New York City's Department of Parks & Recreation is pleased to announce In Dialogue, an exhibition of sculptures by Scherezade Garcia and Marcie Revens in St. Nicholas Park from June 16, through July 31, 2010. The West Harlem Art Fund, Inc., and the City College of New York (CCNY) are jointly hosting the installation, which highlights two contemporary artists that unite the park's history, community and landscape. Last fall, CCNY created a special "studio" as part of its Master of Fine Arts program and a panel of artists invited Garcia and Revens to participate.
The historic St. Nicholas Park, designed by George Browne Post, slopes below the neo-gothic campus of City College and overlooks both west and central Harlem. For decades, there has been little communication between the college and its West Harlem neighbors. The college's motto: Respice, Adspice, Prospice (Look back, Look at, Look ahead) suits this exhibition well as it marks the beginning of an important collaboration that will bridge new attitudes, forge bold artistic expressions and create an understanding of the past.Revens' installation Closer: In Conversation will include a series of mailboxes positioned along the park's pathways, where visitors will be encouraged to interact with the exhibit by leaving their own stories about the park in the mailboxes. The letters will later be compiled into a ‘zine and distributed to the community. Garcia's exhibition of three wooden ribbons, titled Unity Ribbon, was inspired by the history and geography of St. Nicholas Park, which is known as one of Harlem's "ribbon parks" and references the "three ribbons" of Harlem (west, central and east).Videos