How A Wash Heights Park Mural Was Created Through Discarded Glass

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Finding broken and discarded glass in a New York City park is a common affair, but taking those broken and forgotten pieces and turning them into a piece of colorful community art is beautifully uncommon.

The American Robin mural by Jessica Maffia sits in Highbridge Park at 630 W. 173rd St.

The mural made of a mostly orange backdrop has existed at the Washington Heights location for around a year, but the bird conservation nonprofit Audubon Society tweeted a video out recently about how the uptown artist created the piece.

Maffia was inspired by her daily walks near her art studio through Highbridge Park.

"It's one of the less maintained parks in Manhattan, and as I'm walking, I look down and there's a river of glass in the dirt path," Maffia said in the video explanation of her process. "The glass calls out to me, 'use us, use us.'"

Maffia decided to make the mural out of recycled glass she finds in the park, spending days and weeks with the help of volunteers picking up glass from the green space, bringing it back to her studio to wash, and then using it to create her mural.

She chose the robin to be its focus as a commentary on how even the most common of birds is in danger from climate change.

Maffia decided to intentionally leave the robin out of the mural to illustrate the point.

“Our hunger for burning fossil fuels is heating our planet to the point that even these most populous of birds are threatened,” Maffia said. “The mirrored pieces surrounding the mosaic are intended for us to see ourselves as both the creators of the problem and the agents of change responsible for finding solutions.”

Maffia then created the robin's-egg-blue hands from casts of local Washington Heights residents who are actively engaged in fighting for environmental justice.

The mural is entitled "Listen with Me" and was commissioned by the Audubon Society.

You can check out the full video of Maffia explaining her work below.

Curious how this mural in NYC’s Washington Heights neighborhood came to life? Watch how artist and NYC native Jessica Maffia uses reclaimed glass to visualize the American Robin's birdsong in this stunning avant-garde addition to the #AudubonMuralProject. https://t.co/35lpJrlNsy pic.twitter.com/rH1fst2BOS
— Audubon Society (@audubonsociety) October 6, 2022