The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art’s Public Tile Project will incorporate individual tiles/artworks created by Peekskill students as well as students from school districts along the Hudson River.  The project will involve students from grade 5 and up.  Districts that have, to date, voiced an interest in the project are:

The program is being coordinated by HVCCA and spearheaded by Peekskill based artists/sculptors Jo-Ann Brody and Sarah Haviland with collaboration and assistance being offered by regional artists. 

The tiles will be sited in Peekskill, NY marking a two-mile path: delineating the art/historic trail through the city and ending at the HVCCA.  The tiles will be embedded onto concrete footings along the borders of the sidewalks of Peekskill, at intervals of 20 feet, originating from the Train Station, following Water Street, up Central Avenue, left on North Division Street, right onto Main Street and to the HVCCA.  They will mark part of the art/historic trail identified by the works of the local, national and international artists of the three Peekskill Projects.  It takes advantage of the sidewalk paths and gives a view of the Franciscan Convent, Riverbend, Riverfront Park, McGregory Brook, the Artist Lofts, rejuvenated Division Street and Doctors’ Row.  250 tiles with student art works alternating with 250 tiles embedded with delft patterned shards will act as enduring symbols of history, cooperation, innovation and civic respect.

The project will foster viable and non-threatening means to unite all segments of the city and the geographic region as a result of the project's engagement of a varied ethnic, cultural, social and political mix of artists, students and audiences.  Each student will be encouraged to design a tile reflecting his/her own artistic, cultural, geographic, social and political heritage and connect that heritage to the history of the area. 

Peekskill has been home to many immigrant groups, from the early settlements of the Dutch along the Hudson Valley, to the Jewish migration at the turn of the last century, as a haven for African-Americans escaping slavery in the South, to the current diverse Hispanic population.  Its history, as those of its neighboring towns, encompasses the battles of the Revolutionary War, its service as a port during WWI, the growth of heavy industry and its ongoing demise with the movement to environmental consciousness, the innovation of nuclear power plants, and more.  Politically it has been witness to the effects of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the social upheavals of the 60’s and socialist movements. Architecturally Peekskill, as well as other sites in the Hudson Valley boast exquisite houses of worship, castles, painted ladies, monasteries, convents and fortresses.   

In more recent history, Peekskill has officially been designated an artist district.  In an attempt to bring the city out of an economic depression, and following the lead of Soho in Manhattan as well as other cities that have revived through the arts, Peekskill encouraged artists to move to the area.  That move has helped to beautify the city.  Artists have restored many of the Victorian homes that dotted the community and became active in the BID, situating flower plantings throughout the city and opening over 200 studios, galleries and boutiques.   In 2004, The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, a not-for-profit museum, opened its doors to the public and has been host to global exhibitions that have brought international attention to Peekskill.

The Public Tile Project will have an academic component, with students assigned various aspects of the history and the narratives of their Cities and of the Hudson Valley region.  Based on their readings they will be asked to creatively portray the know ledge that they have gained.  Their art may take the form of paintings, maps, poetry, narratives, etc.  To create uniformity all student tiles will measure 8 x 10 and be of an off-white cast.  They will alternate with concrete footings embedded with shards from delft-patterned tableware.  In other words, every 40 feet will be a student tile, and every 40 feet a shard-embedded footing.  This pattern will be reflective of the rich Dutch history of the area and will be a harbinger for the Quadracentennial celebration of 2009, marking the 500th anniversary of the settlement of the Dutch along the Hudson River.  The art will thus be brought directly into the public sphere through these installations as well as ‘virtually’ through the HVCCA’s web site where it can impact the public and their concerns at no cost to them and thus enable all people, of all income levels, to benefit from the project.

Education Program

Educational programming will be integrated into the entirety of the project around a curriculum that will:

1. Involve artists and students in creating art works expressive of their aspirations and, through discussions, create a lively exchange of the ideas surrounding them. Issues to be addressed in the classrooms include the examination of how images reflect their social, political, cultural and geographic context; how that context is part of a wider matrix of social, cultural and geographic globalization; and how both contexts - regional and global—can support a socially just and diverse population. Building this pathway of cultural tiles and ceramic mosaics is in itself a metaphor for the multicultural community of the Peekskill region and the cooperation of Hudson River and Hudson Valley towns in celebrating their history.

2. The sequencing of images in the student tiles carries the rich potential for narrative and story telling, creative writing and a deeper and more humanized understanding of history.
3. Provide related global educational programs, talks and panel discussions that promote multi-cultural understanding.  Additionally both the tiles and the artists' can support cross-curriculum studies, including those relating cultural, historical, political, geographic, social and ethnic heritages; and, thus encourage a new generation of multicultural citizens.

4. Teach visual literacy by using the tiles and the tile installations as examples of how images convey ideas. As our world becomes increasingly flooded with images, visual literacy can be as important as the ability to read. Both are necessary tools in today's globalized society.

5. Train students in the basics of visual expression, teach them how those expressions form the basic principles of design and the design process, and introduce them to the terminology and concepts that underlie all the visual arts, which in many ways form the basis for the design of all physical objects. Along with learning various skills, the ability to think both critically and visually and how to work with different media, the students will also consider how the arts grow out of and respond to particular cultural contexts and ideas. They also will learn how those thinking patterns can be used in virtually all types of design, in all types of disciplines.

Livia Selmanowitz Straus, Ph.D
President: Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art
Peekskill, NY 10566