2. Riverside Art Park
A public sculpture hasn’t been unveiled at Riverside Park South for five years until this month. The Art Students League, in partnership with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks, has returned with two large-scale public art installations by League artists, Helen Draves and Susan Markowitz Meredith, as part of the school’s Works in Public program. Helen’s piece, titled Hope, shows a face mask made up of smaller masks with social media messages written from all over the world and in different languages. The masks slowly transform into bluebirds soaring into the sky — representing hope, healing, freedom and human resilience.
Meredith’s sculpture, Life Dance, reflects a similar sense of positivity and hope for the future, with three spirals sprouting and engaging in a “rhythmic dance,” intertwining with one another. Each spiral has transparent steps that serve as metaphors for natural growth. Interconnection is central to the piece’s meaning as the colors of the 11-foot-tall painted steel and plexiglass sculpture were chosen to complement the shades of the park. The art installations will remain in the park, free to view, until July 2024.
