Socrates Sculpture Park
Socrates Sculpture Park is a public art park in Long Island City, Queens. It is known for its sculpture exhibitions as well as its art education and artist-in-residence platforms. Admission is free because the park is dedicated to making art accessible for all New Yorkers. In their own words, “The Park is committed to serving artists – from early-career to international renown – by providing an open platform for public art and encouraging unfettered ambition in scale and subject matter. The vast majority of artworks exhibited at Socrates are built on-site in the outdoor artist studio space. This gives Park visitors the unique opportunity to witness the often labor-intensive art-making process. The Park also remains open to the public during exhibition installation and de-installation.” Since its founding in 1988, the park has fulfilled this goal. Its temporary exhibits that circulate throughout the year to give many artists the chance to have their work presented, and to give New Yorkers and any visitors the chance to see as much art from as many different artists as possible.
The park was founded by Mark di Suvero and Isamu Noguchi “on an abandoned riverside lot”, which used to be a landfill on Roosevelt Island. The park was part of a movement to turn Long Island City into an art hub like Soho or the East Village. Those neighborhoods were pricing out their artists, and they needed a new home, which Long Island City was beginning to provide. A community of artists and young people came together to build on the land. A New York Times article from 1986 commented on the building: “The sculpture park yesterday was a hive of activity: more than a dozen young men and women from the nearby Astoria Houses, a low-income housing development, were clearing brush and garbage, as three artists -Mel Edwards, Sal Romano and Richard Mock - were installing artworks. Martha Ezell, an independent video maker, was interviewing people and filming the activity for a documentary, and Bill Antoniu, the manager of the Jet Diner, across from the park, was exulting - and musing - over the new business the sculpture site was bringing in.”
In the decades since the park’s founding, it has done much for the Long Island City community as well as New York City as a whole. The park offers educational programs for elementary, middle, and high school students to engage with the art exhibitions and create their own art. In the past, the park has offered Saturday workshops for families of all ages to make their own sculptures. The park has spent its life working for and with the people it surrounds.
The park’s events cater to the cultures of New York City. In July, they will be hosting Guelaguetza with Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Nueva York. They posted a picture on their Facebook page advertising the event with a photograph of the dancers in traditional garb. Similarly, the park has brought the Metropolitan Opera for a Summer Stage series.
Overall, the Socrates Sculpture Park is a New York City treasure for bringing public art and education to New Yorkers.
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