Works in Public 2025

Project Description:
McCormack’s rotating sculpture celebrates individuality and shared humanity. Composed of three painted portraits in primary colors, the work transforms with each turn, creating endlessly shifting faces that invite reflection on the paradox of difference and unity.

Bio:
Jason McCormack (J Made That) is a draftsman and sculptor who explores the depths of our humanity in search of beauty, harmony, and truth. Jason’s work reflects his love of the human figure as well as his commitment to social justice. Jason was born and raised in New York City where he currently lives and works.

Website: jmadethat.com
Instagram: @j_madethat

Project Description:
Referencing ancient fishing structures, Simone’s steel installation channels the movement and sound of the Hudson River (Maheacantuck). The work transforms environmental forces into new frequencies of experience, honoring Indigenous histories while engaging present-day viewers.

Bio:
Montana Simone (French-American, b. San Francisco, CA) lives and works in New York. She creates sculptures/installations/interventions including research, organizing, music and agriculture.

Website: montanasimone.com
Instagram: @montanasimone

Project Description:
The Raft is a larger than life, site-specific sculpture to be installed alongside the Hudson River in Riverside Park at W145th Street. Using a strong visual reference to existing structures in the river, the sculpture brings art and climate science together to dramatize the potential threat climate change poses to this part of our city and is comprised of two parts.

Cement Figures, on a Cor-Ten steel base dramatizes a hard-to-imagine future of struggling climate refugees right here in Riverside Park if New York City’s floodplain projections materialize. The grassy area surrounding the sculpture becomes the projected 2050 high tide floodplain if nothing is done to avoid these consequences.

Bio:
Kenneth Doherty is a member of the Art Students League of New York, where he has studied with Barney Hodes, Oscar Garcia, Marilyn Friedman and John Belardo. Working with Natsuki Takauji and Haksul Lee in the Works in Public program, he has developed an interest in the narrative potential of figurative art, and the challenge of using figurative art to address contemporary issues.

Instagram: @kdny.art

Project Description:
Blending anthropology and art, Sawalha’s towering mixed-media work critiques overconsumption and celebrates books as vessels of memory and dialogue. Visitors are invited to contemplate the future of knowledge and culture amid environmental strain.

Bio:
Cultural Anthropology professor and emerging visual artist. Both teaching and art work are informed by ethnographic fieldwork research: projects with Bedouin tribes, urbanites in post-war Lebanon, New York City women artists, and the art scene in Jordan. Mixed-media art work takes the form of flat, relief, and standing pieces, hybrid restructurings of found books and print matter modified by hand rolling and quilling, weaving, and paint, which mesh forms from modern and post-modern visual arts with techniques from traditional Arabic handicrafts.

Website: aseelsawalha.com
Instagram: @aseel.sawalha.art