Along the Way: MTA Arts for Transit
by Sandra Bloodworth and William Ayres Monacelli, 2006
(NYFA fiscally-sponsored project, 2005) CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

As the subway is crucial to New York's physical infrastructure, so too is NYFA -- to its creative infrastructure. And each has a ubiquitous presence: while the subway transports New Yorkers in and around the five boroughs, NYFA makes the City light up by supporting the very people whose names appear on its Broadway marquees and movie theaters, and in its bookstores, dance spaces and concert halls. This section highlights a very specific point of intersection between the two great New York entities: public art.

Over the past twenty years, the New York City subway system, the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road -- their respective platforms and stations -- have been enhanced by the creation of almost two hundred permanent art works by several great artists, including household names like Roy Lichtenstein and Milton Glaser. Thirty-nine of those permanent artworks -- murals, mosaics, sculptures commissioned by MTA's Arts for Transit -- were created by forty-one artists who at crucial points in their careers were New York Foundation for the Arts Fellows, recipients of unrestricted cash grants.

While the NYFA grant was not used directly for the purpose of creating public art, it did provide each of the forty-one artists whose creations make your daily commute that much brighter (see below) with a boost -- be it financial or psychological. After being bolstered by NYFA, these artists reached points in their respective careers at which they were brought to the attention of Arts for Transit, and selected to create important, public art for this great City. Several more NYFA Fellows have contributed to the enhancement of New York’s mass transit system by creating drawings and illustrations for MTA’s Poster Program - which utilizes unused advertising spaces on train platforms to display art.

Above is also is a link the book Along The Way, a complete guide to the artwork that makes up the museum under our feet. The book was made possible in part by NYFA's Fiscal Sponsorship program.

Click on the images below for complete information about the work, location, and additional installation photos.

All photos courtesy of MTA's Arts for Transit program.

Vito Acconci (Acconci Studio) (Fellow in Architecture / Environmental Structures, 2000) Wavewall, 2005 Steel, ceramic tile, granite, fiberglass

Terry Adkins (Fellow in Sculpture, 1995) Harlem Encore, 1999 Aluminum panels with ornamental back-lighting on overpass

Candida Alvarez (Fellow in Film, 1986) B is for Birds in the Bronx, 2006 Faceted glass in platform windscreens

Andrea Arroyo (Fellow in Sculpture, 1989, & Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 1995) Riverside Park Neighborhood, 1997 Watercolor on Paper

Tomei Arai (Fellow in Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 1991 & 1995) Work currently in progress

Ron Baron (Fellow in Sculpture, 1997) Lost and Found: An Excavation Project, 2005 Cast bronze sculpture and seating in plaza

Willie Birch (Fellow in Painting, 1986) Harlem Timeline, 1995 Glass mosaic on platform walls

Michele Brody (Fellow in Architecture / Environmental Structures, 2000) Allerton Mandalas, 2006 Faceted glass in platform windscreens

Sidney Cash (Fellow in Crafts, 1988) Columns, 2000 Silkscreened glass panels on track wall

Amy Cheng (Fellow in Painting, 1990 & 1996) Las Flores, 2007 Faceted glass in platform windscreens

Houston Conwill (Fellow in Sculpture, 1985 & 1999) The Open Secret, 1986 Bronze reliefs on mezzanine walls

Noel Copeland (Fellow in Crafts, 2001) Leaf of Life, 2006 Faceted glass in platform windscreens

Andrea Dezso (Fellow in Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 2007) Community Garden, 2006 Glass Mosaic in mezzanine

Ellen Driscoll (Fellow in Sculpture, 1985 & 1989) As Above, So Below, 1998 Glass, bronze, and mosaic in Grand Central North passageway

Ming Fay (Fellow in Sculpture, 2007) Shad Crossing, Delancey Orchard, 2004 Glass mosaics on platform and mezzanine walls

John Fekner (Fellow in Performance Art / Multidisciplinary Work, 1987) Flushing Meadows, Queens, 1994 Poster

Cadence Giersbach (Fellow in Painting, 2002) From Earth to Sky, 2006 Ceramic, glass, and marble mosaic

Andrew Ginzel and Kristin Jones (Fellow in Sculpture, 1987) Oculus, 1998 Stone mosaic on walls throughout station complex; stone and glass floor mosaic at Park Place entrance

Elizabeth Grajales (Fellow in Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 1989) When the animals speak..., 1998 Ceramic mosaic on 3 platform; handmade ceramic relief tiles on 1, 2 platform walls

Jane Greengold (Fellow in Conceptual / Performance Arts, 1986) Wings for the IRT: The Irresistible Romance of Travel, 1995 Bronze and terra cotta plaques on mezzanine walls

Jane Greengold and Kane Chanh Do (Jane Greengold is a Fellow in Conceptual / Performance Arts, 1986) Almost Home, 2002 Sculptural seating

Marina Gutierrez (Fellow in Painting, 1988) El Museo del Barrio, 1993 Montage

Maren Hassinger (Fellow in Sculpture, 1988) Message from Malcolm, 1998 Glass mosaic on stairway walls and platform

Ellen Harvey (Fellow in Painting, 2002) Look Up, Not Down, 2005 Glass mosaics on mezzanine walls

Nancy Holt (Fiscal Sponsorship in Visual Arts, 1987) Astral Grating, 1987 Steel and light sculpture in passageway ceiling between A, C and 4, 5 stations

Valerie Jaudon (Fellow in Painting, 1992) Long Division, 1988 Painted steel railings on downtown platform

Roberto Juarez (Fellow in Painting, 1987) A Field of Wild Flowers, 1997 Mixed-media on walls of Station Master's Office

Ik-Joong Kang (Fellow in Painting, 1990 & 1994) Happy World, 1999 Ceramic tiles on mezzanine wall

Ik-Joong Kang (Fellow in Painting, 1990 & 1994) New York Icons, 1998 Gouache and Mixed-media Collage

Bing Lee (Fellow in Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 1993) Empress Voyage 2.22.1794, 1998 Ceramic tiles and mosaic banding on platform walls and connecting passageway

Donald Lipski (Fellow in Sculpture, 1986) Sirshasana, 1998 Aluminum and polyester resin sculpture with crystals in ceiling at 43rd Street in Grand Central Market

Whitfield Lovell (Fellow in Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 1991 & 1997) Bronx Zoo/NY Botanical Garden, 1991-1992 Poster

Valerie Maynard (Fellow in Playwriting / Screenwriting, 1990) Polyrhythmics of Consciousness and Light, 2003 Glass mosaic on mezzanine walls and above stairs

Meryl Meisler (Fellow in Photography, 1990; Catalogue Project in Photography, 2000) Sub-Merged, 2001 Digital photo collage

Andrew Moore (Fellow in Sculpture, 1993) Coney Island, 1996 Photo Collage

Liliana Porter (Fellow in Graphics, 1985, & Film, 1999; Catalogue Project in Photography, 1996) Alice: The Way Out, 1994 Glass mosaic on platform walls

Faith Ringgold (Fellow in Painting, 1988) Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines (Downtown and Uptown), 1996 Glass mosaic on platform walls

Alison Saar (Fellow in Sculpture, 1985) Hear the Lone Whistle Moan, 1991 Bronze grilles and reliefs on platforms

Juan Sanchez (Fellow in Painting, 1992, & Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 2003) Harlem, 1994 Collage

Christopher Sproat (Fellow in Sculpture, 1985) V-Beam, 2000 Functional stainless steel ceiling sculpture on 7 platform incorporating lighting, signage, LED, and fan system

Sol'Sax (Fellow in Sculpture, 2005) Work currently in progress

Julio Valdez (Fellow in Printmaking / Drawing / Artist Books, 2003) Pulse, 2003 Mixed-media

Allen Wexler & Ellen Wexler (Fellow in Architecture / Environmental Structures, 1985 & 1990) Work currently in progress

Philomena Williamson (Fellow in Painting, 1991) Union Square, 1994 Oil on canvas

Janet Zweig and Edward del Rosario (Janet Zweig is a Fellow in Computer Arts, 1999) Carrying On, 2004 Steel, marble, and slate frieze on platform walls