52 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • MAY 20, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Kew Gardens outdoor art exhibit returns with
colorful, hopeful and interactive artwork
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Amy Handy, an artist and freelance
book editor, was excited to
hear that the Kew Gardens outdoor
art exhibition was returning
for another show this year featuring
local artists in the community.
For this year’s show, Handy’s
creation is a painting on canvas
with small sound objects that was
printed onto a large vinyl banner
accompanied by a piece of
poetry that can be seen in the
“Kew Gardens Streets: Where
Art and Poetry Met” exhibition
on the Leff erts Boulevard bridge
and between Austin and Grenfell
streets.
“Having the art up on those
facades really does help to add
some color and life to the community,”
Handy said. “Wherever art
can be displayed in the community,
it gives people something to
look at and think about.”
Handy is one of 33 local artists
to participate in the multimedia
exhibition which incorporates
images, words and sound
to engage and delight residents
and passersby. Th e street banner
project, which also includes
works from 16 children, opened
on April 25, and will remain in
place for the remainder of 2021.
Th e project is sponsored by
a New York City Council grant
awarded by Councilwoman Karen
Koslowitz to the Kew Gardens
Council for Recreation and the
Arts. Th e show is a follow-up
to the fi rst banner show, “Here,
Th ere and Everywhere: Art in
Kew Gardens,” which was born in
July 2020 during the COVID-19
pandemic.
It was a time of loss, separation,
anxiety, fear and economic stress
when many shops on Leff erts
Boulevard and Grenfell Street in
Kew Gardens were shuttered or
vacant, and residents could not
gather to enjoy the community’s
annual art activities, according to
project coordinators Carol Lacks
and Tony Mavilia, of the Kew
Gardens Council for Recreation
in the Arts.
Every year, Mavilia and Lacks
would organize an art event in
Kew Gardens bringing together
friends and families, but when the
pandemic hit and people were in
quarantine, they began to think
about what they can do to promote
art and give residents something to
look forward to in the community.
Together, Lacks and Mavilia
came up with the idea of displaying
public artwork on abandoned
shop fronts and disused fences and
gates in the neighborhood’s business
area. Oil and acrylic on canvas,
lithography, sculpture, watercolor
on paper, photography and
computer-generated imagery
were on display in the show. Styles
ranged from almost photographic
realism to highly abstract photography
with many stops in between:
realism, impressionism, primitivism,
photo collage and fantasy.
“Th at was our fi rst time and it
was really popular,” Mavilia said.
“We said it would be a summer
show and when we were going to
take it down in September, people
in the community told us to
not take it down.”
Lacks, whose artwork is also featured
in the exhibition, said the
fi rst project — featuring a range
of professional artists and homemakers
who like to make art —
had a tremendous impact on the
residents.
“Emotional places were depicted
that people can go to — the
beach, boating, nature, ice cream
parlors, the Catskills,” Lacks said.
“Everyday things that people are
familiar with were depicted in the
exhibit.”
When the Kew Gardens
Council for Recreation and the
Arts received another grant for the
following year, Mavilia and Lacks
thought about how they could do
the show again, but in a diff erent
way.
For the second project, Lacks
and Mavilia were interested in
color, introspection, hope, legacy,
nature and refl ection.
“Th is time we enlisted artists
and poets and we asked the artists
to submit work, but to also think
about poetry that would resonate
with their work,” Mavilia said. “We
also created QR codes printed on
the banner so that people could
listen to the music and poetry on
their phones.”
Th e kids’ artwork is hung on
lower fences along the street, while
the banners are hung on the storefronts.
According to Mavilia, they
have been receiving positive feedback
from residents about the banners.
“Th ey enjoy it and fi nd it uplift -
ing — some people fi nd it calming
or consoling. Th ey also say
that it makes the neighborhood
look more alive, and not an abandoned
neighborhood,” Mavilia
said. “Sometimes we will walk by
and see people taking selfi es in
front of the banners, and it’s just
great to see it.”
Although the outdoor exhibition
has been a success, Lacks said they
are unsure about whether they will
continue hanging the artwork in
the future, due to the fact that
stores could possibly be rented.
“It’s really up in the air to what’s
going up in the world and what’s
going on in Metropolitan Avenue,”
Lacks said. “We are hopeful that
the stores are rented, because it
means the community is back
and growing, and people wouldn’t
need the comfort of the banners as
much also.”
According to Brad Marshall,
who has been a working artist his
entire life, many artists suff ered
a great deal in the past year losing
their livelihood. For this year’s
outdoor exhibition, Marshall’s
painting — the skybridge that was
disabled by Madison Park — is
accompanied by a song lyric from
“Don’t Wait Too Long” by Irving
Berlin.
“You couldn’t perform and for
visual artists like me, no one could
go into the galleries,” Marshall said.
“Sometimes people react, saying
why are you spending money on
art? But then again, when people
bypass public art, it makes the
environment so much better. It’s
important to have artwork around
to support artists.”
Courtesy of Amy Handy
Amy Handy’s painting on canvas incorporates small sound objects depicting a
fantasy landscape.
Courtesy of Carol Lacks
The Street Banner Project is a follow-up to the fi rst banner show, “Here, There and Everywhere: Art in Kew Gardens,” that was born in July 2020 during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
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