For three weeks in June 2018, I had a temporary studio in a vacant storefront in New Rochelle, New York. There, as one of fifteen artists selected for the city’s “Stacked!” public-art project, I painted my custom multicolor design of undulating waves that wrap around a roughly 7-foot-tall fiberglass form of the city’s logo: the vertically stacked letters NRNY. (The image above is a detail of the work in the studio.)
My artwork is inspired by the traces and rhythms of perpetual change and transformation that we can observe and feel in the nature that surrounds us—for example, the cycles of life that we can see in plants, like trees and flowers, and the nonliving but always shifting patterns of winds, rains, and tides. Even in densely settled urban places, we can sense and notice these natural systems, and I think they deeply resonate with and enrich the dynamic life of the city.
More images of the work, both in-process and detail views, can be seen on my Instagram feed, @deannaclee. There, I will also post information about the placement of the work in the city, which is planned for September 2018.