Art in the Parks

Rainbow Mural is a colorful reclamation of the concrete barrier at the Forest Park Greenhouse Playground near the historical carousel. A pixelated rainbow pattern animate the masonry and contrast with the natural green of the forest. The vivid paint transforms the wall from a mundane structure into a vibrant colorful marker for the play area. In addition, sections of the mural include chalkboard color blocks which can be activated by children throughout the exhibition. Rainbow Mural is a community art project. Volunteers of all ages guided by artists Amanda Long, Tommy Hartung and Friends of Forest Park painted the Rainbow Mural using vivid paints and a hand-drawn grid.

Funding for the Rainbow Mural was generously provided by the New York City Council Parks Equity Initiative and a Capacity Fund Grant.

David Maisel’s Billboard, The Lake Project 62 (detail), is cropped from a photograph within a series of aerial images of a California lake that traces the changes of human intervention on the site. It expands Socrates’ imperative to present art that examines land use and environmental sustainability. While its subject, Owens Lake in California, is geographically and ecologically distinct from the Park’s own New York City waterfront location, the Billboard acknowledges global trends of water scarcity, air contaminants, and environmental destruction that can be caused by unregulated land-use issues pertinent to the Park. This otherworldly landscape can be a site of reflection for contradictions and our complicity in the face of looming environmental destruction. As the word ‘detail’ in the title suggests, Owens Lake is only a small element in the larger picture of the planet’s degradation.

This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park.

Each year Socrates presents an exhibition of new commissions made by artists awarded the Park’s Emerging Artist Fellowship. The Socrates Annual, 2018 exhibition does not adhere to a specific theme but rather presents the diversity of processes, material approaches, and subjects that comprise the most compelling public art practice today. For the 2018 exhibition, projects range from a decolonial greenhouse to audio-sculptural portraits of Queens hip-hop legends. Approaches vary among community-centered pedagogy and production, material experimentation, and redeployment of historical forms of construction, among others. The 2018 Artist Fellows join the ranks of over 300 artists who have received grants for producing work at Socrates since the Park’s first grant in 1995 and the formalization of the Emerging Artist Fellowship in 2000.

Participating artists, whose diverse range of medium include mosaic, cast concrete, glass, and painting, were selected by the Park’s 2018 Curatorial Advisors: Connie Choi, Associate Curator, Studio Museum in Harlem, and Alex Fialho, Programs Director, Visual AIDS. The 2018 Socrates Annual participating artists are Leilah Babirye, Sherwin Banfield, Amy Brener, Lionel Cruet, Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert, Ronen Gamil, Jesse Harrod, Carlos Jimenez Cahua, Leander Mienardus Knust, Antone Konst, Joiri Minaya, Nicholas Missel, Virginia Lee Montgomery, Nancy Nowacek, and Joe Riley and Audrey Snyder.

This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park.

This mural, depicting waves, mountains and stars, is a companion artwork to the  expansive fence installation above it. Together, the mural and the fence installation are a tribute to the immigrant communities of all times and an homage to New York Harbor. The fence installation is the result of a Residency Program with artist Lina Montoya and Sundog Theatre at P.S 39, a public school directly adjacent to this playground. The residency’s theme was cultural immigration and Ellis Island history, and the resulting design was inspired by the Staten Island Ferry and the boats that came to Ellis Island full of people.

Supported by Council Member Steven Matteo through the Cultural Immigrant Initiative grant awarded to Sundog Theatre, Inc. for artist Lina Montoya and PS 39 students.

This expansive fence installation is the result of a Residency Program with artist Lina Montoya and Sundog Theatre at P.S 39, a public school directly adjacent to this playground. The residency’s theme was cultural immigration and Ellis Island history, and the resulting design was inspired by the Staten Island Ferry and the boats that came to Ellis Island full of people. The central image is a large boat full of butterflies. The iconic Statue of Liberty is included in the design, as well as an airplane and a square figure in the lower right corner that references the southern border, an "open wall." This piece is a tribute to the immigrant communities of all times and an homage to New York Harbor.

Supported by Council Member Steven Matteo through the Cultural Immigrant Initiative grant awarded to Sundog Theatre, Inc. for artist Lina Montoya and PS 39 students.

This project is presented by Friends of Mariners Harbor Parks

ArtBuilt Mobile Studio, Queens Museum and NYC Parks invite local residents to visit Labyrinth Arts Collective for their Studio in the Park residency.  “Walk This Way: Imagining My Staten Island” is a series of creative workshops to celebrate the diversity of Staten Island residents in relationship to the waterfront and the link between its unique people, and their distinct and diverse neighborhoods. This project focuses on various genres of art-making such as storytelling, song, apparel, literature, food, and traditions, and how we all connect now to the ever changing waterfront. Project partners include Staten Island Arts Council, Staten Island Urban Center, Canvas Institute/IslandVoice, and YouthBuild SI/JMT Media. Visit Labyrinth Arts Collective for full schedule of workshops.

ArtBuilt Studio in the Park is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, Surdna Foundation, and The New York Community Trust. 

This exhibition was made possible by the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant.