If you happen to find yourself on Park Avenue between 66th and 67th streets and notice a mini-grove on the median, you are not imagining things. In that grove are 300 talismans hanging from the trees, which are illuminated at night.
It’s the work of SoHo-based artist Michele Oka Doner, who has been using talismans in her art ever since she was a student working with clay.
What You Need To Know
“Talisman, A Sacred Grove” is a new public art installation from artist Michele Oka Doner
It is located on Park Avenue between 66th and 67th streets on the median
The grove features 300 talismans in the trees that illuminate at night
“I used to shape it and put my thumbs in, and then I had eyes, and all of a sudden I realized I had a face. And that goes way back I have cast them in bronze and used those for door pulls, that shape has stayed with me,” said Oka Doner, known for her work “Radiant Site” at the 34th Street-Herald Square Subway Station and the massive “A Walk on the Beach” at the Miami International Airport.
In the case of “Talisman, A Sacred Grove” on Park Avenue, the talismans are made from paper mache. Since the grove was installed over the Metro-North Railroad tracks, which run under Park Avenue to and from Grand Central Terminal, Oka Doner had to contend with weight limitations. That included using lighter soil and special trees from a nursery on Long Isand.
“We couldn’t measure all the leaves that were going to come so you had to think about these things, and then the platform we built to level it because that part is also not level, there were so many factors and so many different things that went into this,” said Oka Doner.
The grove will be around through November, so it will change with the seasons.
“I hope they evoke the sense of fireflies in the trees and that’s that randomness of nature, and the randomness of how these talisman are hanging, and they are subject to the elements,” said Oka Doner.
Oka Doner says the forest is alive, it’s not inert, and that’s how she likes life.