Colors of the Creek: An Inwood Story
Discovering a hidden waterfront in Inwood through community portraits and the wisdom of our neighbors.
The Sherman Creek Photo Essay Team
Every person you pass on the street has a story you may never hear. “Colors of the Creek: An Inwood Story” explores these personal narratives as well as the connection between humankind and nature. The primary goal of this project was to help people discover Sherman Creek Park, a hidden oasis along the banks of the Harlem River in Inwood. The park is not easily spotted from the street. Even many local residents are unaware of its existence.
This summer, NYC Parks and New York Restoration Project (NYRP), which began restoring an illegal dumping ground in 1996 and transformed it into a verdant public amenity, invited Creative Art Works to help them beautify the area around their equipment yard for the benefit of the community. We proposed at youth-driven photo essay featuring environmental portraits and stories of Inwood residents, highlighting their relationship to the surrounding neighborhood and enhancing their awareness of what Sherman Creek Park has to offer.
YAs produced a public exhibition of large-scale portraits installed along the park’s perimeter, inviting both longtime residents and new visitors to experience Sherman Creek through the voices and faces of its community.
Behind the Scenes
CAW Youth Apprentice Widalis Marie Burgos conducts an interview with an Inwood resident as fellow YAs Enmanuel Colon, Nathan Rosales, and Ailani Liranzo take photos.
The direction for the project was influenced by an initial client interview with Jason Smith, NYRP’s Director, Northern Manhattan Parks, and Caio Miranda Carneiro, NYRP’s Engagement Coordinator, Northern Manhattan Parks. The aesthetics were informed the terms: sonder, biophilia, and interdependency. Sonder is the realization that every stranger you pass on the street is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. Biophilia is our innate desire to seek connections with nature and other living things, (it's why we keep pets and houseplants.) Interdependency is the recognition that humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems all rely on one another to survive and thrive. Together, these three words define a healthy, happy, and sustainable, environment.
CAW Teaching Artists Noga Cohen and Paul Varano and Teaching Artist Assistant Yotzin Reyes equiped our YAs with the fundamental skills of photography and the art of street interviews. (Pro tip: Get over your fear of rejection — most of the people you ask won’t agree to answer your questions and that’s okay.) Armed with cameras, light reflectors and notepads, our YAs went out into the community and interviewed dozens of visitors to Sherman Creek Park, as well as local residents they sought out at places such as the Dyckman Senior Center, Inwood Hill Park and local schools.
After gathering their photographs and interviews, our intrepid photographers returned to the studio to edit their photos in Photoshop and layout the final art for the banners in InDesign.
Gallery Opening
Photography from the project was displayed at a well-attended gallery show at Inwood Art Works Studio at 112 Seaman Avenue in Inwood. Attenddes included Aaron Simms, Founder and Executive Producer of Inwood Art Works, Jason Smith; Jason Smith, NYRP’s Director, Northern Manhattan Parks; Yessinia Santiago, Assistant Operations Director, NYRP; and Jana LaSorte, Administrator of Northern Manhattan Parks for NYC Parks; as well as many Inwood neighbors and community boosters.
Gallery reception photos above by CAW Youth Apprentice Joshua Laidley
Unveiling
Jana LaSorte, Administrator of Northern Manhattan Parks for NYC Parks
The grand unveiling of Colors of the Creek: An Inwood Story was a heartfelt celebration of the human stories that make Sherman Creek Park so vibrant. Neighbors such as Carol Weeks, Program Director and Manager of Dyckman Senior Center, whose wisdom and deep roots in Inwood embody the very community spirit this initiative set out to celebrate.
As Jana LaSorte said at the unveiling, “It was really for the people who live around Sherman Creek, like the senior center and all the folks at Dyckman Houses and people who go to the schools.” During her speech, Jana highlighted how the project will invite the neighborhood to step into the park and help them "see themselves in it and as part of it."
The Portraits
Additional Photography
Read more about the young artists who created "The Colors of the Creek"
Read the commemorative brochure HERE.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Colors of the Creek" in the short documentary
Watch the video on VIMEO.
About the Public Art Youth Employment Program
Public Art Youth Employment Programs give teens and young adults full-time summer jobs and part-time jobs after school to create large-scale public art and multimedia projects. Youth Apprentices are guided by professional teaching artists from the initial concept development through client presentation, to the final edit and public unveiling or premiere. Along the way, they gain tangible employment and life skills such as leadership, teamwork, responsibility and the power of taking initiative. They are empowered by the enduring accomplishment in their work of art and its positive impact on the community.
About Creative Art Works
Creative Art Works (CAW) is a 39-year-old nonprofit that empowers young people through the visual and multimedia arts. Our programs equip children, teens, and young adults with essential tools and skills; connect them with community, academic success, and career opportunities; and inspire them to reach for new possibilities. Working in underserved neighborhoods of New York City, in public schools, recreation centers, foster care facilities, parks, juvenile justice settings, and in the remote environment, CAW provides dynamic creative youth development for those who otherwise lack access. Our programs build confidence, unlock a love of learning, and teach valuable technical and social-emotional skills while creating profound connections between our young constituents, their art and their communities
CAW Teaching Staff
Noga Cohen
Teaching Artist
Paul Varano
Teaching Artist
Yotzin Reyes
Teaching Artist Assistant
Documentary Teaching Artist
Amrita Singh
Teaching Artist
CAW Staff
Riki Sabel
Program Manager of Teaching & Learning
Emilio Vides-Curnen
Operations Coordinator
Madeline De León
Program Coordinator
Paola Gonzalez
Development & Communications Coordinator
EJ Meehan
Finance & Administration Coordinator
Karen Jolicoeur
Executive Director
Ian Newton
Director of Finance & Administration
Clair Vogel
Development Manager
Scott Lucas
Manager of Marketing & Communications
Donna Manganello
Program Manager
Kevin Claiborne
Program Manager
Our partners for this program include:
Our Thanks
Creative Art Works’ Public Art Youth Employment program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The program also receives support from the AEO Better World Foundation, the Find Your Light Foundation, the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the Pinkerton Foundation, and the William Talbot Hillman Foundation. Creative Art Works’ programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The Sherman Creek photo essay program was made possible by a generous grant from Charities Aid Foundation Canada.
Additional funding was provided by: The NYC Department of Youth and Community Development and by numerous corporate and individual sponsors and donors.
