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Stay safe in the heat: Drink plenty of water, spend time in the shade, and visit the first aid station at Soissons Landing if you feel unwell. Click here for important warm weather visitor information.

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

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.