OUTDOOR ART BLOOMS IN CARL
SCHURZ PARK
Dorothy Frankel’s Sign Language
Sculptures on View Through December 2004
Patricia Hamilton, Public Art
Coordinator
&
Dorothy with
2 of 3 sculptures at Carl Schurz Park
The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation is pleased to announce the exhibition of three bronze sculptures by artist Dorothy Frankel at Carl Schurz Park. Located along John Finley Walk at 86th Street, the three bronzes depict human hands “speaking” the words for love and connection in sign language. Relationship-Connection (on loan from Henry Buhl), L.O.V.E. #2, and I Love You #1 are part of a larger series of work based on sign language that Dorothy Frankel completed in recent years. Slightly larger than life, the sculptures are modeled in terra cotta from a life model and then cast in bronze.
“The hand gestures of these sculptures represent a form of visual poetry and communicate powerful and positive images of the human condition,” said Frankel, who lives and works in Sag Harbor, New York. Reflecting Frankel’s interest in surface color and texture, the patina’s range from earthy red to dark green, and the bronze castings capture the imprint of the artist’s hands.
Since the early 1980s, Dorothy Frankel has created figurative and abstract works in wood, terra cotta, cast stone, and bronze. In addition to degrees from University of Maryland and Columbia University, Frankel has studied in Pietrasanta, Italy, at the Sculpture Center, the National Academy of Design, and Urban Glass. Frankel’s sculpture has been exhibited at Pratt Sculpture Park in Brooklyn, New York, Gallery Blue, New York City and other gardens and galleries in the New York metropolitan area, including the Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York, Guild Hall Museum, Burlington County College in New Jersey, and C.W. Nelson Botanical Gardens in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, among others. Her sculpture is included in numerous private and corporate collections, including Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, The Nature Conservancy of East Hampton, Itzhak Perlman Music Program of Shelter Island, and Henry Buhl of New York City.
Parks & Recreation’s temporary public art program has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced hundreds of public art projects in City parks. Committed to the exhibition of art by emerging and established artists, Parks & Recreation has supported projects ranging from international exhibitions in flagship parks to local, community works in neighborhood parks, playgrounds, and traffic islands.
CONTACT: Megan Sheekey/Eric Adolfsen (Parks) (212) 360-1311
Ellen Zeisler (Zeisler Public Relations) (212) 807-6480 ellen@zeislerpr.com