2021 Arsenal Gallery Exhibits

December 2, 2021 – January 6, 2022

39th Annual Wreath Interpretations Exhibition

Celebrate the holiday season with this quirky and one-of-a-kind exhibition! NYC Parks’ annual Wreath Interpretations exhibition is back in person at the Arsenal Gallery after going virtual last year. Welcoming the holiday season with a variety of inventive and surprising wreaths, this year’s exhibition includes wreaths by nearly 40 artists, designers, and creative individuals of all ages who have used unexpected materials to reinvent the traditional holiday symbol.  

Drawing on timely themes including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, to more personal subject matter, artists this year have created their wreaths using yo-yos, reused sardine cans, bicycle tubes, vintage maps, natural materials, and more.  

Can't make it to the Arsenal Gallery in person? View this exhibition online

Image: Tom Fitzgibbon, Roundabout, 2021, Wood, steel, wire, LEDs, CPU, acrylic, clothespins

October 25, 2021 – November 18, 2021

Paul Hunter: Confinement Gardens

Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, Paul Hunter’s “Confinement Gardens” series was inspired by the artist’s walks through New York City’s public parks and gardens during lockdown. As he sought refuge from these restrictions in the city’s greenspaces, he experienced the restorative power of flowers in bloom, which gave him hope despite the surrounding pandemic and political turmoil. In this series, his non-figurative compositions combine floral and leaf forms with wholly abstract linear patterns. To achieve the paintings’ luminous power, he applies several coats of translucent acrylics over an under-layer of aluminum leaf which reflects and refracts light through the layers of semi-transparent paint.

Images: Paul Hunter, Confinement Garden #AA, 2021, aluminum leaf, acrylic on canvas

Partnerships for Parks — It's Our Park: 25 Years of Communities in Action 

Digital: See this exhibition online!

Many of New York City’s local parks are sustained by community groups who volunteer to care for them. Dating back to the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, this grassroots activism transformed parks that were once neglected and dangerous into flourishing public spaces. Founded in 1995, Partnerships for Parks (PfP) was created to bring communities together with city government and private resources to grow this movement, which is as critical now as it was then. This online exhibition celebrates the program’s 25 years of dedicated public service by exploring PfP’s rich network. Sourced directly from community leaders, staff, and NYC Parks’ archives, the exhibition uses photography to celebrate PfP’s community partners, telling their stories through their eyes, and showing the transformation possible when people come together in their neighborhood parks to effect change.

Image: A happy moment at the Community Parks Initiative (CPI) launch at Martin Luther King, Jr. Playground, 2015, Leenda Bonilla/Partnerships for Parks

December 1, 2020 – January 4, 2021

38th Annual Wreath Interpretations Exhibition

View this exhibition online

NYC Parks is pleased to announce the 38th annual Wreath Interpretations exhibition, bringing in the holiday season with an array of imaginative and unusual wreaths. This year, the exhibition will take place virtually, with nearly 40 wreaths displayed on the agency’s website. The exhibition includes wreaths by artists, designers, and creative individuals who reimagined the traditional holiday motif. This year’s wreaths feature unexpected materials like paintbrushes, newspapers, aluminum cans, coconut husks and shells, work gloves, earrings, grains and spices, and matchbooks. Some wreaths address timely topics like COVID-19, working remotely, and creative reuse and recycling, while others serve as a lighthearted inspiration and symbols of hope. Welcome the holiday season with this unique, fun, and socially-distanced exhibition.

Image: Kaitlyn E. Hay, Hail to the Art Teacher, paintbrushes, wood frame, glue, acrylic paint