Harlem Sculpture Gardens Launched At City College

Harlem will host its first large-scale sculpture exhibition in Spring, 2024. The historic parks Morningside, St. Nicholas, and Jackie Robinson have been selected to be the featured sites for these works as well as the campus of City College and the Roosevelt Triangle on 125th Street.

Harlem Sculpture Gardens will be led by the West Harlem Art Fund and New York Artist Equity Association. They will work collaboratively with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, local community boards and neighborhood groups.

"Harlem Sculpture Gardens will be an incredible celebration of Harlem's rich history of sculpture, local artists of colors, and neighborhood parks, all while making art more accessible," said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. "I'm confident that this expansive, multimedia initiative will ignite Manhattanites' passion for art and a commitment to stewarding Harlem's parks. I can't wait to visit the Gardens next spring and experience what the artists have created."

The team will also partner with the online app STQRY (formerly OnCell) to realize online tours and sound walks. STQRY is a storytelling platform that helps visitors explore further, engage deeper, and discover more. Users can choose from a range of amazing features to create location-based tours, virtual tours, mobile, and web apps, audio guides, games, and online collections.

Artists of color from Harlem and neighboring areas submitted proposals as individuals or teams in an open call for public art, dance and sound art.

Deputy Borough President Keisha Sutton-James shared at the recent press event that Harlem has a proud history of great sculptors. During the period of the Harlem Renaissance, there were luminaries such as :

• Meta Fuller
• Augusta Savage
• Richmond Bar-the
• Charles Alston

They depicted sculptures of everyday life of African Americans or portrait busts featuring leading Black figures like Marcus Garvey, Henry O'Tanner or Touissant L'overture.

During the 1960s, Valerie Maynard created works that focused on civil rights and social justice. She also taught at the Studio Museum in Harlem during those times. Faith Ringgold came onto the art scene in the 1970s with her quilts and soft sculptures inspired by African masks. She is still with us at the age of 93.

New living legends like Algernon Miller, Allison Saar and Branley Cadet connect us to our historical past with monuments of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. while Maren Hassinger, Tschabalala Self and Sanford Biggers allow us to experiment with abstract or futuristic themes.

Now, Harlem is pushing this tradition forward with new emerging artists in 2024 and Harlem Sculpture Gardens.

According to Savona Bailey-McClain, "Over the years, West Harlem has been blessed with both permanent public art and temporary public art. Parks in general, improves quality of life, lowers stress, and increase safety. Adding sculpture offers even more layers. Residents would frequent local parks more and possibly volunteer, nearby restaurants and local businesses could experience new patrons".

Past works in West Harlem have included for example, the West Harlem Art Fund's presentation of its 1st sculpture Three Men Walking by artist Kirsten Campbell in St. Nicholas Park, 2003. The famed artist Nari Ward presented Voice I, Voice II and Voice III as permanent sculpture at West Harlem Piers in 2013. Susan Stair presented Setting the Stage for Climate Change in 2016 and most recently the Reclining Liberty by Zaq Landsberg in Morningside Park.

Michael Gormley, Executive Director of New York Artists Equity (NYAE) adds that, "since 1947 NYAE has supported the professional aspirations of emerging artists from underserved communities via exhibition opportunities, funding and education. NYAE's public art practice, recently funded by NYSCA, expands upon this tradition of diversifying access to the arts by staging projects in the community for the community hence re-positioning art and uniting makers and viewers as inclusive and collaborating change agents for the greater good.

Artists presented to the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation for Harlem Sculpture Gardens: Sherwin Banfield, Kraig Blue, Zura Bushurishvili, Carol Diamond, Carol Eisner, Miguel Otero Fuentes, Iliana Emilia Garcia, Musa Hixson, Felipe Jacome, Haney Kim, Ben La Rocco, Peter Miller, Dario Mohr, Michael Poast, Margaret Roleke, Luke Schumacher, Tschabalala Self, Reuben Sinha, Dianne Smith, Vera Tineo, Pedro Villalta, Heather Williams, Jaleeca Yancy.

For more information, visit harlemsculpturegardens.com