Arts for Transit and Urban Design

Allerton Avenue

Michele Brody

Allerton Mandalas, 2006

Faceted glass in platform windscreens

The abstract patterns seen in Michele Brody's faceted glass art are based on subway lines that run from the Bronx through Manhattan to Brooklyn, as represented graphically on the MTA subway map. In the first stage of the work, Brody extracted the red and green lines and transformed them through a process of extrapolating, twisting, turning, and layering them. The final product, in faceted-glass, captivates the viewer's attention with interlocking streams of colors. Fabricated into 20 panels and placed on the subway platform for viewing from inside as well as outside the station, the work is full of movement that reflects the motion of a subway train.