Fort Greene Park

NYC PARKS JOINS GLOBAL APPAREL RETAILER UNIQLO FOR NEW PUBLIC ART CELEBRATION

Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant Recipients Create 10 Original Pieces for Public Installations Citywide

NYC Parks’ Public Art Program “Art in the Parks” Celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2017

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FACIP, today joined UNIQLO Global Director Corporate Social Responsibility Jean Shein, artists, and community members to celebrate the new public art installations created by the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant recipients. The event was held in Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx, where Patricia Cazorla and Nancy Saleme have installed their exhibit “Flying High for Equality,” and featured a performance by Garifuna artist James Lovell.

“Parks’ partnership with UNIQLO has proven to be a fantastic way to expand our public art offerings across the five boroughs, and we are thrilled to exhibit all of the amazing new artworks by local artists,” said Commissioner Silver. “Public art should be accessible to all, and when we have the resources needed to continue offering high quality arts and cultural programming in our parks and public spaces, we can change lives and create more vibrant communities. Now more than ever, it is crucial that we put our support behind the arts, and Parks is proud to be able to do so through our Art in the Parks program, now in its 50th year.”

"We are happy and humbled to see the results of months of hard work come to fruition in such a wonderful fashion, just in time for summer and the millions of New Yorkers and visitors who will enjoy these works of art,” said Jean Shein. “The way these local artists have used their parks as their canvas to express their unique creative vision is truly inspiring. We are thrilled to be able to support this and give back to the city that has welcomed us so warmly for the past ten years."

The $200,000 grant was announced last September, and builds on Parks’ equity initiatives by bringing regular public art exhibits to parks that have historically lacked cultural programming. These first 10 artists each received $10,000 to create their original pieces, which will be on display in parks for one year. There will be a second application period for the next round later in 2017, with the second round of 10 winning artists announced in early 2018.

The exhibiting artists are:

Bronx
• Joyce Kilmer Park: Patricia Cazorla and Nancy Saleme, “Flying High for Equality”
• Virginia Park: Lovie Pignata, “Daylighting”
Brooklyn
• Fort Greene Park: Blythe Cain, “Circadia”
• Herbert Von King Park: Musa Hixson, “The Conversation Sculpture”
Manhattan
• Seward Park: Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong, “Constellation”
• Thomas Jefferson Park: Capucine Bourcart, “LINOUQ”
Queens
• Flushing Meadow Corona Park: Sam Holleran, Patrick Rowe, and Mobile Print Power
• Rufus King Park: Risa Puno, “Common Ground”
Staten Island
• Faber Park: Lina Montoya, “Mariposas Lamps”
• Tappen Park: Fitzhugh Karol, “Eyes”
Additional events will be held in the coming weeks to celebrate the installations in the nine other chosen sites. For renderings, artist bios and project descriptions, visit our website.

Grant recipients were selected through an open application process and chosen by a committee of arts professionals and community members from the five boroughs, as well as Parks and UNIQLO USA representatives. Proposals were judged according to artistic and creative merit, response to the surrounding community, and suitability to the site. Priority was given to proposals that responded directly to the park and its neighborhood.

A partnership with NYC Parks and New York City artists is a natural extension of the UNIQLO tradition of contributing to local communities and celebrating artists and self-expression. Since opening its first global flagship store in SoHo 10 years ago, the company has embraced neighborhoods and local communities as showplaces for creativity.

Art in the Parks 50th Anniversary
In 2017 NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program celebrates 50 years of bringing contemporary public artworks to the city’s parks, making New York City one of the world’s largest open-air galleries. The agency has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, NYC Parks has collaborated with arts organizations and artists to produce over 2,000 public artworks by 1,300 notable and emerging artists in over 200 parks. For more information about the program visit www.nyc.gov/parks/art.