NEW YORK, NY.- The Art Students League of New York has announced the fourth year of its Model to Monument public sculpture program, and for the first time in the program’s history, all seven selected artists are women. M2M is a partnership with the NYC Parks that trains artists to produce work for public spaces. Each sculptor in the international group created a work to be displayed for a full year in Riverside Park South, and the seven will collaborate on a monumental sculpture to be installed in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The theme for this year’s program is “The Architecture of Nature.” The works will be installed this spring.

The sculptors in the fourth year of the M2M program are Laura Barmack (whose personal sculpture is entitled Just Passing Through), Janet Fekete-Bolton (A Conversation With Nature), Ana Sofìa Martì (Everyday), Lindsay McCosh (Harbor for Industry), Phyllis Sanfiorenzo (Atabey’s Land Haven), Natsuki Takauji (Window), and Minako Yoshino (Lovers). The collaborative sculpture for 2014 is entitled Tree of Life. With the theme “The Architecture of Nature,” the pieces explore the complex relationships and intersections between art, design, and the natural world.

Among this year’s works:

Lindsay McCosh’s Harbor for Industry pays homage to rail workers and the industriousness of the former shipping center where Riverside Park South is located. “My sculpture allows for a place to rest and inspires the curiosity of future generations through movement and technology.”

Natsuki Takauji’s Window incorporates a swing, creating to create a multi-faceted mobile viewing experience that makes viewers more aware of the complex acts of perception they may take for granted. Minako Yoshino’s Lovers honors “the first lovers in Japanese Shinto mythology, Izanagi and Izanami,” who are said to have given birth to the elements in the natural world. Ms. Yoshino would like her piece to become a symbol and meeting place for other lovers in New York City. She is collecting lovers’ messages to place on small stones around her marble piece.

Ana Sofía Martí's Everyday is a colorful canopy incorporating steel pail lids.

Founded in 1875, The Art Students League of New York is one of the oldest and most respected art schools in the United States. Past instructors and students at the League have included such visionaries as Ai Weiwei, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Alexander Calder, and Roy Lichtenstein. League instructor and master sculptor Greg Wyatt (Peace Fountain at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine) will return as the mentor for the participating artists.

Said Art Students League Executive Director, Ira Goldberg, “The League’s Model to Monument program, now celebrating its 4th year, has re-defined the idea of the public square and the relationship between the artist and the community. The results of this program have become a highly anticipated annual event as a regularly changing and evolving series of monumental works are put on display for the public to interact with. The League and the participating artists are proud to partner with New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation and to have the opportunity to show the great impression art continues to make on society and our culture.”