Purchase College - SUNY Students Create Art for Vacant White Plains Storefronts

Purchase College - SUNY design students are partnering with the White Plains Business Improvement District (BID) to launch a new, innovative project called “Art in Vacant Spaces.”

The project lets students create works of art to fill the windows of storefronts of vacant buildings in the downtown area. Representatives of the White Plains BID, who were concerned about the appearance of vacant storefronts, approached Purchase College’s School of the Arts Dean Ravi S. Rajan who suggested the senior level undergraduate students in Professor Warren Lehrer’s Community Design class. The students have done pro-bono projects for non-profit organizations and the Purchase College community in the past.

“To be successful, the project had to be something more than co-locating student work into vacant spaces,” said Rajan in a statement. “The solution had to include all involved: the community in White Plains, the BID and businesses downtown, and the students and faculty of the College. This kind of collaborative work is core to our mission at the College.”

Professor Lehrer came up with the plan to populate the storefronts with visual poetry. The School of the Arts hired poet Judith Sloan to research and interview people in White Plains and write site-specific poems for the project that would represent the feelings and experience of working and/or living in White Plains and would leave room for evocative interpretations by student designers. The students then visualized the poems via design, typography, color, shape, and image. The result is nine works throughout the downtown area that focus on infusing hope and expressing the energy and spirit of the city, its residents, and its work force.

The work will be installed in mid-to-late December in time for the Christmas shopping rush. Sites include storefronts on Court Street, Martine Avenue, East Post Road, Mamaroneck Avenue, and Main Street that formerly held restaurants such as Legal Seafood, Applebees, and Atlanta Bread, as well as shops. The art will be on view for approximately three months, or until the individual stores are rented. For more information, visit www.wpbid.com.

White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said, “Art connects us with each other and with the world. It broadens our experience and understanding. Contact with art is an important personal and societal experience. These installations will bring the thousands of people who come into the White Plains downtown each day into direct contact with art in places where you wouldn’t necessarily expect to encounter it. We welcome this creative use of space in our downtown and the added vibrancy it brings to our city. We are grateful to Purchase College, with which we already have a good relationship, for helping to make this happen and look forward to continuing to work with them.”

Brittany Brandwein, Director of Events and Business Promotions at the White Plains BID, said, “Our mission at the White Plains BID is to provide supplemental services to the City to enhance the economic, cultural, and social landscape of the core downtown of White Plains. We’re grateful to Purchase College’s Community Design students for helping us create something nice to give back to the community this holiday season. We hope to continue this project and partnership in the future.”

Warren Lehrer said, “At the heart of Community Design is the opportunity to serve the public, while providing students with challenging professional experiences. We’re honored that the White Plains BID trusted our students with this important project.”

Student designers include William Pineda, Courtney Brown, Alexa Dragonetti, Erica Zhang, Tessa Goode, Elise Assenza, and Emily Richard. Images, text of the poems, specific addresses and interviews with Professor Lehrer, Judith Sloan, and/or any of the students are available upon request.

The White Plains BID is appreciative to the City of White Plains for their support, PIP Printing and Marketing Services and to local property owners Kite Realty, Minskoff Grant Realty and Management Corp. and Silverman Realty Group, Inc. for graciously offering their vacant storefronts as they secure leases for the spaces.

Photo credit: Kevin Nunn