the hallway, measuring space through tension, alignment, and passage." He said the piece is large enough for people to move around and through and that he planned to dim the hall's lights later so the work would "glow".

City Manager Fidel Motez praised the exhibit and credited local staff and partners for making the project possible. Motez noted the city has taken related steps to recognize local Black history, saying that "last year or or, 2 years ago, we, renamed Walnut Street" and that city staff are "working on a Black Heritage Trail" to create a lasting public history presence in Chelsea. Motez also remarked on the time invested in the installation, saying Hawkins had spent about 100 hours on the work.

Delia Harrington, introduced at the event as manager of arts, culture and creative economy, thanked the city teams who supported the installation and framed public art as inclusive. "I strongly believe art is for everybody, even if it's art that maybe doesn't make sense to you at first," Harrington said, encouraging attendees to walk through, look up and down, and experience how light and movement change perception of the piece.

Hawkins described several practical design choices: the installation avoids drilling into walls, instead relying on counterweights and self-supporting structures; it intentionally creates lines that reframe movement through a civic corridor; and its reflective surfaces fragment and recombine perception as people pass by. In his artist statement he wrote that the work "explores black history in civic space as something continually held, stretched, and made visible under pressure," arguing the installation reveals history through encounter rather than monumental display.

The event closed with a brief prayer and a blessing of the food, followed by an invitation to view the exhibit and the month’s planned activities. City staff said the Black Heritage Trail project is ongoing and that the installation will remain on view as part of the month’s programing. No formal votes or policy actions were recorded during the event.

The artist and organizers asked attendees to engage respectfully with the piece and noted that a fuller dimming of lights is scheduled later in the evening to allow visitors to experience the installation’s intended lighting effects.