The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Saturday, March 30, 2019

The "McDonalds" Entrance To Become the Shirley Chisholm Entrance

And now for some truly revolutionary news for the Q's beloved park entrance.

In November 2018, New York City announced it would build a statue of Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to serve in Congress, at the Parkside entrance to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Now they are looking for New Yorkers’ input on which artist’s vision best honors the late congresswoman’s contributions to Brooklyn and beyond. (But act fast as feedback is only open for a couple of days; why, I can't quite say. Frankly I doubt the committee cares what we laypeople think, but nice of them to feign democracy.)
Below are the five final design proposals unveiled by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art program, and on the She Built NYC site you can read the statements from the artists who submitted them. The selected artist will be chosen by the Percent for Art committee established for this project and announced in April, and the monument is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2020.
Use the space below the renderings to offer feedback on the proposals, through Sunday, March 31. (Your feedback will not appear as a comment on the post.)
Chisholm is the first monument announced as part of She Built NYC, an initiative to construct public monuments honoring the New York City women who have changed history. The effort kicked off with an open call for public nominations in June 2018, and from that list, Shirley Chisholm was selected and announced last fall in recognition of her role as a political trailblazer. In March, the City announced four more statues: Billie Holiday (Queens), Elizabeth Jennings Graham (Manhattan), Dr. Helen Rodriguez TrĂ­as (Bronx), and Katherine Walker (Staten Island).
Read more about these remarkable women on the She Built NYC page.

kinda cool multiple views. not so monumental though.

silly. not something that will age well methinks

love it. giant head!! and fountains are involved. bronze. will be must see for tourists.

the Q's 2nd fave. Big. Shiny. Twisty. Gaudy maybe?

folding chairs? I mean I love her folding chair quote but this will last three minutes.


1 comment:

Danny said...

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I submitted the following feedback at that site:

I think the Tanda Francis piece will work the best in the site, but the La Vaughn Belle piece is interesting. Considering the greater context, there is a plaza with folding chairs and tables directly across Ocean Avenue in front of the Q station. I think it would be interesting if there could be a dialogue between Tanda Francis' piece (located at the park corner), and if Shirley Chisholm's quote was written as text tiled into the pavement (in the Parkside Plaza). There would be a dialogue between text (the pavement) and image (the statue), and also across Ocean Avenue between the two public spaces, and this would activate both places in a nice way. You could imagine people sitting in Parkside Plaza, reading the quote on the pavement before them, and seeing the image of Shirley Chisholm across the street, welcoming them to Prospect Park.