Borough Wide
Three cheers for the eight Kings County kids who got to see their personal artwork displayed on the Times Square jumbotron from June 18 to 24, in a project that showed kids there’s no limit to what they can achieve with a paintbrush, according to one artist.
“This jumbotron should tell it all here,” said Fred Wilson, an artist, who helped organize the event. “Dream big, because dreams come true in ways that you could not even imagine now, creativity always wins.”
The big-screen exhibition is part of the “P.S. Art: Celebrating the Creative Spirit of New York City Kids” project organized in partnership between The MET, Studio in a School NYC, and the city’s Department of Education, which saw more than 1,200 art submissions from public school kids looking to display their work before the crowds of Times Square.
A panel of professional artists sifted through that small museum’s worth of paintings, before ultimately selecting only 27 pieces from artists across the city for the honor of gracing Time Square’s oversized TV.
One of those was a self portrait by PS 199 student Naviyd Baptiste, who said he surprised himself with how well his art turned out.
“I felt surprised at how good it looked and by how great you all think it is too,” he said.
But that feeling paled in comparison to seeing it blown up to the size of three-story building, according to Baptiste, who said there’s no better gallery than New York City itself.
“I had butterflies in my stomach when I was on my way,” Baptiste said.
— Elizabeth Winn
