3 New York City Public Schools Public Art 1999

Brick - I Want to Become Architecture Ten Proposals for a House for Habitat for Humanity

Manhattan and The Bronx, New York City 1999

in collaboration with Ellen Wexler

commissioned by NYC Board of Education and Dept. of Cultural Affairs

Drawing PS 340 is one of three public art installations integrated into the architecture of new school buildings. A112 foot long wall mural in the first floor of K-6 public school in the Bronx. The artwork is based on architectural blueprint drawings. It functions as a welcoming” you are here” overview of the school and as a study in scale and viewpoint and incorporates three maps that place the school in the community, the city and the country. The mural contains architectural plans and elevation drawings of the school building. It also focuses attention on architectural details of the school's construction and its functional elements such as how the elevator works, and shows plumbing lines and electrical wiring behind the wall. Drawing P.S. 340 helps children to visualize the three dimensional school as two dimensional and calls attention to the architectural design and the construction of a building that they experience on a daily basis.

Abstractions IS 254:
On entering the school lobby you are greeted with sixteen gold frames that contain visually arresting and beautiful colors, shapes and forms. The surface materials the architects chose for the building are identified and presented, out of context, in museum-like frames on the walls of the school's lobby. When these colors, surface textures and patterns are seen isolated from their function they appear abstractly beautiful. This installation is also an “I Spy” adventure. The framed materials in the lobby have descriptive brass plaques etched with numbers. At various locations throughout the school, where each of the materials are used in the building, there are plaques with the corresponding numbers. The frames and the search encourage awareness of the beauty of building materials and promote active looking at architecture.

West Side High School Park
West Side High School Park is a faux “Park” that provides a gathering spot for students in the school's entrance lobby. The installation creates a front yard in what was a dark and barren covered plaza. Sections of the brick and cement floor grid were raised to create an Urban Landscape. It is a man-made interpretation of nature: with taxi cab yellow boulders, green Astro Turf and bright blue opaque Lucite “ puddles”.