FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 19, 2019 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 67
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Courtesy of Local 3, I.B.E.W.
Union workers’ art on display at Socrates Sculpture Park
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island
City has hosted extraordinary pieces of art
since a coalition of artists and community
members transformed an East River
landfi ll and illegal dumpsite into an open
studio and exhibition space in 1986.
Of the 15 sculptures that are currently
on display as part of the 2019 Socrates
Annual, only one is a piece of public
art created by union electricians and
members of the Workers Art Coalition
(WAC), a group of construction workers
and artists who bring representations
and creative expressions of blue-collar
workers into public culture.
“We are thrilled to host a collaboration
of Workers Art Coalition and Local
3, I.B.E.W at Socrates Sculpture Park,”
Socrates Sculpture Park Curator and
Director of Exhibitions Jess Wilcox said.
“Th e piece that they’ve created, ‘Muscle
Memory,’ is a powerful reminder that
the conditions of production are critical
to the meaning, reception and impact of
a work of art.”
Th e trades workers, WAC members
along with students and alumni from the
Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor
Studies installed a one-of-its-kind spiral
sculpture of joined electrical conduit
using industry-grade electrical equipment
and solar panels.
“It feels good to design, collaborate
and participate in something in public
space that shines a light on a particularly
interesting group of people and workers
who are constantly underappreciated
and misunderstood,” Paul Vance, a
member of Local 3 and WAC, said.
People like Lowely Cheung, a Local 3
member since 2012 who emigrated from
Hong Kong at the age of 17.
“Th e union provides me with a living
wage job; that is the ‘bread’ part for me
and working on art projects is the ‘roses’
part of life,” Cheung said.
And sSue Sheinen, a Local 3 member
since 2008 with family members in
the union.
“Th ank you for including me in this
art project,” Sheinen said. “Socrates is
a great place I have enjoyed for many
years. I think it’s great that Local 3 gets
to show its collaborative and creative
side.”
Utilizing a process of “distributed
authorship,” the sculpture is a collaborative
process that refl ects tradespersons’
skills and equipment as well as modern
urban landscape that is always in
the background. Th e sound component,
produced by WAC and derived from
interviews with Local 3 members in tandem
with the Library of Congress, adds
another dimension.
“Harry Van Arsdale Jr. set up the
Educational and Cultural Trust Fund for
more than skills enhancement but also
the benefi t of culturally enhancing the
union’s members,” Local 3 Director of
the Educational and Cultural Trust Fund
Michael Yee said. “Th is project is the
perfect example of that. By connecting
what these members do in their trade
to create this artwork, they’ve enriched
their cultural and artistic passions as
well. It also ties the conduit, which is
one of the common parts of the industry,
with emerging renewable energy.”
Th e solar panels provide the energy
to illuminate ‘Muscle Memory’ at night.
Th e 2019 Socrates Annual will remain
on display through March at the park
located at 32-01 Vernon Blvd.
The piece of public art created by union electricians is on display at the Socrates Sculpture Park along the east River in Long Island City.
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