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Gardens of Fort Hamilton Parkway Station

Fort Hamilton Pkwy (D)

Gardens of Fort Hamilton Parkway Station

Portia Munson
Artwork in laminated glass by Portia Munson showing colorful flower compositions.
“Gardens of Fort Hamilton Parkway Station” (2012) by Portia Munson at Fort Hamilton Pkwy. Photo: Susan Alzner

About the project

The "Gardens of Fort Hamilton Parkway Station" are six sets of flower compositions in laminated glass, which bring elements of nature onto the subway platform. Artist Portia Munson created the work from digital scans of actual flowers that are realized as larger than life to create fantastical gardens. Each composition represents a garden at different times in the growing season. The first, "Double Happiness," represents early spring. The second grouping, "Peony," is made up of flowers that bloom from late spring in May. The third, "July," depicts mid-summer and the fourth, "Hibiscus," shows flowers commonly seen toward the end of August. The last gardens are "Morning Glory," created in September, and "October," illustrating a garden in late fall. These six different gardens are comprised of flowers that can be seen growing in Brooklyn. 

Each image appears like an aerial plan of imagined flower gardens. Using arrangements inspired by mandalas, representing the universe, the flowers have been placed into orbiting combinations of color and shape, preserving what was in bloom on the day that the images were created. The large fantastical flower beds are meant to function as meditation garden for subway travelers. 

About the artist

Portia Munson is a Catskill, New York-based visual artist who works in a range of mediums including photography, painting, sculpture and installation, and focuses primarily on environmental and cultural themes seen from a feminist perspective. Munson has had more than 20 solo exhibitions and her work has also been in dozens of major public and private exhibition spaces in the U.S. and abroad, including at Mass MOCA, Wave Hill, Governors Island, and Art Omi. Her work is in numerous private and public collections, including the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the U.S. Department of State.