Ricky Flores Photography

I.S. 206

License to Dream, 1995
29 silver gelatin prints
Auditorium vestibule
and school office
NYC Board of Education
Percent for Art Program

Public Art in the Bronx, a project of Lehman College Art Gallery / City University of New York, examines the rich collection of public art found in our borough. This site provides an overview of works in public places from the earliest created in the 19th century, those produced under the WPA, as well as the more recent projects being produced under such agencies as Percent for Art, Arts for Transit, the Health and Hospital Corporation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York State Dormitory Authority, and the Public Art Fund.

This collection includes work by major artists, among them are Vito Acconci, Alice Adams, John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres, Charles Alston, Romare Bearden, Jackie Ferrara, Rafael Ferrer, Helen Frankenthaler, Daniel Chester French, Malvina Hoffman, Komar and Melamid, Paul Manship, Tom Otterness, Howardena Pindell, Ben Shahn and Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Faith Ringgold, and Tim Rollins + KOS.

Distributed throughout the Bronx, these projects exist in virtually every neighborhood in the public schools, fire stations, libraries, government buildings, subway stations and parks. Public Art in the Bronx has been developed as a multimedia guide for elementary school teachers and is intended to enrich the classroom curriculum by exploring the potential of web-based learning and by focusing on the extraordinary cultural resources within the community. We also hope this guide will provide a useful resource for the general public and encourage exploration of public art in the Bronx. We would like to thank the many people and generous funders who made this project possible.