Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail

A colony of penguins have shed their tuxedos and descended upon London, calling the Fleet Street Quarter home through January 5th. The “Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail” is made up of  twelve individual penguins decked out in their holiday finest. Each penguin is designed by a different artist in collaboration with Wild in Art and the conservation charity WWF, and the sculptures share interesting facts about our fine feathered friends and the Fleet Street Quarter. Author and stand-up comedian Olaf Falafel provides an audio tour through the parade and visitors can use a map to locate the entire waddling crew. On our recent quest through the neighborhood, we were greeted by penguins Percy, Buddy, Snowy, Santa Paws, Kevin the Kinguin, The Forest at Christmas, and Pullover Penguin.

Holiday Lights

The holiday season is upon us, and with it the annual light displays that have become a favorite tradition are enveloping us. This week we explored light displays across New York and London, enjoying the twinkling lights at some of our favorite destinations. In New York we enjoyed gorgeous displays of hot air balloons and stars at Hudson Yards and Columbus Circle. In London,  we were greeted by the ever gorgeous angel hovering above Regent Street and a light display at The Shard. We hope everyone is able to take a moment and enjoy the magical displays that welcome us all to celebrate the season. Take the advice of the London Underground and care for yourself this holiday season!

Thanksgiving

Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday next Thursday, we took a moment to pause and reflect on the little things we are grateful for this year; moments that you may blink and miss amidst the daily grind that is life. Our perspectives are shaped by diverse experiences, such as the daily commute through Central Park with its beautiful views, childhood friendships, passing a chicken coop on the way to the office, tennis matches, the memory of a community aquarium that once thrived in Bed-Stuy, and sunsets. Always sunsets! We are thankful for these daily joys and look forward to celebrating other small moments together in the year to come.  We will be off next week but wanted to wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Photos: 1. Sunset in New Hampshire, 2. Tennis and Sunsets, 3. Central Park, 4. Childhood Friendship, 5. Bed-Stuy Chicken Coop, 6. Brooklyn Views, 7. Bed-Stuy Aquarium, 8. Jogging Route in Miami

“Secondary Forest” by Giulia Cenci

The High Line is one of our favorite spots in the city, and we are enjoying the last sunny days of fall by exploring the current contemporary art exhibitions on view. The installation “Secondary Forest” by Italian artist Giulia Cenci stands at 24th street, welcoming visitors to investigate the intersection of human forms and organic  elements. The sculptures depict animals, plants, and human appendages created from melted down scrap metal to create a forest that has regenerated after human-caused disturbances, much like the Highline itself. In fact, the artist described how the unique location of the exhibit, which hovers above NYC’s Meatpacking District, where slaughterhouses once stood and chic restaurants and shops now line the streets, influenced her work. As the artist explains, “[T]he High Line is a beautiful work itself; I immediately loved the way nature has been growing and devouring a manmade infrastructure. I started to fantasize about an area where different people, animals, plants, machines, and invisible entities are meeting and crossing.” Cenci’s thought-provoking work will be displayed through March 2025.

“The Little Mermaid” by Edvard Eriksen

When we were in Copenhagen last week for a gathering of the lawyers of the Rome District Chapter, we sought out this diminutive landmark because it reminded us of an immigration debate from many years ago, could Ariel really make the world her oyster?  

Perched atop a rock at the Copenhagen Harbor sits “The Little Mermaid”. Inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a mermaid who gives up everything to fall in love with a prince on land, Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen, known for Carlsberg beer, commissioned Edvard Eriksen to bring  the whimsical princess to life in the form of a statute and gifted it to the city in 1913. According to legend, every morning and every night the mermaid swims from the bottom of the sea to the surface and waits on a rock, hoping to see her prince.  The Danes have proven to have a welcoming spirit to the migrant princess and she has thrived in Denmark for over a hundred years!

Día de los Muertos in Times Square

In the heart of Times Square, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) has unveiled three vibrantly colorful skeleton statutes in celebration of the traditional Día de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead. Celebrated on November 1 and 2 in Mexico, Día de los Muertos celebrates the rich cultural tradition that honors the memory of deceased loved ones and reminds us to appreciate life while we have it.

The installation, which is presented in partnership with the Times Square Alliance, the nonprofit Mi Casa es Puebla, and the Mexican Consulate invites visitors to remember and celebrate the memory of their dearly departed.

Dinosaur by Iván Argote

Not to be outdone by our friend in London, “Dinosaur” has made its debut on The High Line. The 16-foot-tall aluminum pigeon sculpture is the newest High Line installation, surveying the city from 30th street. The name “Dinosaur” serves as a nod to the humble pigeon’s incredible origins, as the common birds descended from dinosaurs.

Artist Iván Argote noted that when developing the piece, he wanted to make something strange, funny, and provoking. With this installation, Argote places the pigeon on a pedestal, the kind of space usually reserved for leaders, heroes, or historical figures, and by doing so pushes New Yorkers to question who and what we commemorate. Pigeons, like many of the city’s residents, migrated here from abroad, and Argote highlights that “even the pigeon, a New York fixture, migrated here and made the city their home.”

A New Friend

Our last Friday Photo series showcased flowers; our new installation puts pigeons at the forefront. We begin with our chubby feathered friend, a grounded fowl who lives in London. This happy pigeon can be found wandering around on foot by Buckingham Palace, as flying is not aerodynamically possible for the little guy. He makes the best of it and enjoys all the snacks the residents share. Stay tuned next week as our pigeons get bigger…

Women’s Book Battles

The New York Historical Society is currently showcasing “Circulating Control: Women's Book Battles, 1880-1930,” which explores the influence of New York City’s first librarians – women. In the late 1870s, women in New York started the New York Free Circulating Library, creating the largest network of literature in the city. By managing and keeping this library system, these women naturally began influencing and mediating the kinds of books New Yorkers had had access to.

In the nineteenth century, Christian reformers targeted these efforts, attempting to censor books and publications they saw as immoral. However, the women who ran these libraries resisted control, and still found ways to circulate literature on controversial topics of the time. The exhibit highlights how censorship often sparks greater public support for the ideas censors seek to suppress, a trend we still see to this day.

Visitors can explore preserved texts, photographs, and relics from New York City’s first librarians through November 30, 2025.

“Graft” by Edra Soto

Welcoming visitors at the Fifth Avenue entrance to Central Park stands a new sculpture, “Graft” by Puerto Rican artist Edra Soto. “Graft” is part of a series of installations by Ms. Soto that brings to life the exploration of the relationship between our private lives and what we choose to share with the world.   The four screens are sculpted out of corten steel and terrazzo, which are inspired by rejas, or iron screens commonly seen outside of homes in Puerto Rico. The rejas replicate geometric patterns that may be traced back to West Africa’s symbol systems known as Yoruba and pay homage to the island’s Black heritage which is often overlooked by Puerto Rico’s Spanish Colonial history and architecture.

Visitors can stand on the outside of the sculpture, peering across towards the park, or on the inside, where they are invited to sit at tables and seating that mirror the welcoming interior of a home in Puerto Rico. By welcoming us inside, Soto invites New Yorkers to connect to Puerto Rico and its communities across the city.