CONNECTED | Mar 03, 2026
Engaging Edmonia: Sharing the life and work of an extraordinary artist through PEM programs
As the Director of Learning & Community Engagement, I have a very cool job. Every day I get to think about new ways to engage our communities with the work in our collections, galleries and changing exhibitions. I am also very lucky to collaborate with our curators on ways to engage our audiences, sometimes for years as they develop new projects.
PEM’s presentation of Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone. Photo by Kim Indresano.
Augustus Marshall, Carte-de-visite of Edmonia Lewis, about 1870. Albumen on wove paper and cardboard. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, 2020.10.5. https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2020.10.5
When I learned about the artist Edmonia Lewis and her work almost two years ago from PEM’s George Putnam Curator of American Art Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, I knew we were in for a very special exhibition. Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone provides an amazing opportunity to share Lewis’ story and her work with our local, regional, national and international communities.
Born in Greenbush, New York in 1844, Edmonia Lewis became the first sculptor of Black and Indigenous (Mississauga) descent to achieve international recognition. Beginning her career in Boston in 1863, she traveled to Rome in 1866 to join the leading American sculptors of her generation, breaking international, racial and gender barriers.
Following her death in 1907, Lewis’ legacy endured in Black communities, yet her contribution to American sculpture has largely been underrecognized. Some of her great masterpieces were rediscovered decades later, while others remain lost today. Unfortunately, like many artists and leaders of color from the 19th century, Lewis’ story was largely erased, which is why sharing her work and her biography with audiences, and especially with young people, is so very important today.
Influencer Kwasi Hope capturing video in the gallery for the opening of Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone. Photo by David Tucker.
Our team in Learning & Community Engagement wanted to ensure that students and audiences would learn about Lewis’ life and artistry even if they could never attend the exhibition. We created a strategy that would meet people where they are, with multiple opportunities aimed at multiple learning styles, and planned a large slate of engagement programs and activities, including in-school and after-school workshops, guided learning opportunities, a robust tour schedule, expert panels, arts activities and major community engagement projects. From hands-on sculpting to soap carving, there’s something for everyone!
Museum visitors admire Edmonia Lewis’ works in the gallery at PEM. Photo by David Tucker.
Guided Learning
Guided Learning collaborated with curators to train guides on the exhibition well in advance of its opening. A robust schedule of scripted and innovative tours for schools, continuing learners and the general public has been planned, with a lesson plan format, talking points and exhibition mapping provided to PEM Guides at the same time as the curator introduction.
Community Engagement with RAW Art Works
We celebrate the role of creativity in the life of Edmonia Lewis, and the way it continually inspired her to move forward in her life, and to find and forge her own community with her artistry at its center. She remained on the move throughout her life, from upstate New York to Oberlin in Ohio and from Boston to Rome to London, in search of a place and space where she could thrive as an individual and artist. In many ways Lewis was on a continual quest for a sense of belonging and her own community.
Art making activities in PEM’s Create Space. Photos by David Snider.
In order to engage more community members and young artists of color in the work of Edmonia Lewis, we partnered with Raw Art Works (RAW), a creative youth development organization in next-door Lynn. Participants collaborated in a group art making workshop, initiating the creation of an installation piece centered on words of belonging, identity and community, with the life and work of Edmonia Lewis as inspiration. Through this partnership, RAW and PEM aimed to create a dynamic, participatory experience that strengthened community connection, celebrated creative expression and modeled inclusive collaboration across organizations while deepening participants’ awareness of and appreciation for the life and work of Edmonia Lewis.
The Words of Belonging mural created by RAW artists. Photo by David Snider.
In-School and After-School Workshops
In-school workshops and tours will engage students from throughout the region during the exhibition's run. More than 1,500 classroom educators were offered workshops on Edmonia Lewis, with major partnerships planned with Collins Middle School with their 6th, 7th and 8th grades, along with select 3rd grade teachers in Salem Public Schools and with the Salem Academy Charter School, Phoenix School and Salem State University.
Course Offerings
“Edmonia Lewis: Her Life and Art” (40-minute Social Studies and ELA in-school workshop)
Learn about the life and legacy of Edmonia Lewis, one of the leading American sculptors of her generation who broke international, racial and gender barriers.
“Sculpting Like Edmonia” (45-minute visual art in-school or museum studio workshop)
Explore relief sculpture, an artistic technique in which 3D subjects project out of a flat surface.
Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone guided tour (45-minute in-gallery tour)
Join our PEM Guides for a guided gallery tour of Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone. Discover the major themes of the show and learn about the incredible work and legacy of this dynamic American sculptor.
One of the art pieces created by a community member during RAW workshops on being, belonging and creativity offered at PEM. Photo by David Snider.
Public Programming
Our public programming strategy for Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone emphasizes access, inclusion and creative engagement. Offerings span in-person and virtual formats to connect diverse audiences with Lewis’ life, work and legacy. Programs are designed to invite exploration across learning styles, hands-on art making, dialogue, scholarship and family engagement, while leveraging strategic partnerships such as the Heckscher Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, RAW and Salem State University. Check the PEM events page for more events being added this spring.
Together, all of these offerings create layered entry points for engagement, connecting families, scholars, artists and general audiences more deeply to Edmonia Lewis and her work. I am so very proud of this exhibition and the work our team is doing to ensure that the extraordinary artistry of Edmonia Lewis will be known for generations to come.
If you would like to bring the work and life of Edmonia Lewis into your classroom or bring your students to see and experience Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone through the run of the exhibition on June 7, please email us at learn@pem.org. We hope you’ll join us!
Blog
Artist Edmonia Lewis visited Boston women sculptors in Rome in December 1865
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PEMcast
PEMcast 41: The storied life of Edmonia Lewis
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Press Release
PEM debuts the first major retrospective exhibition of acclaimed 19th-century Black, Indigenous sculptor
BLOG
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan and David Snider chat about PEM’s community engagement
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