Urban Paradise: Gardens in the City

URBAN PARADISE: Gardens in the City marks the beginning of Lehman College Art Gallery’s tenth anniversary celebration and inaugurates Lehman College’s “Global Environmental Awareness Year.” URBAN PARADISE examines a selection artists’ design proposals developed by the Public Art Fund for gardens in public sites which will be constructed over the next few years in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. URBAN PARADISE also provides a look at the important work of Public Art Fund, a non-profit organization that has championed public art since 1977 and increased awareness of the artists’ ability to enhance urban life. This current project explores the integration of art, nature, and the city and celebrates the spirit of collaboration — involving artists, landscape architects, city planners, community boards, city agencies, and funding sources in the process of creating gardens. The accompanying programming will provide a context in which to examine the theoretical issues as well as the mechanics of these collaborations. The construction of the first of these projects is currently underway with the others to follow. This exhibition offers a preview as these proposals are realized in neighborhoods throughout the City.

Lehman College Art Gallery is pleased to present these proposals to the Bronx community and we wish to thank Susan K. Freedman, President of the Public Art Fund, James M. Clark, executive director and co-curator, and Tom Eccles, project director and co-curator, for their enthusiasm and assistance in bringing URBAN PARADISE to Lehman. We would also like to acknowledge Suzanne Gyorgy, directior, PaneWebberGallery for her help in making this possible. We are also grateful to David Bady, director, The City and the Humanities, Lehman College, and Catha Grace Rambusch, director of exhibition, Wave Hill, for their collaborations on programming.