Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant

The New York City parks department has teamed with retailer Uniqlo on a grant program—— “Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant” that will see 10 parks host works by emerging New York-based artists beginning in June.

Among them, oversized, colorful sparrow sculptures will appear in Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx in Patricia Cazorla and Nancy Saleme’s “Flying High for Equality”; Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park will host a luminescent sculpture and seating system made from concrete and phosphorescent tiles for Blythe Cain’s “Circadia,” and Manhattan’s Seward Park will host Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong’s “Constellation,” consisting of a sculptural pavilion that will serve as a site for performances and panels.

In Queens, Rufus King Park will be equipped with a grid of interlocking, tiled mosaic picnic tables for Risa Puno’s “Common Ground,” while in Staten Island Lina Montoya’s “Mariposas Lamps” wil take inspiration from Gabriel García Márquez’s “100 Years of Solitude” in Faber Park.

A further five installations include Lovie Pignata’s “Daylighting,” featuring a replica of the Bronx River painted on blacktop (Virginia Park, Bronx); Musa Hixson’s “The Conversation Sculpture,” a steel sculpture enclosing several stools (Herbert Von King, Brooklyn); and Capucine Bourcart’s “Linouq,” a photo-assemblage made of more than 4,000 metal squares hanging from a chain-link fence (Thomas Jefferson Park, Manhattan).

Sam Holleran, Patrick Rowe, and Mobile Print Power have created a series of illuminated sculptures and multilingual drawing and silkscreen printmaking sessions for Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, while back in Staten Island, Tappen Park will be the site for Fitzhugh Karol’s “Vio,” a colorful steel work with an integrated play feature.

Grants will be issued to 10 emerging artists with the most compelling public art proposals. Generously funded by UNIQLO, each grantee will receive an award of $10,000 to create their proposed artwork.