PHOTOS: 10 NYC Parks Getting New Art Projects This Summer

NEW YORK, NY — A series of mirrored pillars in Queens, a giant head in Brooklyn and replicas of Lower East Side storefronts are among 10 new artworks that will make their home in New York City parks this summer.

Artists will install the custom works in two parks in each of the five boroughs in June as part of the city's "Art in the Parks" initiative, the Parks Department said Wednesday.

The clothing retailer Uniqlo is funding the projects with a $100,000 grant, giving each artist $10,000. This year marks the second round of Uniqlo's partnership with the city. Another $100,000 grant last year paid for 10 different works that are currently on view in the same parks.

"This funding brings public art to ten culturally underserved parks, and supports local emerging artists in our communities," Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver said in a statement. "All of the projects chosen correspond to their specific sites, adding a personal connection between each park and its work of art."

A committee of artists and community members picked the artworks from a pool of applicants with a preference for projects that engaged with the particular park and its neighborhood, the Parks Department said.

The first Uniqlo-funded projects were installed in the parks last June and will stay on view until late May, the Parks Department said. They're among more than 2,000 artworks the "Art in the Parks" has placed in more than 200 parks since 1967, the department says.

Here are some renderings of the new works and where you'll be able to find them this summer, courtesy of the Parks Department.

The Bronx

· Joyce Kilmer Park: Dionisio Cortes Ortega, “Sitting Together”

· Virginia Park: Cara Lynch, “I’m So Happy You’re Here”

Brooklyn

· Fort Greene Park: Tanda Francis, “Adorn Me”

· Herbert Von King Park: Roberto Visani, "(x)ofmanychildren”

Manhattan

· Seward Park: Karla & James Murray, “Mom-and-Pops of the L.E.S.”

· Thomas Jefferson Park: Harumi Ori, “I am Here @ Thomas Jefferson Park, 113th Street and 1st Ave, Manhattan, NY"

Queens

· Flushing Meadow Corona Park: Zaq Landsberg, “Islands of the Unisphere”

· Rufus King Park: Rose DeSiano, “Absent Monuments”

Staten Island

· Faber Park: Jackie Mock, “The Pencil Museum”

· Tappen Park: Adam Frezza & Terri Chiao, “Stick Stump & The Lawn Lumps”

(Lead image: Cara Lynch's mural "I'm So Happy You're Here" will be installed at Virginia Park in the Bronx in June. Photo courtesy of NYC Parks