14 The QUEE NS Courier • OCTOBER 20, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Photo courtesy of Annalisa Iadicicco A Long Island City artist is looking for the culprit who stole her sculpture. Stolen Transformers sculpture returned to LIC studio by culprit By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua A Transformers sculpture made from reclaimed materials with the help of Queens children that disappeared from a Long Island City studio has reappeared. Artist Annalisa Iadicicco created this sculpture from car bumpers, bolts, plastic and clothes as part of a workshop in partnership with Long Island City art studio Local Project and No Longer Empty, an organization that transforms abandoned spaces into community responsive exhibitions. The sculpture had been missing since Aug. 31 after someone stole it from Iadicicco’s studio on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City. It was fastened to her door with a chain. She reported it stolen to the 108th Precinct, who said they would keep an eye out for it. A local restaurant owner read an article on QNS.com about the missing sculpture and reached out to Iadicicco almost two months after he took it to confess. He told her that the sculpture reminded him of a popular Japanese character and that he drove to her studio with a van to bring it to his new Japanese restaurant in Long Island City. He described the incident to her as “a funny story.” Iadicicco declined to name the culprit but said the sculpture was damaged and missing some parts when it was returned to her on Oct. 18. The artist said she is meeting with the owner to explain to him that what he did was wrong and may look to sell the sculpture to someone who “appreciates” her art. Iadicicco works with reclaimed materials that she finds on her walks through the city. She began making the sculpture and brought the base, which measures 72 feet by 68 inches by 36 inches, to an abandoned storefront on Jamaica Avenue where children ages 8 to 15 helped her assemble and design the rest of the project. “I found the objects first and then it depends on what I’m trying to create,” she said. “This was a workshop for kids. While I was assembling the pieces I can always see the face so from there I start working around and then the piece just came alive little by little.” She said it took a total of 10 days to fully assemble the sculpture from the time she collected the pieces to finishing the piece with the children. The workshop occurred on July 2 and was officially on display at Local Project on July 14. “Everybody was taking pictures of it and walking by it,” Iadicicco said. “It brought joy to people. Everybody recognized the Transformer face. I would never think that somebody would pick it up and take it.” For updates on this story, visit QNS.com. Historic LIC hospital that provided healthcare on boat rides celebrates 150 years By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua Established after the Civil War to help immigrants and the poor, The Floating Hospital has been providing medical services to those who need it the most for 150 years. The Long Island City-based hospital started as one of the first “fresh-air” hospitals, and its vessels provided the city’s neediest with a boat ride on the Hudson River while they received basic healthcare services. Founded in 1866, the boat ride was first given to New York Times paper boys for a summer outing after staff witnessed their poor living conditions in the city’s parks. In 1875, the first Floating Hospital on the vessel “Emma Abbot” was launched and families living in cramped and polluted tenements were able to have a respite from their living conditions while receiving preventive care. In the next several decades, the organization added a nursery and hospital in Staten Island and services such as health education, dental care, mental health service, domestic violence outreach and land-based clinics in the Lower East Side and the Bronx. More than 5 million people have been served regardless of their insurance, legal status or ability to pay. After Sept. 11, 2001, when the vessel was moored at Pier 11, the staff decided to make The Floating Hospital a landbased organization. On-site services at a Department of Homeless Services location in the Bronx were established in 2003 and three years later the main clinic in Long Island City opened. Today, a Queensbridge clinic provides services to those living in public housing and a primary healthcare clinic will open this month at Astoria-based nonprofit Reality Houses. The Floating Hospital also operates five off-site clinics in homeless shelters in Brooklyn and the Bronx. The organization runs a free transportation program called the Good Health Shuttle, which serves thousands of homeless families and residents of public housing. Every day, a fleet of 10 passenger vans makes 100 trips throughout the five boroughs to give 120 patients – mostly homeless women and children – medical care at the main clinic at 41-43 Crescent St. in Long Island City. President Sean Granahan said the organization’s commitment to personally reaching out to families who need healthcare the most has been the key to success. “As the levels of New York City family homelessness rise, The Floating Hospital meets the challenges of providing free care through smarter business models, more expansive outreach efforts, and a commitment to fundraising in its simplest form – personal outreach,” Granahan said in a statement. “These efforts will carry the hospital through the next 150 years as it expands its footprint in Long Island City and other parts of the New York metropolitan area.” For more information on The Floating Hospital, visit thefloatinghospital.org. Photos via Wikimedia Commons/Basin Collection The Floating Hospital is celebrating its 150th anniversary as one of NYC’s largest charity hospitals.
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