Leslie MacWeeney Dobbs, an artist, educator, and community activist whose work helped shape Dorchester’s neighborhood arts scene for more than two decades, died March 24 at her home in Stoneham. She was 90.
Born in Ireland, MacWeeney built a transatlantic career as a visual artist and teacher before putting down deep roots in Boston. In Dorchester, she became best known as the founder and guiding force behind Dot Art, a community-based visual arts organization that provided free and low-cost programming to young people and adults alike.
Through Dot Art and later her nonprofit Living Art, MacWeeney championed the idea that art could be a tool for connection and social change. Her signature “Portraits, People and Places” initiative brought together neighborhood youth and first responders to collaborate on large-scale painted portraits—often on reclaimed doors—designed to foster trust, dialogue, and mutual understanding.
Under her leadership, Dot Art became an important outpost for art in the neighborhood, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024 with recognition from city officials for her longstanding service.
Her son Adam Dobbs was by her side along with Paul Dobbs and her friend and caretaker, Kathey,” said Caleb Nelson, a friend, who said Leslie had entered hospice care a week before.
According to Nelson: “Born in Ireland in October of 1935, Leslie MacWeeney started studying art when she was 14 at the College of Art in Dublin. She went on to attend an art school in Paris, where she enjoyed exploring forty art museums around the city. She returned to Dublin to teach, and eventually applied to grad schools.
“Leslie got a scholarship at BU, and she moved to Boston where she said that she ‘began teaching
teachers to teach,'” Nelson wrote.
Even as her health failed, two weeks before she passed away, she was looking into grants for another series of classes, Nelson said.She is survived by her son, Adam Dobbs; her brother, Alen MacWeeney; her former husband, Paul Dobbs; and many cousins, friends, students, and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic, according to a death notice.
A memorial celebration is planned for June.
