A Continuous Thread

2012 79th Street (D) New York City Transit

"A Continuous Thread," created by Susanna Starr, was inspired by the lace doily that has particular significance to the predominantly Italian-American community in Bensonhurst. Lace doilies are iconic images of home passed from one generation to the next, connecting the past, present, and future. The colorful laces evoke home and belonging, while referencing traditional handcrafts and cultures in the neighborhood such as Chinese paper cuts and Latin American textiles. Accompanying the artwork is a poem by Susan B. Auld, titled "In the Shadow of the Design," which Starr considers an important element of the artwork.

In the medium of glass, each of the doilies is made up of two identical layers of brightly colored lace pattern, which were then meticulously positioned to reveal one from another. The effect of the layering adds a physical dimension and depth. The layered laces shift and change when seen from different angles, and as the light changes throughout the day. Though the images are based upon vintage lace doilies, the color combinations of the windows are graphic and modern. As a counterbalance to the landscape of the subway platforms, these domestic objects — rendered in large scale but simultaneously intimate — act as visual anchors that hover delicately within the station windscreens, a continuous layering of thread.