Today, the Art Students League of New York and the Parks Department are teaming up to unveil eight giant sculptures in Riverside Park, along 59th to 72nd Sts. The project is called "Model to Monument," and a group of sculptors have been working on an intensive nine-month program to create the figures, which range from abstract figures of New York's past to a life-size bronze girl and her dog looking out on the Hudson. Riverside Park "provides the ideal platform to show these powerful examples of public art," said ASL Executive Director Ira Goldberg in a statement. Here's a look at some of the sculptures, which will be up for a year, and how they came to be. more ›

In April of this year Marvin Franklin, a subway track inspector, was struck and killed by a G train. It quickly came to light that Franklin, who had worked underground for 22 years, was also an accomplished artist. He held an arts degree from FIT and dreamed of opening his own gallery one day, giving the proceeds to the homeless (which he once was, and who were frequent subjects in his sketchbooks). more ›

The ProTran1 ProTracker Personal Pocket Device (PPD) Is a handheld R.F. transceiver designed to automatically send and receive digital commands to/from the ProTran1 ProTracker Train Unit. This unit will alert the user by an audible/vibrating alarm to an approaching train.ProTran1 co-developer Peter Bartek told the Post he started work on the Pro-Tracker "after a friend was killed while working on Boston's subway tracks." more ›

Franklin spent more than two decades working among trains and on the tracks where he would eventually die, but his passion was art and he carried a sketchbook with him nearly always. In a poignant intersection of two stories this week, when two homeless men were also killed in one night while in the subway system, the people who lived in the subway were Franklin's frequent subjects. Marvin Franklin was awarded Best in Show for his art work at the 2006 City Workers Invitational, hosted by the 136-year-old Salmagundi Art Club. The honor included a year's membership in the club. The work he entered was a watercolor chosen from his "Homeless Series." Some of Franklin's sketches of the homeless in the subway system can be seen here. One of the last watercolors Franklin completed can be viewed here (scroll down). He held a degree in illustrative arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology and spent many of his off-hours studying and practicing at the Art Students League. The New York Times reported that for his retirement, Franklin's dream was to open a gallery and give the proceeds to the homeless, the people he worked around for 22 years. more ›

Last week, retired NYPD detective Robert Volpe died at age 63 in Staten Island. He was not any ordinary detective: Volpe specialized in art thefts and frauds, tracking down paintings by Matisse and Raphael, Greek sculptures, and Tiffany glass, all while continuing to paint, teach and lecture about art. The NY Times had a vivid obituary of Volpe's life - it sounds just like a movie:

Mr. Volpe essentially created his detective’s job after computer analyses pinpointed art theft as a growing problem. Asked to make a survey, he came back with actual arrests instead of a report — underlining the need for a special effort. more ›