Kids make inflatable sculpture fueled by subway grates in Downtown Brooklyn
Passersby may have wondered about the group of kids seen recently tying carefully constructed plastic bags to subway grates in downtown Brooklyn. But, if they stayed still just long enough, they’d see the bags come to life with the passing of the next A train.
It was all part of the popular Summer Arts Program at Brooklyn Friends School (BFS), which since 2001 has celebrated the creative artists of NYC and original kids’ art by pairing acclaimed artists with inspired young people. Summer Arts students in past years visited the studios of William Wegman, David Byrne, Christo and Jean Claude, Donald Baechler, Tom Otterness, the Starn brothers and Kenny Scharf.
This summer, artist Joshua Allen Harris, who creates inflatable sculptures on subway grates, met with BFS Summer Arts kids, ages 8-14, showed his work and challenged them to create their own art on subway grates on city sidewalks.