News and Press Releases

For Immediate Release: June 18, 2025

Contact:
publicaffairs@culture.nyc.gov (DCLA)
press@edc.nyc (NYCEDC)
Connor Goodwin, connorgoodwin@nypl.org (NYPL)

PUBLIC ART FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES: DCLA, NYCEDC, AND NYPL CELEBRATE THE INSTALLATION OF FIVE NEW PERCENT FOR ART PROJECTS IN FIVE HISTORIC CARNEGIE BRANCH LIBRARIES

The Permanent, Public Artworks Were Commissioned as Part of the Carnegie Branch Renovation Program, a $176 Million Investment – Primarily from the City - in Libraries Serving Under-Resourced Communities

Images of the Event and Artworks are Available Here for Download

From L to R: Artwork installed in NYPL branches by artists Emily Kiacz, Greta McLain + GoodSpace Murals, Amy Pryor, David Rios Ferreira, and Diana Schmertz.

 

Bronx, NY – Yesterday, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Commissioner Laurie Cumbo, NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Director of Design Review Gale Rothstein, and New York Public Library (NYPL) Vice President of Capital Planning and Construction David Lem joined artists, library patrons, community leaders to highlight the recent completion of five new, permanent public artworks commissioned for five historic Carnegie branch libraries through DCLA’s Percent for Art program. Created in a variety of media, and deeply tied to local communities served by each branch, the artworks will enrich and enliven these vital community hubs for generations to come. The renovations happened as part of the Carnegie Renovation Project, spearheaded by NYPL and funded primarily by the city, and included branches in all three boroughs served by NYPL. Yesterday’s event was held at Hunt’s Point Library in the Bronx, where artwork by artist David Rios was installed under this initiative, and images of all five newly-installed artworks were on display.

“When artists work closely with communities, public art has the power to transform our civic infrastructure into lively, dynamic spaces that tap into the unique energy of a neighborhood,” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. “We’re s proud of these five Percent for Art commissions, which have brought five distinct creative visions to life in historic Carnegie branches across the city. These vibrant, permanent installations reflect the role of libraries as hubs for education, art, and community connection. We encourage all New Yorkers to visit these historic branches to see this remarkable artworks in person!”

"The new public artworks unveiled today that will be permanently displayed at the five recently renovated Carnegie branch public libraries are going to serve as a source of inspiration for the future generation of artists and NYCEDC is proud to have led the $176 million Carnegie Renovation Project," said NYCEDC President & CEO Andrew Kimball. "Public libraries are an essential component for a city to thrive, help prepare New Yorkers to succeed in the jobs of the future, and we applaud DCLA and NYPL for supporting these artists."

"The Carnegie Branch Renovation Program and the accompanying Percent for Art murals transformed each of these libraries into inviting, state-of-the-art community hubs," said David Lem, Vice President of Capital Planning and Construction at NYPL. "The stunning, colorful murals reflect the values of the community and the Library, championing freedom of expression and making everyone feel welcome." 

From L to R: Artist David Rios Ferreira, artist Diana Schmertz, artist Lesle Williams, NYPL’s David Lem, artist Emily Kiacz, artist Amy Pryor, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, and DCLA Commissioner Laurie Cumbo at the Hunts Point Library on June 17, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Blanc / New York Public Library.

The five newly commissioned Percent for Art artworks are:

Emily Kiacz - Golden Nymph, Woven Obscurity, Reflecting Undertone, Solar Shroud, Spliced Reflection, Pale Waters, and Twilight Archive

Medium: Acrylic on canvas over panel
Location: Fort Washington Library, Manhattan

Emily Kiacz’s work installed at the Fort Washington Library. Photo by Etienne Frossard.

Emliy Kiacz’s work at the Fort Washington Library – which was featured in her solo exhibition Braided Horizon - builds on the artist’s exploration of painting on shaped canvas, a process rooted in research and experimentation with form. With a painting practice rooted in repetition, Kiacz uses color and gesture as a means to dissolve and illuminate space. Form is explored by warping exterior shapes and skewed to guide interior compositions toward endless possibility. Working on shaped paintings arose through her landscape painting practice and sparked a shift working with organic forms that evoke their memory such as butterflies, clovers, and daisies. The exterior shape informs the interior structure. These outlines are often obscured through the layering of paint and imagery. Forms are often repeated and morphed. Color is created by the layering of many hues. Overlaying color creates a fuzzy atmosphere and transforms color into light.

“Through a process based in repetition, I explore form through color and shape. The exterior shape informs the interior structure. Forms are often repeated and morphed. Color is created by the layering of many hues. Overlaying color creates a fuzzy atmosphere and transforms color to light,” said Emily Kiacz. “It feels especially meaningful for this work to find a permanent home in a library, a space dedicated to reflection, learning, and imagination.”

 

Greta McLain - Flying Minds

Medium: Hand painted, acrylic on Poly Tab on Dibond panels
Location: Port Richmond, Staten Island

Greta McLain and GoodSpace Murals’ Flying Minds at the Port Richmond Library. Photo by Etienne Frossard.

Artist Greta McLain and GoodSpace Murals collaborated closely with the Port Richmond community—including youth from PS 20, elders from the Anderson Senior Center, and local families—to create Flying Minds, a vibrant mural that now welcomes visitors at the interior entry wall of the historic Port Richmond library. The artwork celebrates the neighborhood’s diversity, immigrant identity, and intergenerational wisdom—as well as the enduring magic of libraries and their vital role as centers of learning, imagination, and community connection. In the mural’s design, Art Nouveau-inspired motifs flow throughout—water, clouds, and energy elements that echo and respond to the architecture of the original Carnegie library building. Across the scene, people of all ages are depicted reading and flying on the wings of stories and knowledge—young children, teenagers, and elders alike. The idea of flight, imagination, and movement is echoed in the monarch butterflies that drift throughout the mural. These monarchs symbolize immigrant communities and the natural cycles of migration and transformation—reminding us that we grow richer, more compassionate, and stronger as a community shaped by the journeys of those who come here.

Historically, Port Richmond has served as a landing place for new immigrant communities arriving in New York. This legacy is reflected in the mural, where community members are shown building together, symbolizing both the foundations and the future of their families. Their presence represents the hopes, dreams, and resilience of immigrant communities everywhere. In the mural’s background are landmarks of Port Richmond—the neighborhood’s buildings, powerlines, and the Bayonne Bridge—rooting the work in the specific, beloved landscape of this community.

“It has been my honor and joy to create this mural in this gorgeous library,” said artist Greta McLain. “And what a gift to get to paint it in 5th grade classrooms, on the basement cafeteria floor, and in senior center activity rooms! It makes it that much more special that the mural is both of and for the Port Richmond community,” said Greta McLain.

Amy Pryor – Stellar Bronx

Medium: Glass mosaic with inlaid mirror
Location: Melrose Library, Bronx

Amy Pryor’s Stellar Bronx at the Melrose Library. Photo by Argenis Apolinario.

Stellar Bronx is a site-specific mural that celebrates the diversity and vibrancy of The Bronx. The artwork blends data collection, mapping, and landscape into a visualization of sixteen decades of Bronx history. Based on population records from 1860-2020, yearly increments are delineated in colorful stripes derived from country flags. Additionally, constellations that are visible from The Bronx are charted in the sky above the population gradient. 

“My hope is that this work functions as a beautiful point of reflection for the community. It celebrates the historical significance of New York City as a point of entry for immigrants in search of The American Dream and reflects the multi-cultural values of New York City. The centuries old glass mosaic technique used to create the artwork, lends its bejeweled and sparkling qualities to create an enduring tapestry that mirrors the resilience of The Bronx’ many communities,” said Amy Pryor.

David Rios - We just wanted to have a rowboat in the room, and now there is and In the world through which I travel, I endlessly create myself

Medium: Dye-sublimation on aluminum
Location: Hunt’s Point Library, Bronx

David Rios’ work installed in the Hunts Point Library. Photo by Etienne Frossard.

Inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magical realist short story "Light is Like Water" (from which the title is taken), flowers pour out from a Bronx building, forming a floral ocean where three boats sail amid an abstract Bronx landscape. One boat serves as a memorial to the African and Indigenous ancestors, from whom many members of the Black and Latino Bronx communities descend. Another boat, helmed by children and inspired by literary adventure epics, symbolizes journey and aspiration. Finally, a futuristic vessel, influenced by science fiction, represents a complex and flourishing future. An extension of the artwork titled, We just wanted to have a rowboat in the room, and now there is, can be found in the adjacent room. In it, a figure looks toward the viewer from under dense foliage, lines, and color. This reinterpretation of Barron Storey's 1980 cover of Lord of the Flies, a preview of the book's impending violence and loss of innocence, stares back instead with intention and a sense of self-determination.

"Both murals aim to capture the spirit of adventure and imagination, utilizing the transformative power of literature to celebrate the aspirations, self-realization, and representation of The Bronx's Black and Brown communities," said David Rios.

Diana Schmertz - Language to Dream

Medium: Oil painting with digital text printed on metal (Dye sublimation on aluminum)
Location: 125th St. Carnegie Library, Manhattan

Diana Schmertz’s Language to Dream at the 125th Street Library. Photo by Etienne Frossard.

For the 125th Street branch in East Harlem, Diana Schmertz created a two-wall design that emphasizes freedom of expression and access to information as the foundation for creativity, education, and enlightenment in American society. The first wall seen upon entering the library depicts multiracial hands pulling each other up through the medium of books. The second-floor wall depicts a bird’s eye view of a diverse group of young people reading in a circle in the sky. Both the top and bottom walls have text interwoven throughout the images. The bottom wall features text from established social agreements, such as texts from the First Amendment and the three core documents from the American Library Association: The Library Bill of Rights, Libraries: An American Value, and The Freedom to Read, that support the top wall of “dreaming” and discovery. Without the freedom to read and access to information we could not so easily engage in artistic and intellectual contemplation and creation. The top wall has poems, quotes and excerpts that reflect this freedom, as well as the joy and desire to read and create. The text creates a patch-worked over the different readers showing connectivity through reading. The image is colored where there is text and the remaining areas are black and white, signifying the words bringing the image to life.

"Public libraries embody the highest ideals of a democratic society. I wanted the artwork to honor the importance of equal access to knowledge and ideas, as well as the wonder contained in books that allows us to step into a real or imagined world, seeing things from different perspectives," said Diana Schmertz.

Displays of artwork at the Hunts Point Library on June 17, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Blanc / New York Public Library.

Primarily funded by the City and spearheaded by NYPL President Anthony W. Marx, the Carnegie Renovation Program modernized five historic libraries serving under-resourced neighborhoods to better serve patrons as part of the Library’s ongoing commitment to equity. The renovations sought to preserve key historic features, honoring the original Carnegie design vision while modernizing the interiors to optimize public space and improve accessibility. With construction overseen by the NYC Economic Development Corporation, the Carnegie Renovation Program started in 2021 and completed from late 2024 into early 2025. Notably, Hunts Point Library, where today’s event was held, was the last Carnegie building to be constructed in 1929. 

Mayor Adams’ FY 2026 executive budget proposal includes additional funding for both operating and capital funding for all three New York City library systems, including a $5.8 million increase for NYPL operating support. The city’s 10-year capital plan – its largest ever -  includes another $3.1 billion in capital funding for cultural institutions and libraries.

The installation of the five new artworks comes as the Percent for Art program celebrates its 40th anniversary. Signed into law by Mayor Ed Koch, the program began in 1983 and the first commission was completed in 1985. Administered by DCLA, the program sets aside one percent of the budget for eligible, city-funded construction projects to be spent on artwork for city facilities. Percent for Art has worked on more than 450 projects throughout the five boroughs, including more than 100 ongoing commissions. The accumulated value of completed projects is over $65 million in today’s dollars. 40 years on, Percent for Art installations exist in libraries, schools, courthouses, playgrounds, parks, plazas, streets, and other open spaces and public facilities across the five boroughs. A celebration will be held later this month to mark the first-ever commission, Growth by artist Jorge Luis Rodriguez, in the East Harlem Art Park. Since 1983, Percent for Art has commissioned 45 projects – both completed and ongoing - for public libraries in all five boroughs.

 “Public art in public libraries is more than decoration—it is a declaration. It says that culture belongs to the people. That beauty, knowledge, and imagination are not luxuries for the few, but rights for us all. These five new artworks, now rooted in the heart of our Carnegie libraries, reflect the spirit of our communities and the stories we refuse to let be erased. I applaud the Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York Public Library, and NYCEDC for this bold investment in civic soul. In a time when so many forces try to censor, divide, and privatize, we say: art is public. Libraries are sacred. And our stories—Black, Brown, immigrant, working-class—deserve to live in stone, on canvas, and in every child who walks through those doors,” said State Senator Robert Jackson.

" It is an honor to celebrate these extraordinary public artworks that now enrich the cultural landscape of our Bronx libraries. I commend the Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York Public Library, and the Economic Development Corporation for this inspiring initiative, which not only enhances our community spaces but also uplifts the creativity of artists like David Ríos and Amy Pryor. The Hunts Point and Melrose Libraries are vital hubs of knowledge, culture, and community—and these new installations reinforce their role as true beacons of hope and expression in the Bronx" said State Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda.

DCLA Commissioner Laurie Cumbo speaks at the Hunts Point Library on June 17, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Blanc / New York Public Library.

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About NYC Department of Cultural Affairs

The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) is dedicated to supporting and strengthening New York City’s vibrant cultural life. DCLA works to promote and advocate for quality arts programming and to articulate the contribution made by the cultural community to the City’s vitality. The Department represents and serves non-profit cultural organizations involved in the visual, literary, and performing arts; public-oriented science and humanities institutions including zoos, botanical gardens, and historic and preservation societies; and creative artists at all skill levels who live and work within the City’s five boroughs. DCLA also provides donated materials for arts programs offered by the public schools and cultural and social service groups, and commissions permanent works of public art at City-funded construction projects throughout the five boroughs. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/culture.

 About NYC Economic Development Corporation

New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity; build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city's future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About The New York Public Library

For over 125 years, The New York Public Library has been a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With over 90 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars. The New York Public Library receives approximately 16 million visits through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/give.