Lower East Side Murals – 8/26 p2

 

I had so many nice shots from my visit to the Lower East Side that a second blog was called for.

I also have some intelligence to share.

Apparently, there is a program called “100 Gates Project.”

It pairs street artists with business owners.

So that answers that question. 😉

Freeman Alley is an Instagram favorite, but frankly, I think it’s over-rated and a bit of a mess.

And it turns out that the strip of land abutting Houston Street is part of the First Street Green Cultural Park. 

 It’s a private/public alliance like Central Park,

so it has a Board of Directors who probably selects the artists.

https://www.firststreetgreen.org/about

But it’s pretty clear that murals have become a neighborhood thing.

Here are the previous blogs from the Lower East Side…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2026/09/les-murals-august-2026.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/09/les-murals.html

And a couple of others featuring street art…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2017/12/crocheted-trees-in-greenwich-village.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2015/12/hudson-yards-subway-station.html

Enjoy!

PJ

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

LES murals: August 2026

 

Last year I made my first visit to the murals of the Lower East Side.

I enjoyed it so much,

I decided to make it a yearly event.

When my nephew Steve visited for the Knick’s parade,

there was lots of Knick’s themed art. 

 Now, only a few murals remain.

That makes me wonder how often the art changes.

Not to mention who decides which artists

 get to display their work on East Houston Street.

It seems like a prime location to me. 😊

Here are some pics from last year’s display…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/09/les-murals.html

 

And here are two blogs from the Seward Johnson display in 2015…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2015/06/seward-johnson-sculptures-part-1.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2015/07/seward-johnson-sculptures-part-2.html

 

Cheers!

PJ

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

Thanks Gloria.

On September 2^nd Ms. Gloria Steinem died.  She was 92 years old.

I went to her home, now the site of her foundation on 73^rd Street, to remember her.

While I was there a young man stopped to ask who she was.

I told him that she was a founder of the woman’s liberation movement, a feminist icon, and my hero. 

She is the reason, that I was able to have the life that I did.

In the 90’s, recognizing that women were now present in greater numbers in workplaces, a study was done to determine how businesses had adapted to their presence.

What they found was that businesses had not changed at all.

What had changed was that women now believed that they belonged there.

Gloria did that.

Still got work to do.

“The Truth Shall Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off!”

 

Ciao

PJ

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

Illuminated Limerick

 

This piece in the Illuminated Ireland embroidery series features King John’s Castle in Limerick.

I combined two vertical photos for the background.

Then added the letter “J.”

Here’s the composite which I printed on linen.

And the final version again.

Here are some other embroideries…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2011/12/pink-hibiscus.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2015/07/embroidery-venetian-alley.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2024/03/embroidery-empire-state-building.html

Cheers!

PJ

© 2026 PJ Lehrer