WS Development is striving to make the Seaport a more welcoming place for residents and visitors alike by regularly investing in colorful public murals and sculptures.

Ariel Foxman, the developer’s vice president of brand and experience for the Seaport, said the company has invested several million dollars into creating public art across the neighborhood over the past seven years.

These bright, colorful, and often abstract pieces are situated across WS Development’s 22 blocks of Seaport properties that span along Seaport Boulevard. between Fort Point Channel and B Street, extending as far south as Summer Street.

“It’s a lot of space to imagine public art in,” said Claire Kilcullen, WS Development’s senior manager of culture and experience for the Seaport.

“Boston is a very historic city that has a lot of bronze statues,” she said. “We try to lean away from that and incorporate more modern artists.

“This is Boston’s newest neighborhood so we like the art to feel very friendly in a way that some of that old bronze doesn’t,” she said. For example, doodle artist Jon Burgerman’s exhibit Looking Out for Each Other features colorful cartoon characters along One Seaport Courtyard resembling animals, pizza, a hot dog and a rainbow all smiling at passersby.

According to Kilcullen, the idea is to “make a space feel both meaningful, depending on your connection to the art, as well as bright and welcoming.”

Other exhibits, such as Maria Molteni’s A Sea Bird, are tied to the Seaport’s cultural identity. This vibrant mural, painted on the floor of the Sea Green’s outdoor basketball court, features nautical flags and symbolism echoing the neighborhood's historic chapel, Our Lady of Good Voyage.

“The original chapel was a very big place of worship for fishermen, which the area is very tied to,” said Kilcullen. “It was a really cool way to pay homage to a centerpiece in the community with a Fort Point artist.”

In addition to Boston-based artists, internationally renowned creators from as far as Spain and Germany have been commissioned to do exhibits in the Seaport.

“We choose artists who we know will understand what we’re trying to do,” said Kilcullen. “Our art is for uplifting.”

She said that WS Development will often work with art-sourcing agencies such as JUSTKIDS or Alchemy Station to choose artists, but other times employees will use social media connections to connect directly to creators.

Selected artists are then given a tour of the Seaport and introduced to their canvas, past examples of which have included a parking garage door, a stretch of sidewalk and the side of a building.

“We definitely focus most of our art in public spaces where people can gather and discuss and see them,” said Kilcullen.

She added that art being public “brings really great spirit to the community” and helps in “creating memories that people can develop here.”

While some installations are more realistic, such as San Miguel Okuda’s rainbow-colored sculptures of a deer, squirrel and a bird, Kilcullen explained the prevalence of abstract art helps make the Seaport unique.

“I think there’s a lot of our art where you can create meaning of your own whereas most of the art in Boston is dedicated to specific people,” she said.

Kilcullen said that WS Development’s first new permanent exhibit in over a year will be unveiled this fall at the Seaport’s Foundation Medicine building at 400 Summer Street.