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Artists Discuss Their Work At Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, 'The High Line Of The Hudson Valley'

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - They're calling it "the High Line of the Hudson Valley."

An open-air art walk is part of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.

More than 100 artists competed for a commission. On Monday, the ten winners talked about their vision and inspiration.

As CBS2's Tony Aiello reports, the art ranges from a simple bicycle rack to a monumental 4,000 square foot mural.

The pandemic has closed museums, so the timing couldn't be better for access to the public art installed along the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge path.

"More and more it's important for the arts to be outdoors, in your face, all over," said Janet Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester.

Arts councils in Westchester and Rockland worked with the Thruway Authority to include public art in the bridge budget.

Christopher Flick is an MTA welder by day and an artist by night. His bike rack, called "Converging Vistas," evokes both the Palisades and the New York City skyline.

"So the idea is that when you come over the bridge, there's two vistas," he told CBS2's Tony Aiello.

Brooklyn artist and architect Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong used steel from the old Tappan Zee Bridge for her work, called "Current."

"Currents of the Hudson River, currents of light, currents of time. In my work I'm interested in exploring how people share space together and experience space together," she said.

Queens artist Ilan Averbuch created a tribute to the Lenape Native Americans. Abstract figures carry a canoe made not of wood, but of stone.

"It's petrified, has already a feeling of something petrified, that belongs to the past. It's a relic of the past," Averbuch said.

Another tribute to the indigenous people is hidden in a massive mural entitled "The Flux Of Being." Amidst all the wildlife, there is a single human figure, Chief Clara Soaring Hawk of the Ramapough-Lenape tribe. Artist Chris Soria loves that families are playing "I Spy" when they visit.

"Take a little bit of time to look through, and find a squirrel, find a spider, find an eagle," Soria said.

The soaring structure is further elevated with art.

The budget for the artwork was several hundred thousand dollars, a tiny percentage of the bridge's $4 billion pricetag.

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