Blog

Shantell Mar­tin Expands Art­work on Gov­er­nors Island With ​‘The May Room’

Aug 29, 2019 2:10 pm

August 29, 2019. The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced a new work as part of Shantell Mar­tin on Gov­er­nors Island, a pub­lic art com­mis­sion for the Island’s 2019 sea­son. Open­ing the doors to Church, Martin’s work that enlivens the exte­ri­or of the for­mer mil­i­tary chapel Our Lady Star of the Sea, The May Room will trans­form its inte­ri­or into an immer­sive, intro­spec­tive envi­ron­ment. Wel­com­ing the pub­lic inside the build­ing for the first time in 20 years, The May Room will trans­form the space into a site for gath­er­ing, reflec­tion and per­for­mance. Mar­tin will use the floors and walls as a can­vas for her sig­na­ture line draw­ings and will install cus­tom-built fur­ni­ture of her own design. Open­ing to the pub­lic on Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 8 at 11AM, The May Room will be open week­ends through the end of the Island’s sea­son and will also host free pub­lic pro­grams includ­ing a series of read­ings pre­sent­ed by the Poet­ry Soci­ety of Amer­i­ca, fea­tur­ing poets from nation­al orga­ni­za­tions Kundi­man and CantoMundo.

The May Room is the lat­est in a series of instal­la­tions as part of Shantell Mar­tin on Gov­er­nors Island, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s 2019 Pub­lic Art Com­mis­sion. Church, which opened in June and The May Room, open­ing Sep­tem­ber 8, will remain on view for the rest of Gov­er­nors Island’s pub­lic sea­son, through Octo­ber 31.

“We’re thrilled to expand our 2019 com­mis­sion with Shantell Martin’s lat­est work, The May Room,” said Clare New­man, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO. ​“Each sea­son Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors are delight­ed by pub­lic art that enlivens the his­toric dis­trict and park. Martin’s work is just the lat­est in our grow­ing com­mit­ment to pro­vid­ing high-qual­i­ty, free pub­lic art and cul­tur­al pro­grams that New York­ers will enjoy each sea­son for years to come.”

“Shantell Martin’s mon­u­men­tal work Church has become a bea­con in the land­scape of Gov­er­nors Island. We are now thrilled to open the doors of this struc­ture to reveal The May Room, an immer­sive, med­i­ta­tive and dynam­ic space that sur­rounds vis­i­tors with the free-flow­ing draw­ings of Shantell Mar­tin,” said Mered­ith John­son, VP of Art and Cul­ture at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“By tak­ing this once-aban­doned, for­mer place of wor­ship and reopen­ing it to the pub­lic for self-reflec­tion and the col­lec­tive shar­ing of ideas, Mar­tin adds to the cul­tur­al lega­cy of the Island through images, lan­guage and performance.”

With The May Room, Shantell Mar­tin will cre­ate a labyrinthine instal­la­tion span­ning the floors and walls of the build­ing that will act as a place of both qui­et reprieve and shared dis­cus­sion. To expand on her mon­u­men­tal work Church, which trans­formed the façade of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Mar­tin now reimag­ines the inte­ri­or of this for­mer chapel built in 1942 with her sig­na­ture black-and-white line draw­ings. Cus­tom-built fur­ni­ture in the shape of let­ters that can be arranged to spell out words will dot the floor of the space, allow­ing vis­i­tors to move and inter­act with the work. The building’s nave, which has been closed to the pub­lic since 1996, will be restored as part of Martin’s project. 

The May Room will open to the pub­lic on Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 8. Through­out the remain­der of the sea­son, the inte­ri­or work will be on view Sat­ur­days and Sun­days from 11AM-5PM through Octo­ber 27. Church, Martin’s draw­ing on the exte­ri­or of the build­ing, will remain on view dai­ly through Octo­ber 31.

In addi­tion to reg­u­lar open hours for vis­i­tors to explore the instal­la­tion, The May Room will host a series of poet­ry read­ings pre­sent­ed by the Poet­ry Soci­ety of Amer­i­ca in part­ner­ship with nation­al poet­ry orga­ni­za­tions includ­ing Kundi­man and Can­to­Mun­do. These free events will respond to the spir­it of Shantell Martin’s work and the archi­tec­ture and set­ting it exists within.

Sched­ule of Poet­ry Soci­ety of Amer­i­ca read­ings and part­ner organizations:

Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 14: Can­to­Mun­do
Can­to­Mun­do is a nation­al poet­ry work­shop ded­i­cat­ed to sup­port­ing and devel­op­ing Lat­inx poets and poetry.

Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 28: Kundi­man
Kundi­man cre­ates an affirm­ing and rig­or­ous space where Asian Amer­i­can writ­ers can explore, through art, the unique chal­lenges that face the new and ever chang­ing diaspora.

Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 5: Puer­to Rico en mi corazón
This read­ing cel­e­brates the pub­li­ca­tion of Puer­to Rico en mi corazón, a bilin­gual anthol­o­gy of 40 Puer­to Rican poets in response to Hur­ri­cane Maria.

“The Poet­ry Soci­ety of Amer­i­ca is thrilled to be work­ing with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island to orga­nize poet­ry read­ings with­in Shantell Martin’s instal­la­tion,” said Brett Fletch­er Lau­r­er, Poet­ry Soci­ety of Amer­i­ca Deputy Direc­tor. ​“It makes per­fect sense for this space, which was designed for con­tem­pla­tion and trans­formed by Martin’s med­i­ta­tive work, to be filled with poetry.”

Shantell Martin’s draw­ings inter­ro­gate the role of artist and view­er. With a med­i­ta­tive process, her com­po­si­tions embody her inter­nal state and the imper­ma­nence of the world around her. Explor­ing themes such as inter­sec­tion­al­i­ty, iden­ti­ty and play, Mar­tin is a cul­tur­al facil­i­ta­tor, forg­ing new con­nec­tions between fine art, edu­ca­tion, design, phi­los­o­phy and tech­nol­o­gy. Lon­don born and New York-based, Mar­tin teach­es as an adjunct pro­fes­sor at NYU Tisch ITP and was an MIT Media Lab Vis­it­ing Schol­ar. Martin’s body of work includes solo shows at the New York City Bal­let, the 92Y Gallery, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and MoCADA.

Built in 1942, Our Lady Star of the Sea orig­i­nal­ly opened as a Catholic chapel dur­ing the Sec­ond World War and remained in use until 1996 when the U.S. Coast Guard ceased oper­a­tions on Gov­er­nors Island. Decon­se­crat­ed for over 20 years, the for­mer chapel is one of the few non-land­marked build­ings locat­ed with­in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric Dis­trict. Martin’s project brings new life and vis­i­bil­i­ty to the for­mer chapel for the first time in years.

Gen­er­ous sup­port for Shantell Mar­tin on Gov­er­nors Island is pro­vid­ed by Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, The O’Grady Foun­da­tion and Face­book Art Depart­ment. Addi­tion­al sup­port is pro­vid­ed by Pull­man, Sher­win-Williams and Krink.

Fol­low Shantell Mar­tin on Insta­gram and Twit­ter at @shantell_martin.