Touring NYC: The NYC Subway Art Tour (Part 2 of 6)

Welcome back to the NYC Subway Art Tour.

8th Street-NYU:

From 14th Street-Union Square, we traveled to the station at 8th Street near New York University.

When the 8th Street Station was renovated, the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) added new art to the station.  The "Arts for Transit" program is managed by the MTA's Arts & Design group.  The Arts for Transit program represents the MTA's commitment to public art in the subway.  The MTA allocates a percentage of renovation expenditures to installing permanent art.  The MTA approaches several emerging and established artists in New York and invites them (the "final four") to submit proposals.  The MTA then selects a winner.

For the 8th Street Station, artist Timothy Snell was the winner with Broadway Diary (2002).  Snell painted scenes of life in New York City along Broadway.  The paintings were then interpreted and converted into mosaics for installation in the station.

8th Street-NYU Station:  Tour guide Phil describes a scene in one mosaic, a rainy day on Broadway in Greenwich Village, where the 8th Street station is located.

8th Street-NYU Station:  Another mosaic on the station wall

Prince Street:

Next, we rolled downtown to the Prince Street station.

Prince St. Station:  Platform sign with an interesting dashed line underneath (see the photos below)

While some subway art is big and bold, other art is refined and small in scale.  When the Prince Street Station was renovated a decade ago, new permanent artwork was added to the platform walls.  Entitled Carrying On, artists Janet Zeig and Edward del Rosario depicted New Yorkers engaged in every day tasks, pictured below.  The depictions are based on actual photographs of New Yorkers taken by the artists.

Prince Street Station:  Carrying On (2004) (carried bags plus handhelds)

Prince Street Station:  Carrying On (2004) (rolling items)

From the MTA wbsite: "According to the artists, the title of Carrying On can be read in a variety of ways. 'People on the streets of New York are almost always carrying something, sometimes something huge and outlandish. After the 9/11 tragedy, New Yorkers felt that they must carry on with their lives. Finally, New Yorkers are notoriously opinionated and lively; they really do 'carry on.''"

To learn more about the Arts for Transit program, check out this video.

Next stop:  Part 3--Canal Street-Chinatown Station.