The latest exhibition at ArtsWestchester”™s White Plains headquarters began as a straightforward request, said Janet Langsam, the not-for-profit organization”™s CEO.
“We asked 25 artists to take a look at downtown White Plains and suggest ways of energizing the city through public art,” she said.
The submissions, though, were anything but straightforward, as even the most casual walk through “Placemaking: Re-envisioning White Plains” shows.
Continuing through July 13, ArtsWestchester”™s “Placemaking” is a vibrant showcase of imagination.
The work in the exhibition, curated by Nazanin Hedayat Munroe, is represented by artist renderings and scale models.
Designs range from oversize flowers and intricate sculptures to vest-pocket parks and installations that integrate everything from glass sculptures to video projections.
Artists and architects were invited to choose from 15 sites throughout one city block, fashioning a virtual arts district along the way.
Langsam said she was amazed by the breadth of creativity, but not surprised by it.
“That”™s why we have artists,” she said.
What did surprise her, though, was how a project that dwells on the hypothetical still brought in so many submissions that “were very do-able.”
Kathleen Reckling, the gallery director, said that the project really connected with the participants.
“They were asked to animate the streetscape and they really took that to heart.”
Susan Cox, a Pound Ridge-based architect-turned-glass artist, proposes the installation of rippling glass banners on the fa̤ade of ArtsWestchesterӪs historic building, for example.
Stomu Miyazaki and Momo Miyazaki tackle Renaissance Plaza, creating “Green Ripples,” an oasis complete with rolling lawns.
Haifa Bint-Kadi imagines “Nature”™s Trail Within,” insetting mosaics that depict plants and species indigenous to the area along the sidewalks.
Elizabeth Barksdale creates “Stained Glass Benches,” which echo the aesthetic of the adjacent Grace Church, while Wennie Huang recreates the shadow of a massive tree that once stood outside what is now City Center. Her “Pentimento” is a study in interlocking red chenille pipe cleaners.
Even within the varied work, Langsam saw at least one theme emerge: “Everybody wanted to bring some nature into the city.”
Placemaking, a term used to describe an organized planning of a town or community, also encompasses the idea of how integrating art enhances the quality of life. Here, both White Plains”™ history and potential are tapped as a spotlight is trained on what could one day be.
“We”™re kind of trying to get the conversation started,” Reckling said. “This is kind of a proposal for a plan.”
Langsam agreed that the exhibition helps bring to life ideas of what White Plains could become ”“ and offers a very visual way to spark interest and enthusiasm.
“We thought people would get their arms around it a little bit better,” she said.
Public input and interaction are necessary elements of public art, evidenced throughout “Placemaking,” from designs for decorative bicycle racks to an outdoor stage.
And that is the focus of an upcoming talk by Harriet Senie. The director of museum studies and professor of art history at City College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, has written books and articles on public art and will speak June 19 at ArtsWestchester.
Senie said she vividly remembers what sparked her interest in public art ”“seeing Isamu Noguchi”™s iconic “Red Cube” outside 140 Broadway in Manhattan. Then a graduate student pursuing her doctoral studies and working part time on Wall Street, she was taken aback by the massive piece.
“I couldn”™t begin to fathom what it was doing there,” she said. Not only did it spur study, but also shaped her career and has led her to many findings.
“Public art is not one thing,” she said during a recent conversation that touched on Maya Lin”™s “Eclipsed Time” in Penn Station, teaching public art in public schools and architecture.
She talked about how the Park Avenue medians in Manhattan are a noted canvas for public art projects.
“You see how it changes a street completely which, of course, is what art can do,” Senie said.
In recent decades, Senie added, public art has become a more considered part of business development.
“I think it”™s become a really integral element in planning, in architecture,” Senie said. “We used to think of the art, especially in modern architecture, the art is the ornament after the fact.”
Now it”™s more recognized as having a role that goes beyond the artist and who has commissioned the work, encompassing the very community it enhances.
And, Senie said, deciding what works in and for a particular setting or audience is a key part of the process.
“Who speaks for the community? That is the big issue, who should decide?” she said.
And this exhibition is designed to explore the process, Langsam said, in an interactive and illustrative way.
“Writing a proposal is words on paper,” Langsam said. “That”™s what we tried to do, make it possible for people to visualize what public art could do for downtown White Plains.”
“Placemaking: Re-envisioning White Plains” continues through July 13 at ArtsWestchester, at 31 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains. “The Public”™s Role in Public Art: A Talk by Harriet Senie” will be presented by ArtsWestchester and the Westchester County Business Journal at 6:30 p.m. June 19 in the first-floor gallery at ArtsWestchester. Admission is free. As seating is limited, RSVPs are requested. Call (914) 428-4220, ext. 306, or email lbanks@artswestchester.org.
