Fiber arts—a newer name for “womens’ work”, is everywhere in museums and galleries—but nowhere is the idea of craft as art as environmentally equal to work made in metal and bronze by men more beautifully realized than it is today at Madison Square Park. Sheila Pepe, a feminist and queer artist whose elaborate web-like structures have been seen in New York in galleries and museums, was invited by Madison Square Park Conservancy to take over the park, and in the process, to create today’s version of the knitting circle to enable the enormous project to be realized. 

Now, as the installation nears completion, the 6.2-acre public space, which receives 50,000 visitors per day, is teeming with an entirely new blend of art, horticulture, and social interaction. Hence the title, My Neighbor’s Garden—a place for everyone to join in a new conversation about just about everything. 

Sheila's weather-proof materials are unexpected: Weed whacker line, zip ties, paracord, shoe laces, outsize rubber bands and more. The park’s horticulture team worked closely with her on the color palette to lovingly plant and train all of the plant materials up fronm the ground into the canopy, which rises 30 feet above the lawn.

With the help of some 23 women who joined Pepe in her Bay Ridge studio in a regular community art gathering over the winter, Sheila created hundreds of lengths of outdoor-friendly crocheted lines that now create a new canopy over the lawn, onto which summer produce will twine its way to the upper sections of the web towards the sunlight. 

The program, led by MSPC curator Brooke Kamin Rapaport, will include talks in the park with Pepe and other fiber artists [TBA] as well as lunchtime tours every Wednesday from 12-12:15 pm. Info

Sheila Pepe: My Neighbor's Garden continues through October 12. Map

Save the date: Thursday, July 15, 5:30-6:30pm. Garden Walk with horticulturist; meet at Northern Reflecting pool. Registration is appreciated.