Author: NYC Parks and Recreation
Published: June 24, 2026
NYC Public Art Parks News: New York’s Hottest Art Gallery this Summer: Your Local Park
Nurturing Tree in Stuyvesant Park Location: Stuyvesant Square Park, West Park, near central fountain, Rutherford Place #9, New York, NY 10003. Park hours are from dawn to dusk every day of the year. Stuyvesant Square Park is free and open to the public.

New artworks in parks across the five boroughs introduce fresh perspectives on environment and community, including giant kaleidoscopes, a bright pink tree, and an octopus made of trash.

This summer, NYC Parks invites you to experience new perspectives through free public art installations across all five boroughs. Through Parks’ Art in the Parks program, New Yorkers can visit a rotating catalogue of over 60 temporary public art installations in parks and greenspaces throughout the city.

The full list and a map of current exhibits can be found on Parks’ Art in the Parks page. Here are some highlights of this summer’s offerings:

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MANHATTAN

Judith Modrak: Nurturing Tree

Stuyvesant Square

On view through October 17, 2026

Peace, love, empathy, and kindness are all traits to be nourished and grown. Nurturing Tree embodies these characteristics and pays homage to the Mother Elm Tree, which lived on this very spot for over 300 years. This exhibition is presented by the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association.

Author: Benjamin Sutton
Publication: The Art Newspaper
Published: May 12, 2026
Article link: Public Art Blossoms around New York City

Public art blossoms around New York
From the High Line to Brooklyn Bridge Park, artists are thinking big across the five boroughs

Gotham’s galleries and museums are rolling out their big spring shows this month, but do not overlook the city’s parks and streets. Anyone headed to Frieze New York at the Shed would do well to stroll along the High Line, taking in works including Derek Fordjour’s buoyant mural Backbreaker Double (2025) at West 22nd Street and Raven Halfmoon’s monumental ceramic bust West Side Warrior (2025) at Little West 12th Street.

In Midtown, Monira Al Qadiri offers her own startling take on a traditional bust with her giant purple First Sun (2025) beside the Plaza, while in Stuyvesant Square, Judith Modrak turns the stump of the historic Mother Elm Tree into a pedestal for an otherworldly sapling. Across the East River, Woody De Othello has taken over Brooklyn Bridge Park with totemic hybrids. And up in the Bronx, Shellyne Rodriguez’s Phoenix Ladder: Monument to the People of the Bronx (2025) celebrates the borough’s residents, while Graciela Cassel’s pair of sculptural kaleidoscopes offer dazzling views of Pelham Bay Park.

Judith Modrak’s Nurturing Tree, the winner of the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association’s 2025 Peace Prize, is situated on the stump of the 300-year-old Mother Elm Tree, which was felled in 2023. Photo: © 2025 Sylvie Rosokoff

Nurturing Tree Installation Dates: October 19th, 2025 – October, 2026.
Location: Stuyvesant Square Park, West Park, near central fountain, Rutherford Place #9, New York, NY 10003.
NYC Art in the Parks: “Nurturing Tree” by artist Judith Modrak springs to life
Park hours are from dawn to dusk every day of the year. Stuyvesant Square Park is free and open to the public.