MakerSpace NYC is hosting an opening reception to celebrate a new season of public art at Staten Island MakerPark, on Sunday, June 25, 2023 from 4 to 6 pm.

The reception is free, and open to the public. All ages are welcome.

Staten Island MakerPark is located on the corner of Front St and Thompson St in Stapleton, Staten Island.

Five artists were selected by a juried panel to participate in a 4-month public art residency program at Makerspace NYC. The participating artists are Stephanie Beck, Lisa Dahl, Marlowe Ferrie, Eric Kalb, and Bradley Marshall.

Stephanie Beck is exhibiting a large-scale wooden mosaic sculptural “drawing” that she created during her residency. It is constructed from multiple short lengths of wood hinged together with wooden pegs creating unique gestures as they pull towards the earth. The mosaic is mounted on the side of a metal shipping container and speaks of weight, balance, tension, and fragility, echoing our precarious environmental and social situations.

Stephanie is a Brooklyn based artist who earned an M.F.A. from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a Post-Baccalaureate certificate from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a B.A. in Art History from the University of Virginia. Stephanie has presented a solo exhibition at the Philadelphia International Airport, and two-person exhibitions at Florida State College, Jacksonville, FL and Musée d’art moderne André Malraux, Le Havre, France. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; International Print Center, New York, NY; and Cite de l’architecture et du patrimonie, Paris, France, among others.

Lisa Dahl is a Staten Island based mixed-media artist who uses the icon of the home to address the subject matter we associate with our built environments – urban planning, economic issues, environmental concerns, and personal dreams. For this residency she has created a metal and wood sculpture inspired by her House Roots paintings which feature houses that have extensive tree-like roots that extend into the ground. Lisa’s art has been exhibited in museums, galleries, art fairs and video festivals both nationally and internationally. Recent awards include a public art commission from the NYC Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program; grants through the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and the NY State Council on the Arts; an illustration commission for The New York Times Magazine; a fellowship to The MacDowell Colony; and selection for the Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) program at the Bronx Museum. Her work has received numerous reviews, among them The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, Artinfo, and Metro New York. Born in Minneapolis, Lisa currently lives and works in Staten Island, NY. Dahl received her BA in Art History from Bowdoin College in Maine, and MFA in Visual Art from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Marlowe Ferrie is our youth artist. She is currently a rising junior at Notre Dame Academy in Staten Island and is a singer, actress, and painter. She is presenting a painted mural on the side of a shipping container that highlights the need for mental health support, especially for teens.

Eric Kalb is a recent graduate of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He previously studied Film & Television at Tisch as an undergrad. In between, he spent 12 years orchestrating one of the largest productions in entertainment, the HBO schedule, while working in the Program Planning & Strategy department. He enjoys creating indelible memories from traditionally unmemorable things and playing with scale using mixed media. For this residency, Eric is creating a large-scale camera out of metal and acrylic that is interactive allowing viewers to create their own images using Makerpark as a background.

Bradley Marshall is an artist, writer, and educator from Nashville, Tennessee. Currently based in Brooklyn, his work often incorporates photography, sculpture, and diverse arrangements of materials, objects, and images into assemblage and installation works that question paradigmatic methods of looking, seeing, and recording ideas. For this residency, Bradley is creating a large-scale outdoor sculpture that incorporates his unique combination of photography and linear sculptural elements. Bradley attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture after receiving a Masters in Studio Art from East Tennessee State University in 2018. Recent group exhibitions include Profound Movement, at Houston Center of Photography, Houston, Texas, and Teachable Moment at Stoveworks, Chattanooga, TN. A two-person exhibition at Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA is forthcoming Fall of 2021. He is co-editor of Number Inc. Magazine, a quarterly publication for fine arts writing in the American south.

2023 Art in Makerpark projects are made possible by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Development Fund.

Makerspace NYC is a non-profit community based organization dedicated to building economic growth and supporting innovation in our community. Our mission is to promote creativity and collaboration across disciplines and to make technology accessible to anyone who desires to make or invent something, regardless of skills or experience.

We seek to support individual entrepreneurship and help sustain artists, craftspeople, engineers, hobbyists, inventors, and other groups by offering low cost access to a facility that houses industrial and digital fabrication equipment and facilities, open workspaces, meeting rooms, and private studio and storage spaces.

Staten Island MakerPark is an outdoor sculpture park and community workspace that provides opportunities for artists to make and exhibit temporary public art projects. We also host community events and teach outdoor workshops in carpentry, blacksmithing, beekeeping, sustainable energy systems, and more.

When we opened Staten Island MakerSpace in 2013, the empty lot across the street was filled with 18 burned out, flooded, and smashed up abandoned vehicles. Thanks to the help of the NYCEDC, NYC Councilwoman Debi Rose, Borough President Jim Oddo, volunteers, and community partners we are transforming the derelict lot into a useable community space. It is a work in progress.

For more information about MakerSpace NYC visit www.makerspace.nyc or contact Associate Director, DB Lampman at (718) 273-3951 or db@makerspace.nyc