Socrates Sculpture Park

Last updated
Socrates Sculpture Park
Socrates Sculpture Park logo.png
Wikist aces 0081.jpg
Entrance to Socrates Sculpture Park
USA New York City location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within New York City
Established1986
Location32-01 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens, NY 11106
Coordinates 40°46′06″N73°56′12″W / 40.768347°N 73.936545°W / 40.768347; -73.936545
Visitors89,000 (annual)
Public transit access New York City Subway:
Broadway NYCS-bull-trans-N-Std.svg NYCS-bull-trans-W-Std.svg
MTA Bus :
Q104
Website www.socratessculpturepark.org

Socrates Sculpture Park is an outdoor museum and public park where artists can create and exhibit sculptures and multi-media installations. It is located one block from the Noguchi Museum at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard in the neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, New York City. In addition to exhibition space, the park offers an arts education program, artist residency program, and job training.

Contents

History and description

Socrates Sculpture Park is located atop the mouth of the buried Sunswick Creek. [1] :97 In 1986, American sculptor Mark di Suvero created Socrates Sculpture Park on an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite in Long Island City. The four-acre (1.6 ha) site is the largest outdoor space in New York City dedicated to exhibiting sculpture. The former landfill was renovated into the current park by a team of contemporary artists and local youths. [2] The park operated for 14 years with only a temporary city park status. In 1998, the park was given official status by then New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani as a permanent city park after a developer attempted to erect luxury apartments and a marina on the site after the park's lease had expired. [3]

In 2005, the park was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. [4] [5]

Socrates Sculpture Park Broadway Billboard 2012 Socrates Sculpture Park Entrance.JPG
Socrates Sculpture Park Broadway Billboard 2012

At the Socrates Sculpture Park's main entrance hangs a 10-by-28-foot (3.0 by 8.5 m) billboard structure that has been an ongoing installation since 1999. The original billboard was a mirror image of the street created by artist Mathieu Borysevicz [6] built by ongoing volunteer Ross H. Radtke, a mechanical engineer and neighbour.

New billboards are installed once or twice per year. Artists work with printmaking and photography to create an image that greets visitors as they enter the park and sets the tone for the current show. The billboards are in conjunction with each spring exhibition. [7] The park has numerous workshops and public programming. Many artists lead tour programs of current exhibitions, there are summer art projects, and various free public events, such as yoga and capoeira on Saturdays and outdoor movie screenings on Wednesdays that begin in mid-July and end in mid-August. [8] GrowNYC runs an Astoria Farmer's Market in the park every Saturday during the summer months. [9]

In January 2019, the Park announced its plan to construct and install permanent staff offices made out of shipping containers. This would be the park's first permanent on-site structure. [10]

Artists who have exhibited at Socrates Sculpture Park

Socrates Sculpture Park offers emerging and established artists an opportunity to make a temporary or permanent public sculpture in a New York City park. [11] In 2018, Virginia Overton became the first female artist to have a solo exhibition at the Socrates Sculpture Park. [12] Other artists who have shown work at Socrates Sculpture Park include:

Governance

The current executive director of the park is John Hatfield, former deputy director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art. [16] Some former executive directors of the park include Alyson Baker (2000–2011), [17] Kathleen Gilrain (1995–2000), [18] and Eve Sussman (1993- ). [19]

Board of directors [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Island City</span> Neighborhood of Queens in New York City

Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood on the western tip of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark di Suvero</span> American sculptor (born 1933)

Marco Polo di Suvero, better known as Mark di Suvero, is an abstract expressionist sculptor and 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient.

<i>Snowplow</i> (di Suvero) Abstract outdoor sculpture by Mark di Suvero

Snowplow is an abstract outdoor sculpture by American artist Mark di Suvero located on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The sculpture was purchased in 1975 by the Indianapolis Sesquicentennial Commission and first installed in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing Galleries</span> Open-air gallery in Illinois, United States

Boeing Galleries are a pair of outdoor exhibition spaces within Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The spaces are located along the south and north mid-level terraces, above and east of Wrigley Square and the Crown Fountain. In a conference at the Chicago Cultural Center, Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer James Bell to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced Boeing would make a $5 million grant to fund both the construction of and an endowment for the space.

Agnes Denes is a Hungarian-born American conceptual artist based in New York. She is known for works in a wide range of media—from poetry and philosophical writings to extremely detailed drawings, sculptures, and iconic land art works, such as Wheatfield — A Confrontation (1982), a two-acre field of wheat in downtown Manhattan, commissioned by the Public Art Fund, and Tree Mountain—A Living Time Capsule (1992–96) in Ylöjärvi, Finland. Her work Rice/Tree/Burial with Time Capsule (1968–79) is recognized as one of the earliest examples of ecological art. She lives and works in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Astoria Historical Society</span>

The Greater Astoria Historical Society (GAHS) is a non-profit cultural and historical organization located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York, United States, dedicated to preserving the past and promoting the future of the neighborhoods that are part of historic Long Island City, including the Village of Astoria, Blissville, Bowery Bay, Dutch Kills, Hunters Point, Ravenswood, Steinway Village, and Sunnyside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alyson Shotz</span> American sculptor

Alyson Shotz is an American sculptor based in Brooklyn, New York. She is known for experiential, large-scale abstract sculptures and installations inspired by nature and scientific concepts, which manipulate light, shadow, space and gravity in order to investigate and complicate perception. Writers suggest her work challenges tenets of monumental, minimalist sculpture—traditionally welded, solid, heavy and static—through its accumulation of common materials in constructions that are often flexible, translucent, reflective, seemingly weightless, and responsive to changing conditions and basic forces. Sculpture critic Lilly Wei wrote, "In Shotz’s realizations, the definition of sculpture becomes increasingly expansive—each project, often in series, testing another proposition, another possibility, another permutation, while ignoring conventional boundaries."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David von Schlegell</span> American sculptor

David Von Schlegell was an American abstract artist, sculptor and educator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Hart</span> American visual artist

Heather T. Hart is an American visual artist who works in a variety of media including interactive and participatory Installation art, drawing, collage, and painting. She is a co-founder of the Black Lunch Table Project, which includes a Wikipedia initiative focused on addressing diversity representation in the arts on Wikipedia.

<i>The Calling</i> (di Suvero) Public artwork by Mark di Suvero

The Calling is a public artwork by American artist Mark di Suvero located in O'Donnell Park, which is on the lakefront in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The artwork was made in 1981-82 from steel I-beams painted an orange-red color. It measures 40 ft (12 m) in height, and it sits at the end of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the footbridge that leads to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilan Averbuch</span> Israeli-born New York sculptor

Ilan Averbuch is a sculptor living and working in Long Island City, New York. Averbuch creates large-scale monumental artworks and installations for gallery and museum exhibitions in addition to outdoor public spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynden Sculpture Garden</span> Milwaukee, Wisconsin collection assembled 1962 to 1978

Lynden Sculpture Garden is a 40-acre outdoor sculpture park located at 2145 West Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in Milwaukee County. Formerly the estate of Harry Lynde Bradley and Margaret Blakney Bradley, Lynden is home to the collection of more than 50 monumental sculptures collected by Margaret Bradley between 1962 and 1978. The collection features works by Alexander Archipenko, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Clement Meadmore, Marta Pan, Tony Smith, Mark di Suvero and others sited across 40 acres of park, lake and woodland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Art Foundry</span>

The Modern Art Foundry is an historic foundry in Astoria, Queens, New York, founded in 1932 by John Spring. His descendants continue to operate the business in what used to be the carriage house of the Steinway Mansion.

Maren Hassinger is an African-American artist and educator whose career spans four decades. Hassinger uses sculpture, film, dance, performance art, and public art to explore the relationship between the natural world and industrial materials. She incorporates everyday materials in her art, like wire rope, plastic bags, branches, dirt, newspaper, garbage, leaves, and cardboard boxes. Hassinger has stated that her work “focuses on elements, or even problems—social and environmental—that we all share, and in which we all have a stake…. I want it to be a humane and humanistic statement about our future together.”

Chang-Jin Lee (Korean: 이창진) is a Korean-American visual artist who lives in New York City.

<i>North Star: Mark di Suvero</i> 1978 film

North Star: Mark di Suvero is a 1977 documentary film about Mark di Suvero that was produced by François de Menil and Barbara Rose. Born in 1933, di Suvero has become one of the most recognized sculptors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. From about 1975 to 1977, fairly early in di Suvero's long career, filmmaker de Menil and art historian Rose produced this film, which was characterized at the time as "a tribute to the extraordinary work and life of the innovative American sculptor of monumental but delicate constructions." The film shows di Suvero making and installing several of his very large sculptures, and incorporates informal interviews of di Suvero, his mother, and others involved in his career and life at that time. From 1971 to 1975 di Suvero, an American, lived in a self-imposed exile in France in protest of US involvement in war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, and the filming spans the end of his exile and his return to New York.

Meg Webster is an American artist from San Francisco working primarily in sculpture and installation art. While her works span multiple media, she is most well known for her artworks that feature natural elements. She is closely affiliated with Post-Minimalism and the Land Art movement and has been exhibiting her work since 1980.

Virginia Overton is an American artist. She is known for her site-specific and sculpture works that often incorporate found or readymade objects. In 2018 she was the first female artist to have a solo exhibition at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunswick Creek</span> Buried stream in Queens, New York

Sunswick Creek is a buried stream located in Astoria and Long Island City, in the northwestern portion of Queens in New York City. It originated to the north of Queensboro Bridge and Queens Plaza in Long Island City, flowing north to the present-day site of the Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, and emptying into the East River. The creek was named for a term in the Algonquin language that likely means "Woman Chief" or "Sachem’s Wife."

References

  1. Kadinsky, Sergey (2016). Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs. New York, NY: Countryman Press. pp. 96–98. ISBN   978-1-58157-566-8.
  2. McGill, Douglas C. (August 27, 1986). "A Sculpture Park Grows in Queens". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  3. Martin, Douglas (December 6, 1998). "Queens Sculpture Garden Is Made a Permanent Park". The New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  4. Roberts, Sam (July 6, 2005). "City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $20 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  5. "Carnegie Corporation of New York Announces Twenty Million Dollars in New York City Grants" (Press release). Carnegie Corporation of New York. July 5, 2005. Archived from the original on March 10, 2008.
  6. "Broadway Billboard: Mathieu Borysevicz". Socrates Sculpture Park. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  7. " "Broadway Billboard". Socrates Sculpture Park. Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  8. "Lonely Planet Socrates Sculpture Park". Lonely Planet. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  9. Killeen, Jared (June 2, 2011). "Green Market at Socrates Sculpture Park". Boro Magazine. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  10. Sackman, Meghan (January 16, 2019). "Plans for Staff Offices at Socrates Sculpture Park, Made of Shipping Containers, Move Forward". Astoria Post. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  11. "Exhibitions". Socrates Sculpture Park. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  12. Franklin, Sydney (July 11, 2018). "Virginia Overton's site-specific work at Socrates Sculpture Park rethinks raw construction materials". The Architect's Newspaper. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  13. "Maren Hassinger". Socrates Sculpture Park. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  14. "Planeta Abuelx". Socrates Sculpture Park. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  15. "Ebb of a Spring Tide". Socrates Sculpture Park. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  16. "Socrates Sculpture Park appoints New Museum's John Hatfield as new Director". artdaily.org. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  17. "Alyson Baker named ninth Director". e-flux. May 1, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  18. "Smack Mellon Staff". Archived from the original on June 27, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  19. Kimmelman, Michael (August 6, 1993). "Outdoor Sculpture in Review". The New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  20. "Board" . Retrieved July 11, 2019.