Art in the Parks

For over 50 years, Melvin Edwards has created public art for communities all around the world. His work reimagines monumental civic sculpture by uniting abstract forms with personal symbols to address issues of race, labor, and the African Diaspora. Brighter Days is a focused look at Edwards’ career through five sculptures from 1970 to 1996, and a sixth large-scale work commissioned in 2020. Each one incorporates some form of chain.

The context of City Hall Park adds resonance to the historical associations of these metal forms as tools of slavery and violence. This is the site of the African Burial Ground, a colonial-era cemetery for enslaved and freed individuals of African descent. More recently it became a geographic center of Black Lives Matter protests with the occupation of City Hall. Brighter Days, a title chosen by the artist, affirms his optimistic view of our shared future. Tracing the long arc of Edwards’ career, these six sculptures encourage us to remain mindful of the past as we cherish the social linkages that are more important than ever.

This exhibition is presented by Public Art Fund.

Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest, a towering stand of forty-nine haunting Atlantic white cedar trees, is a newly-commissioned public art work. Lin brings her vision as an artist and her agency as an environmental activist to this project, a memory of germination, vegetation, and abundance and a harsh symbol of the devastation of climate change. The height of each tree, around forty feet, overwhelms human scale and stands as a metaphor of the outsized impact of a looming environmental calamity.

This exhibition is presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy.

This exhibition is part of Confront Art’s SEEINJUSTICE series and features three sculptures by Chris Carnabuci: "FLOYD," "BREONNA," and "JOHN LEWIS." The SEEINJUSTICE series is inspired by the events of 2020 and has empowered many to take a stand in demanding justice, as Congressman John Lewis once did. The series aims to honor the lives and ongoing messages through art, tying together three iconic people. The sculptures stand at 10-feet tall, composed of layers of precision-cut wood to craft a detailed and realistic monument of each subject.

This exhibition is presented by Confront Art and Union Square Partnership.

"Source to Spout" features a series of photographs of the reservoirs and watersheds which supply NYC's drinking water, wrapped around ten drinking fountains in Riverside Park from 64th Street to 174th. In the context of an impending global water crisis, the public installation seeks to bring awareness to the issue by asking people locally to consider where their water comes from, and to reconsider using single use plastic bottles, especially when water fountains offer free refills. At the same time, Source to Spout leverages the visual, nonverbal power of photography to communicate and delight.

Source to Spout is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts and administered by LMCC. More information, including the locations of the fountains and photographs, can be found here.

This exhibition features shadowboxes that celebrate a diverse selection of the Villages’ most prominent historical residents. The artwork uses photographs and three-dimensional reproductions to illustrate their lives and achievements. Each box is accompanied with a QR-code linked to a digital audio-guide available that describes each honoree’s historic legacy and how they relate to the development of our modern-day communities. Eight shadowboxes can be found installed between Jackson Square Park, St. Vincent’s Triangle, and Washington Square Park as the subjects relate directly with the parks. A total of 21 shadowboxes can be found around the village. 

This exhibition is presented by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

Up South interprets and honors those who birthed the movements leading up to the Harlem Renaissance, and beyond, to forge a continuum of Black thinkers and excellence that amplify the historical contributions of African/Black/Americans in Harlem. The exhibit reflects on the movement and embraces the imagery of textile art to move the narrative forward. Harlem Needle Arts’ continuous aim is to present works that are accessible to the African diasporic community and people of color, reflect social and political concerns, share histories of our existence, and represent unique artistic expressions as we introduce audiences to the legacy of textile arts. Up South uses the natural landscape of Colonel Charles Young Triangle Park and challenge artists to broaden their scope to present works which directly engage the community.

This visual interpretation in textile features the work of artists Laura R. Gadson, Sylvia Hernandez, Oluwaseyi Awoyomi, and Ife Felix. Their works honor the contributions of Casper Holstein, the Harlem Hellfighters 369th Regiment Orchestra, Georgina Douglas Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, Aaron Douglas, and the northward migration to Harlem.

This exhibition is presented by Harlem Needle Arts.

This exhibition is presented by Public Art Fund.

Curated by Karin Bravin, this outdoor exhibition includes work by over 20 artists in 13 site specific installations throughout Riverside Park and celebrates the resiliency and resolve of all New Yorkers. Including both physical installations and augmented reality displays, it gives people a safe, entertaining celebration to enjoy as the city slowly emerges from the pandemic. RE:GROWTH will feature unique works of art that use color and unexpected materials to explore the concept of re-growth - literal, metaphorical, poetic, and philosophical. The projects are on view throughout Riverside Park, from 66th to 145th Streets.

The exhibition includes work by Vanessa Albury, Blanka Amezkua, Lee Boroson, Dahlia Elsayed, Mark Joshua Epstein, Rico Gatson, DeWitt Godfrey, Joshua Goode, Valerie Hegarty, Wennie Huang, Beth Krebs, Sadie Laska, Niki Lederer, Wendy Letven, LoVid, Mary Mattingly, Joiri Minaya, Sui Park, Shuli Sade, David Shaw, Jean Shin, Glen Wilson, Letha Wilson, and Woolpunk.

This exhibition is presented by the Riverside Park Conservancy.

Medusa With The Head of Perseus is a seven-foot bronze sculpture that inverts the narrative of Medusa, portraying her in a moment of somberly empowered self-defense. In Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Medusa was a maiden in the temple of Athena, who was stalked and raped by Poseidon. Athena, in a rage, banishes and curses Medusa with a monstrous head of snakes and a gaze which turns men to stone. Medusa is herself blamed and punished for the crime of which she was the victim; she is cast away as a monster and then with the cruel assistance of Athena and Poseidon, eventually is hunted-down and beheaded by the epic hero Perseus, who displays her head as a trophy on his shield. Garbati’s sculpture speaks directly to the 16th Century Florentine bronze masterpiece Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini (1545-1554). Through this work, Garbati asks “how can a triumph be possible if you are defeating a victim?”

This exhibition is presented by MWTH Project.