On Friday March 15, 2013, friends and neighbors helped plan one last Block Party at 4 Downing Street and an after-party to raise funds to help artist Arthur Wood, 81, find a new home.  He is being foreclosed on after almost 30 years in his home and his work of art, the Broken Angel, a Brooklyn landmark.  The community came out to show their support and celebrate art.

See more about Arthur’s story in this New York Times article: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/after-art-house-eviction-time-for-a-block-party-in-clinton-hill/?smid=tw-share

On Monday night, I was excited to have one of my photographs from the Chasing Sanitation project featured among other artists’ work in Times Square as part of Artists Wanted’s Art Takes Times Square Billboard Premier.  This public event hosted by Questlove from the Roots screened thousands of artists’ work on large electronic screens in the heart of Times Square throughout the night, featured marching bands on stilts, and the final prize was awarded to a substitute teacher from Allentown, PA, Vicki DaSilva, whose luminescent graffiti art will displayed on billboards throughout Times Square for the next 2 weeks.

A little more about Chasing Sanitation:  writer/producer Lisa Dowda and I spent over 2 years chasing sanitation street crews all over New York with our cameras, questions and pens.  In February 2011, through the incredible support of donors through a kickstarter campaign, of over 70 photographs and 15 narratives were on view at a pop-up gallery exhibition in NoHo and was highlighted in this New York Times article as well as the NY Daily News, Channel NY1, and NBC’s NY Non-stop.

This project has been deeply rewarding in so many ways – and seeing two of NY’s sanitation workers on the job displayed on electronic billboards in Times Square was just that.  Their work keeping these busy streets clean so often goes unnoticed, and taking a closer look at the work they do and who they are is big part of what this project was all about.  Thanks, Lisa, for always being such a champion of this project and getting it out there!