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Hunters Point Avenue Project

Hunters Point Av (7)

Hunters Point Avenue Project

Tricia Keightley
Artwork in glass mosaic by Tricia Keightley showing bright colors in abstract forms.
“Hunters Point Avenue Project” (2012) by Tricia Keightley at Hunters Point Av. Photo: Stefan Hagen

About the project

Installed on the wall of the station’s Manhattan-bound platform, "Hunters Point Avenue Project" by artist Tricia Keightley merges elements of Hunters Point’s industrial past with its future.

Fabricated in glass mosaic by Miotto Mosaic Art Studios, the artwork features contemporary and historic turnstiles in the form of radiating flowers. The radiating form on the left is built of a multitude of modern turnstiles symbolizing the act each rider makes when entering and exiting the station. The form on the right is made up of the turnstiles used in 1916 when the station first opened. Together, they reflect almost a century of service the station has provided. 

Additionally, the industrial elements, attaching to the two "spinning" forms, represent the whirring machines that gave this former manufacturing district its character. The form at right is bursting through the frame, symbolizing the future of the neighborhood, which is evolving rapidly into a sophisticated urban community. To the artist, the lines escaping the frame are “offshoots” representing the future of the subway. This future now includes Wi-Fi, as well as new stations that take us in new directions. 

Although the background may seem abstract, historical references were included that riders may decipher as they pass by. Handholds, rivets, ironwork, and  lines extracted from the subway map have all become the visual elements in the work. Although the actual references to these forms may be concealed, a frequent rider will unravel these visual puzzles. "Hunters Point Avenue Project" is an imaginary machine honoring an industrial past and fueled by Hunters Point’s promising future. 

About the artist

Tricia Keightley is a painter based in Brooklyn, New York, who studied at Parsons School of Design and graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute. Keightley's paintings are engineered abstractions comprised of imagined mechanical elements. Keightley has exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group shows. She was a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting, a MacDowell Colony Residency, and a Millay Colony Residency.