Wednesday, December 22, 2021 – STAY OUT OF DOORS AND ENJOY GREAT NEW PUBLIC ART

By admin

WEDNESDAY,  DECEMBER 22, 2021

 The 552nd Edition

NEW PUBLIC ART

INSTALLATIONS

IN NYC

DECEMBER 2021

FROM UNTAPPED NEW YORK

Winter Cathedral by Mandylights. Courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden.Through January 9, 2022, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) will host Lightscape, an after-dark illuminated spectacular celebrating the beauty of winter. The exhibition will feature a festive trail winding through the garden’s 52-acre landscape complete with colorful light displays highlighting the trees, landscape, and architecture and site-specific music and sounds. More than 18 works of art will be on display and will be animated with over one million lights. One standout display will be the Mandylights’ Winter Cathedral, a 100-foot tunnel adorned with thousands of LED lights in the shape of a traditional Gothic arch. Covering the Cherry Esplanade will be the animated light show Sea of Life by Ithaca. Other attractions will include Ashley Bertling’s Fire Garden, which uses bespoke structures to fill the garden with real fire from candles, accompanied by seasonal music, and Frog Man’s Laser Pond, which involves laser beams being shot across the water in the Japanese-Hill-and-Pond Garden to the sound of music. Lightscape will also directly highlight the work of local artists including Jacqueline Woodson’s site-specific poems, collectively known as Remember the Light Inside You, which will be projected onto trees, shrubs, and hillocks near Bluebell Wood. Through this series of poems, Woodson aims to engage visitors’ senses and immerse them fully into the beauty of nature, even during one of the darkest times of the year. For nonmembers of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, tickets are priced at $34 for adults and $18 for children ages 3-12. BBG member admission tickets are $30 for adults and $16 for children.

The Great Debate by Hebru Brantley. Photo by @pixelatedstreets. On display at The Battery in Lower Manhattan is artist Hebru Brantley’s 16-foot steel sculpture The Great Debate, depicting Flyboy — a superhero character of color created by Brantley in response to the few characters of color found within the comic book world. Brantley was inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American military aviator pilots who fought in World War II. Flyboy serves as a nod of admiration towards these men, aimed at inspiring future generations to soar above their predicted possibilities, regardless of the challenges standing in their way. Presented in partnership with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program, The Great Debate forces its audience to reflect on the meaning of freedom in American society today. The Great Debate will be available for view through November 13, 2022.

A view of The Fifth Season: Annual Holiday Lighting on Fifth Avenue. Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Fifth Avenue Association.Located along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue is The Fifth Season, a series of 32 hand-crafted-in-Brooklyn animal sculptures across from the Plaza Hotel, 5,000 feet of lighting, a skating rink, and 24 handmade icebergs surrounding the Pulitzer Fountain. The installation is accompanied by music from composer Paul Brill, with all elements created by artisans of Harlequin Designs.

Day Into Night Into Day in the 138 St-Grand Concourse Subway Station Stairwell. Photo by Argenis Apolinario. Inside the downtown stairwell between the mezzanine entrance and southbound platform at the 138th St-Grand Concourse Subway Station in the Bronx is Amy Pryor’s mosaic artwork Day Into Night Into Day. Presented by MTA Arts & Design, the four-part mosaic depicts the shifting hours of daylight and darkness over four seasons using a spectrum of colors. Its structure is uniquely based around a twenty-four-hour clock and pie charts. Overlapping the seasonal sunrises and sunsets are charts of stars rarely seen from the Bronx at night. The mosaic’s top left square depicts the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, while the top right represents the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. In the lower-left is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and in the lower right is the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall.As Sandra Bloodworth, Director of MTA Arts & Design stated: “In many ways, Day Into Night Into Day parallels the daily journeys taken by travelers through the station to and from the Mott Haven neighborhood. Amy’s rendering of the rising and setting of the sun highlights the cosmic energy involved in determining the length of our days and nights. The sparkling surfaces of the mosaics bring a contemplative spirit into the station, reminding us that while the evening brings our day to a close, every morning provides us with a fresh start. The artwork captures our imagination and adds a burst of energy and a wave of tranquility to the beginning and conclusion of our travels.”

Photo credit: Martin Seck, Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership In collaboration with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Temporary Art Program and Van Alen Institute, the Flatiron Partnership will present Atelier Cho Thompson’s art installation Interwoven in the Flatiron North Public Plaza. Inspired by New York’s tapestry of cultures and peoples, Interwoven is a series of interactive archways activated with color-coded sensors. When two or more people pass through sensors of the same color, Interwoven responds with the corresponding light and musical compositions by local artists. The installation also features an interactive story wall made of backlit papers hung on a grid — allowing visitors to share responses to the prompt “I dream of a world where together we can…” which was selected by Youth Fellows from the People’s Bus NYC. Alongside Interwoven, four acapella performances by Christmas carolers will take place in the North Public Plaza. Interwoven was chosen through the eighth annual Flatiron Holiday Design Competition and will remain on display through January 2, 2022.

NYBG Photo. Courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden. This November the Holiday Train Show will return to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) for its 30th anniversary. Visitors will have the opportunity to marvel as model trains zip through a display of more than 175 New York landmarks, each having been recreated from natural materials such as birch bark, lotus pods, cinnamon sticks, cones, acorns, and seeds. Inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a miniature wonderland will feature classic New York structures like the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, and Rockefeller Center. In honor of the show’s 30th anniversary, a new replica of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library and Haupt Conservatory has been created. The Holiday Train Show will run from November 20, 2021 through January 23, 2022.On 25 select nights starting November 24, 2021 until January 22, 2022, NYBG GLOW will light up the Botanical Garden. Around 1.5 miles of the Botanical Garden will be filled with washes of bright colors, thousands of energy-efficient LED lights, and illuminated plant stories, with the Haupt Conservatory and Mertz Library Building serving as the centerpieces. During NYBG GLOW nights, beverages and light fare will be served at the outdoor bars or the Bronx Night Market Holiday Pop-Up. To celebrate the holiday season, ice sculpting, music, and pop-up performances will be available around the garden.

A PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT

Ron Crawford’s new print of the Queensboro Bridge is available at the kiosk, a perfect holiday gift, $35-

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