At a time when we are all looking to enjoy something artistic safely, Pelham Art Center has doubled, no tripled, down on its commitment to outdoor art in and around its distinctive courtyard on Fifth Avenue in Pelham.
“We wanted to have more public art to our community at a time of Covid, and we wanted to show healing and connections,” says Charlotte Mouquin, the center’s executive director.
Using the Third Street side of the building for the first time, the center features Lance Johnson’s “Abundance of Culture” (through Jan. 1, 2022), with affirmative words like “peace,” “beautiful” and “inspiration” on the center’s doors there, which have been painted in hot colors.
“We’ve had our eye on Johnson for some time,” Mouquin says of the Mount Vernon artist, “and we’re excited to bring him to the public…and bring attention to the positivity of creative expression.”
“Revivival” by Brooklyn artists Sara Jiminez and Jason Schwartz (through Sept. 30 of next year) uses photographs of Pelham Bay printed on parachute fabric in triangles and other patterning that suggests Tudor Revival architecture. But this is not just a nod to the architectural style that dots Pelham.
“It’s about the revival of people and the land,” Mouquin says.
Transgender artist Fran Sisco, a New Rochelle resident, seeks to bridge dualities – she’s an accountant/financial adviser as well as an artist – not the least of which is the dichotomy between the analytical and the intuitive/creative, in “Nature Culture Sculpture” (through March 2021). Though her works have personal names, they evoke the well-known tepees of the native peoples of the Great Plains.
Though you won’t be able to take these works home with you, you’ll find others by these artists in the center’s Art Boutique, through Dec. 23.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
For more, visit pelhamartcenter.org.
– Georgette Gouveia
