Documenting Subway mosaics

Background
In 1988 while studying textiles, I traveled each day by subway from Queens to Parsons School of Design in downtown Manhattan. As the train passed each station, I began to notice its mosaics, and became fascinated with the variety of ceramic murals and plaques. At that time many of the subway stations were badly neglected and years of dirt, water damage and graffiti had taken its toll. I thought someone needed to document these hidden works of art before time got the best of them. Once out of school and out of work, I decided that someone needed to be me.
The January cold chilled my bones. When a train would platform, I'd jump on and off before the doors closed, just to get warm. At one point, a woman stood behind me watching for quite some time. She asked why I was doing this. I told her of my interest in documenting the mosaics and that I was motivated by the word C-A-N. As she walked away, she said, “You know it also says A-N-A-L.”
The Canal Street sign was 8 feet long by 2 feet high. I would return a few more times before the whole sign was completely embossed. Back in my studio I taped the finished sign to a wall and painted it with black dye. The wax crayon resisted the dye and stained the background creating a stained glass-like effect. I was hooked. For the next few years I completed a collection of embossed murals that showed different styles used throughout the decades of subway expansion.
SPRING STREET is ornate with vines and flowers reflecting the Victorian style.
CHRISTOPHER STREET shows the arts and crafts period and
PENN STATION is bold, streamlined and modern.
In 1990 I received a grant from Art Matters, Inc. to photograph the additional mosaics I wanted to record. In 1991, The New York Transit Museum, in Brooklyn, exhibited the murals and photographs in a show called “The Lost Mosaics of New York’s Underground Subways.”
My early interest in these mosaics led me to study the history of the subways and its effect on the expansion of the City of New York. Each station represented a community that grew above ground. To expand my photo collection I also started to document the City’s neighborhoods, capturing what they looked like before the turn of the 21st century.
Through the 1990s I worked as a textile designer in Midtown Manhattan and traveled everywhere with my camera, taking pictures. Just before 2000, I was offered a design position in Chicago and moved away from the city I loved. Unable to continue to photograph New York, I started to collect antique postcards of the city, which made a great comparison to my pictures.
New York, Wish you were here! is my tribute to the city I love.