In, “For Want of a Nail,” the team of artists used a variety of materials to suggest the range and diversity of artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History, directly above the subway station. Glass mosaic, glass tile, ceramic tile, granite, and bronze relief are combined in ways that highlight the 10 key disciplines at the Museum. The mosaics represent extinct and living animals, the former in grey and the latter in color. The work assembles images from outer space to the earth's core and from the first organisms to emerge to mammals of today. The artwork was a collaboration between MTA Arts & Design and the museum. “For Want of a Nail,” the title of an old proverb, asks the viewer to consider the way everything is connected.

The Arts for Transit Collaborative was a committed team of artists and arts administrators from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Arts & Design team, including the artists, Sandra Bloodworth, Kendal Henry, and Mona Chen, with additional research support by staff Lydia Bradshaw and Rob Wilson. The Arts for Transit Collaborative was formed to conceive and manage the installation of artwork at two stations located near keystone New York City cultural institutions, the Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Museum. Each station project included extensive collaboration with museum staff, architects, station engineers, and community members as well as the artists on staff at the MTA. The interviews and research conducted with the museums and their neighbors ultimately informed the designs of the corresponding station artwork.