Noel Hefele

Category: Projects

Daylighting Tibbetts en Plein Air

I recently finished this video overview for my City Artist Corps project from last fall. Take a look below, and you can read the text from the project here
15. 238th Bridge over the Major Deegan

Just a day before embarking on this project, the IDA floods transformed this highway section into a watery expanse, stranding over 80 vehicles in the aftermath. Drawn back to the 238th Street Bridge, I set out to paint from the very spot where I had captured a poignant image on that tumultuous day. At…
14. The 233rd St Bridge

10/28  I painted on the 233rd street bridge. This is a short hop down from the 234th street bridge. I almost painted facing south to get a view of Albany Crescent, but looking toward the sun for the session didn’t seem like a good idea. I set up looking north over the highway with the…
13. The Broadway Drain

I painted the culvert where Hester and Piero’s Mill Pond descends underground into the broadway sewer, spilling approximately 5 million gallons of fresh water a day over the waterfall into the darkness. Earlier this summer, the poignant struggles of ducklings, Canada geese, and a swan cygnet caught in the challenging waters below the falls left…
12. Riverdale Crossing Mall parking lot

I painted in the BJ’s warehouse parking lot, the former site of the Stella D’oro cookie factory. This was another spot I knew of with no fence blocking the view. It’s under a sign for the larger complex, RIVERDALE CROSSING. These type of name choices are funny, solely meant to capitalize on the nearby affluent…
11. 234th st Bridge

Residing atop a hill, each venture out to paint becomes a pilgrimage downhill, a ritualistic merging with the watershed’s embrace. Under autumn’s azure sky, the sun cast an unseasonably warm glow, painting the day with contrasts. I explored a bit looking for where I’d paint, – checking the Bailey playground along the fence line. No good…
10. View from the Target parking lot

I painted from the rooftop parking lot of a Target. Standing atop ‘River Plaza’—once an industrial site transformed into a commercial hub—I reflected on its layers of history and change. The complex was built on the site of a former industrial site with a large warehouse housing New York Presbyterian Hospital medical records from 2002…
9. Siren Slope

I painted at “Siren Slope” – a small, overlooked hillside on the edge of Albany Crescent, next to a fire station. This is an official NYC Park, .28 acres in size, right near entrance and exit ramps for the Deegan. As a community member put it – “I didn’t know that spot had a name…
8. W 230th + Irwin

Initially, digital maps hinted at a car-free Tibbetts Avenue, part of NYC’s open streets initiative. This avenue overlays the original path of the long-buried Tibbetts stream. I headed out intending to paint from the middle of the car free road. I felt the need to go looking for the lost stream to see what I…
7. Hester and Piero’s Mill Pond

Seated on a bench atop the dam in Van Cortlandt Park, I painted the serene Hester and Piero’s Mill Pond, a waterbody recently christened with its new name. This waterbody was created in 1699, when Van Cortlandt had his enslaved people dam Tibbetts Brook in order to power saw and grist mills. Piero was an…
6. Verveelen Place

I positioned my easel on the quaint dead end of Verveelen Place, situated directly across from the proposed Tibbetts Path and adjacent to Albany Crescent. A parking lot for the big box mall with the TJ Maxx was to my right. An unidentifiable parking lot is across the street. There are a handful of unmarked…
5. Below Van Cortlandt Ave South Bridge

In this session, I found myself back at the Van Cortlandt Park South bridge. Yet, unlike before, my vantage point shifted beneath the bridge, immersing me in the pathway carved by IDA’s raging flood waters – the future route of the Daylighted Tibbetts Brook. I’m painting a landscape that is technically fenced off. But there…