By Erin Souza

McGrath Highway transformed from bustling commuter byway into outdoor urban art gallery last weekend, as a metal fish atop a recycled silver 1989 Dodge Omni sat next to a large-scale angelic marionette puppet, and the upbeat sounds of a live Brazilian band wafted through the concrete space.    

Project SUM (Sculpture Under McGrath) took over the underpass at Washington Street that typically serves as a walkway for pedestrians and a refuge for commuters waiting for the 86 bus and made it home to a month-long public art installation. SSP Somerville kicked off the exhibit with a block party and reception attended by hundreds over the course of last Saturday afternoon.

A development of ARTSomerville, ArtsUnion and SSP Somerville, Project SUM comes second in a series of eight events that aims to foster community in the Union Square area while exposing its residents to the culture and artists on both sides of the highway, according to Melissa Hale Woodman, a coordinator for ArtsUnion.

“It forces you to reconsider this space,” Woodman said. “We want to bring people to the area around Union Square to realize its potential.”

The block party was a follow-up to Project MUM (Meet Under McGrath), the disco-themed dance party that drew hundreds of people, dressed in brightly colored bell bottoms and other groovy garb, to McGrath in late August.

The Somerville Arts Council put out a call for event producers, and SSP Somerville stepped up to the challenge, said Mimi Graney, Executive Director of Union Square Main Streets, a part of the Council. SSP Somerville went forward with a $2,000 base budget to put together the open-air sculpture display. 

In addition to their goal of utilizing the gritty, cavernous space under the highway, Project SUM developers and artists hope these events will “humanize the space for people who actually use it every day, such as commuters,” according to participating artist and Somerville resident Jen Fries.

Like many of the other 17 artists displaying work in the exhibit, Fries aimed to do something meaningful for her neighborhood that could be enjoyed by the pedestrians and drivers who pass through the area on a daily basis, she said.

Fries’ piece, what she describes as a “surrealist game” of sorts, is a stark white skeletal figure of a man who “appears around the edges of extraordinary happenings in ordinary places,” much like the offbeat McGrath exhibit itself.

As the flowing magenta silk and vibrant green and blue paint of the sculptures enticed Union Square and East Somerville neighbors to the McGrath and Washington Street intersection, the space was anything but a quintessentially quiet, museum-like art gallery.

Attendees braved the near-90-degree heat and moved to the music of Banda Ponto Com, snapped photographs with their camera phones and enjoyed complimentary munchies from local eatery Café Belo and other city restaurants, all while drivers in weekend traffic peered out their windows to get a glimpse of the scene.

Somerville resident and landscape designer Dustin Brackney heard of the Project SUM block party through a friend, he said, and would call the event a success even after just a few hours. “Look at all these people out here on such a hot day,” he said, motioning to the observers of all ages. “The exhibit is already serving its purpose.”

Funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Project SUM organizers also cited companies such as Waste Management for their donations of recycling receptacles and labor to the event. An additional $4,000 was secured through fundraising and the generosity of local businesses, according to SSP Somerville member Lee Mandell.

Project SUM will remain on display, free and open to the public, until September 30. Because the sculptures will be outside and unattended, the possibility of vandalism is something the artists have taken into consideration, Mandell said. “Hopefully people will respect the sculptures and appreciate why they’re here.”