Past Event: East Harlem’s Open Air Gallery: A Public Art Walking Tour

Please note that a limited number of tickets are still available to this event. 

Public art is thriving in New York City, especially in East Harlem where murals, mosaics, and sculptures pay tribute to the neighborhood’s diverse community and vibrant culture. In connection with our exhibition, Art in the Open: 50 Years of Public Art in New York, East Harlem Preservation’s Kathleen Benson will lead a walking tour of the neighborhood to explore the public art works created there over the last 40 years by both local and international artists. Stops will include: the first sculpture commissioned by New York City’s celebrated Percent for Art program over 30 years ago; mosaic and mural tributes to Puerto Rican cultural and political figures; and murals created for two recent projects, Los Muros Hablan (“The Murals Speak”) in 2013 and MonumentArt in 2015.

The tour will begin in front of the Museum of the City of New York at 2:00 pm and will be about two miles in length. The tour will end at Harlem ArtPark at East 120th Street at Sylvan Place, four blocks north of the Lexington Avenue/116th Street subway station.

This program is inspired by our exhibition, Art in the Open: Fifty Years of Public Art in New York (on view through September 23, 2018). To view all of the programs in the series, click here. 

About the Guide:
Kathleen Benson is a community advocate who serves on the boards of East Harlem Preservation and Community Works NYC. She is also a member of Landmark East Harlem and the East Harlem Holiday Tree Committee and is a Friend of Hope Community, Inc. Benson retired in 2012 from the Museum of the City of New York, where she held many titles, including Curator of Community Projects and Director of Government and Community Relations.