Astoria Mural Celebrates
Neighborhood’s Past and Present
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Elements from the past and present
of Astoria collide in a new mural that is
currently on view at a local playground.
In June, the New York City Parks
Department unveiled "Steinway Cypher”
a vibrant and colorful installation by local
artist Brittany Baldwin.
The mural covers an 1,100-square-foot
retaining wall in Steinway Play-ground
located at 37th Street and 20th
Road, and celebrates the history of the
nearby Astoria neighborhood through
bold, graphic symbolism. The mural took
one week to design and paint, with help
from several volunteers.
“Brittany Baldwin’s colorful new mural
makes Steinway Playground shine. Her
love for Astoria and the many businesses
and beloved landmarks that make up
the fabric of the neighborhood come
through in this mural, and we know it
will bring a smile to each passerby who
encounters it," said NYC Parks Com-missioner
Mitchell Silver in a statement.
The mural combines the contributions
of the Steinway family with elements from
present-day Astoria. Business titan Wil-liam
Steinway began building Steinway
Village in 1870 in what is now known
as Astoria. The town included the famed
Steinway Piano Factory, employee hous-ing,
a church, a library, a kindergarten and
a public trolley line. Steinway's contribu-tions
also lead to the creation of current
subway tunnels after a push to extend the
trolley lines of his resort town of North
Beach under the East River.
"Steinway Cypher" includes a large,
white piano-like shape that sits in the
middle of the mural, which commemo-rates
Steinway and his contributions,
while the arrows are a nod to his pro-gressive
ideas. Aquatic and seashell
shapes signify North Beach and the East
River. There are also symbols included
in Baldwin's piece that are a response
to mosaics seen on Mombar, a beloved
restaurant in Astoria’s Little Egypt.
“Steinway & Sons is very proud of its
rich history, which is closely intertwined
with the history of Astoria, Queens and
New York City as a whole. We are hon-ored
that Brittany Baldwin, a talented
local artist, has chosen to pay homage to
this history through her mural installation
in Steinway Playground, which is just
a few blocks from our historic Astoria
factory,” said Steinway & Sons Senior
Director of Marketing Anthony Gilroy.
Baldwin was born and raised in Flush-ing,
and has had extensive experience
creating and displaying public works of
art. She has exhibited murals in First
Park in Manhattan and Rockaway,
Queens, and received a Barrier Beati-fication
commission from the NYC De-partment
of Transportation in 2016 for
her piece “Bounce,” which is installed on
Queens Boulevard between Woodhaven
Boulevard and 59th Avenue.
"Steinway Cypher" is on view from
now until June 2019.
18 JULY 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
Photos courtesy of Brittany Baldwin
Art
/www.qns.com
