Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Bathed in Gold: Madison Square Park Goes Autumnal



Cup of the Day #92
Golden Network by Gwyneth Leech, November 2011
White-out pen and India ink on blue coffee cup

From my studio corner of the Flatiron Prow I have been watching for days as the trees in Madison Square Park turn color and spread a back drop of shimmering gold behind my suspended cups. 

View from the Prow Artspace
Flatiron Building, November 2011
Photo by Gwyneth leech

I draw the trees every few days and hang the cups so that inside and outside play against each other kaleidoscopically. Add in yellow traffic light boxes and the constant parade of yellow cabs until I feel enveloped in gold. 

 View from the Prow Artspace
Flatiron Building, November 2011
Photo by Gwyneth leech

Now the leaves are falling and I can see further into Madison Square. From my chair I can just make out one of Alison Saar's sculptures perched in the high fork of a London Plane tree, a glimpse that draws me into the park at the end of my drawing session.

Alison Saar Sculpture, Madison Square Park, 
through December 31st, 2011

There balances the black figure, head bowed, hair falling forward, covered with gun-metal butterflies. In an adjacent tree, an arborist on ropes is checking the canopy after a brutal, early snow storm damaged thousands of trees across the city. All seems safe and sound in the high branches and leaves drift down peacefully on Saar's totemic sculptures scattered through the park.

 Checking the tree canopy
Arborist in Madison Square Park
Photo by Gwyneth Leech 

Circling back towards the Flatiron Prow I bump into my friend Minouche Waring, a painter and glass designer, who lives on 6th Avenue at 26th Street. We go up to her loft to look at her latest glass pieces and drink Pu-erh tea with hot soy milk and Cardamom. My husband and I sublet her loft in 1993 while she traveled in India, our first experience living in New York City. Back then we recall, Madison Square was rat-infested and neglected. Concerted efforts by the Madison Square Conservancy have turned the park around and made it a brilliant showcase for public art presented by Mad. Sq. Art. It is my pleasure that Alison Saar's sculptures will be keeping me company until the end of the year, and that I will see more of them from my perch in the Prow Artspace as the trees go bare.


Alison Saar Sculpture, Madison Square Park, 
through December 31st, 2011
Photo by Gwyneth Leech

3 comments:

  1. Thanks Gwyneth for this view of Eastern sky and sculpture, of cups and fall color. For the last week, each day out here on the western edge of our country feels like a small piece of paradise. Crimsons, scarlets, sap greens and rich shades of gamboge play off against each other and up the ante with every new day. Love the constellation of yellow in the dark sky of your new cup.

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  2. wow these cups are terrific! I love the colors and patterns. The tree sculptures you've posted about amazing. I have got to get into the city soon and see all this:)

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  3. The cups with colorful background make a surprisingly beautiful picture. Artists are magical. They add the "extra" to "ordinary" and create something special.

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