10/28/04

This citizens' tribute to the plastic arts is also a public park on the East River.

by Contributor

Features
While it's sometimes hard to distinguish the intentional art from particularly intriguing river debris or the adjacent junk-metal pile, this outdoor sculpture garden is full of wonderful artistic surprises. The Peat Moss Sculpture by Knut Wold, for instance, is an enormous chunk of wood, wire and rebar covered in algae and gently submerged at the edge of the river, where it blends in with the nearby pilings and driftwood.

Overview
This grassy, sculpture-filled area was once a frightening no-man's-land--a polluted illegal dumping ground--until volunteers and residents, led by Marc di Suvero, banded together with artists to create the park. Community volunteers continue to run the park, which has an annual budget provided by private sources and artist grants from the state and city.