Prospect Park

The Daily Plant : Thursday, October 11, 2001

NEW EXHIBIT AT THE ARSENAL GALLERY IDENTIFIES THE LINKS BETWEEN SCOTTISH AND AMERICAN WATERWAYS

Photo by Spencer (Flasher) Tucker

The Arsenal Gallery, Parks’ premier indoor exhibition space, opened a new show on Monday, October 1, The Links and Locks of Scotland and New York, a collection of paintings and photographs of wetlands on either side of the Atlantic. Doug Lazarus and Parks’ own Benjy (Hawthorn) Swett and Jerry (Ironbound) Willis are the show’s featured artists. Their works appear as part of a UKwithNY cultural series this month. The exhibit is sponsored by Parks’ frequent partners, the Scottish-American Foundation and also the Waterways Trust of Scotland who raise money to maintain the Scottish canals that were built two centuries ago.

Today New York Harbor and smaller waterways are being reclaimed for their views, their breezes and sunsets, for the people—as opposed to the industries—of New York. Salt and freshwater marshes are the sites of ecological restoration, and the Bronx River is the stage for a community revitalization project. The arrangement of the works moves rapidly from North America to Europe, from photograph to oil and watercolor, from the Gowanus to the Caledonian Canal.

Like the waterways that are the focus of the exhibit, the landscapes around New York’s waterways are in motion. Preserved in the new exhibit are two views of the Twin Towers from Hackensack, New Jersey. Another photograph in the exhibit captures the view from the Tower’s observation deck. Because the landscapes captured in the photographs are fleeting, theirs is an historical as well as an artistic record. The Links and Links of Scotland and New York will remain on view until October 25 when the gallery makes room for a new show.

Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern and Alan (Scotsman) Bain, President of the American-Scottish Foundation addressed those present. Heather Bain, Director of the American-Scottish Foundation; Jonathan (Archive) Kuhn, Director of Art and Antiquities; Jill (Mainsail) Mainelli, Director of Community Resources; Adrian (Sassafras) Sas, Public Art Curator; and all of the featured artists were also in attendance.

1,000 OREGONIANS STOP AT UNION SQUARE PARK

ON A WHIRLWIND TOUR OF THE CITY

On Sunday, October 7, Union Square Park was the meeting place for a distinguished gathering of New Yorkers and one thousand citizens of Oregon who answered an invitation from the Mayor and the Governor to visit New York City and offer it support while consuming its immense cultural resources. The stops on their tour included St. John the Divine, the Waldorf Astoria, several Broadway theaters, among many other locations. Their visit to Union Square Park was a chance to pause in the exuberance of a visit to the Big Apple, and acknowledge the tragedy that occasioned their visit. In the course of the ceremony, the crowd affirmed its fondness for New York City, the people who dwell here, and the people who visit. Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern spoke and greeted Mayor Vera Catz of Portland, Oregon.

(Thursday, October 13, 1988)

Country music fans and square dance enthusiasts can kick up their heels at the "country in the city" Harvest Festival, a down home extravaganza bringing an afternoon of free banjo playing, hand clapping and high stepping to the Central Park Bandshell this Sunday, October 16 from Noon to 4 P.M. The Bandshell is located in the middle of the park at 72^nd Street.

Six musicians from the Fretted Instruments School of Music in Manhattan will play country tunes and "hoe down" rhythms, while a "caller" shouts instructions to square dancers in the park.

"You could not step twice into the same rivers;

for other waters are flowing on to you."

Heraclitus c. 540 – c. 480 B.C.