Transforming forgotten underpasses in Queens

Underpasses are ugly in-between places, and Queens is full of them, with its crazy quilt of roads ducking under subway lines, train tracks and elevated streets. Now in the Woodhaven and Richmond Hill neighborhoods they’re becoming something more, thanks to a collage artist, a retired city worker and the plucky team of neighbors, college students, firefighters and formerly incarcerated residents they assembled. 

The artist, Jennifer Lambert, and her project partner Neil Giannelli have spent the last year raising funds and organizing efforts to beautify four underpasses with eight paintings through their nonprofit Woodhaven Mural Project. The murals are designed to bring color, a sense of neighborliness and environmental awareness to spaces that people generally travel through without noticing. 

“It’s a breath of fresh air to pass by and see that,” said Gennaro Kravitz, a Woodhaven neighbor who came upon the “Flora and Fauna of Forest Park” mural along Myrtle Avenue while heading to the supermarket. The artwork, which will be unveiled at a party on Dec. 5 at 3 p.m., comes after the project’s second mural, “Trust the Journey in Queens,” debuted last month. The first, “Kids Make the Neighborhood,” was finished last spring. 

The origin story

The Woodhaven Mural Project grew out of an idea that Lambert brought to a block association meeting where neighbors mostly griped about parking. Lambert had stood up. 

“ ‘Can I say something? I want to paint Jamaica Avenue,’ ” she recalls. For a decade, she and her daughter had walked by the underpass at 98-12 Jamaica Ave., where it was sandwiched between a CTown supermarket and the local firehouse. On one side was a mural known locally as the “bulldog” commemorating 9/11 firefighting heroes. The wall opposite was blank. As an artist, she saw it as “a canvas screaming” to be used.

Giannelli was at the meeting, and approached her afterward. While he didn’t consider himself an artist, he had history with another underpass that didn’t pass muster. Years ago, young adults began tagging the walls with pornographic graffiti. Not wanting his children to see it, Giannelli repainted the walls. When taggers returned, he covered their marks. When Lambert shared her idea, Giannelli was ready to bring the same energy to other underpasses. 

Sweat, paint and pork dumplings

The first wall they had in mind eventually became the “Trust the Journey in Queens” mural opposite the bulldog. 

Lambert and Giannelli made the rounds at neighborhood meetings to gather support. They welcomed input for murals, even as it complicated their work. To avoid strife in a politically and religiously mixed community, for instance, they had to steer clear of symbols like rainbows or messages that could be interpreted as partisan.

For “Trust the Journey,” even the symbol of unity they chose as its central image, a depiction of hands, was controversial. “They couldn’t be white, they couldn’t be black,” Giannelli said, shaking his head. “Couldn’t be brown,” Lambert added. “Couldn’t be any color,” Giannelli said. Blue won out.   

They secured a small grant from the Woodhaven Business Improvement District (BID) to cover the project. The nonprofit’s funding limitations kept it a scrappy “bootleg operation,” Giannelli said, adding that the scramble became “really part of the charm.” Neighbors volunteered to paint, lent ladders or brought beer and sandwiches on hot days.

“It’s been a real community effort,” Lambert said. “People are seeing what’s happening and they’re like, ‘Since not everybody can paint, how can we help?’ And it’s not always just cash — it’s a smile.” Or it could be a local shop owner dropping off pork dumplings. Sometimes it’s the fire department at the engine house across from the site, power-washing the wall before the mural is painted.

Flora and fauna

Despite its name, the nonprofit has murals beyond Woodhaven and partners with artists such as Deborah Camp. This collaboration allows them to qualify for grants to beautify spaces including MacDonald Park in Forest Hills. 

“Flora and Fauna” is in Richmond Hill, which shares Forest Park with Woodhaven. The leader on that mural was Heather E. Dunn, an art professor at St. John’s University, which lent support to the project, along with the Forest Park Trust and state Sen. Joseph Addabbo. The project, which features local wildlife, was finished late last month. 

Dunn had framed local wildlife within the wall’s natural architecture, like living pictures of squirrels and raccoons, scarlet tanagers, saw-whet owls and yellow-bellied sapsuckers. 

The mural also nods to sustainability, she said, though more explicit climate messages may have been considered too political for a parks department partnership. Some of the creatures featured, such as the Eastern tiger swallowtail, have faced declining numbers. 

Students, firefighters and workers in transition

Before painting, the canvas had to be prepared. Since there was no electricity or water nearby, the local fire department power-washed the walls. Addabbo, who supports these types of initiatives for his district, connected the mural team with the Center for Employment Opportunities, a nonprofit providing transitional employment for formerly incarcerated New Yorkers. For five days, CEO participants worked alongside Lambert scraping and priming the walls, adding another entry to their resumés in the process.

Dozens of St. John’s University students also helped with research on species, color choices and other design elements. About 20 joined Dunn on-site, learning layering techniques while she handled the more detailed work. Painting at scale came with surprises, too: a few students discovered a fear of heights while climbing ladders. 

Springing for new underpass art

Dunn hopes to extend the project to the overpass, even as the Parks Department nixed her original plan to paint wildflowers there. Students will compile a booklet on Forest Park’s animals, keeping the project alive beyond the painting.

Meanwhile, the Woodhaven Mural Project is also looking ahead to the spring. Giannelli plans to replace his old paint splotches covering graffiti into a new mural, “Wings of Rich Haven,” and to enlist elementary school students to help paint. The duo is exploring other genres, including 3D sculpture, in neighborhood public spaces. “We want the children and community to come out,” Lambert said. For now, they’re focused on raising funds to turn underpasses into loud expressions of community pride — noisy parking complaints and all. 

Join the Woodhaven Mural Project and Heather E. Dunn for the unveiling of “Flora and Fauna of Forest Park” on Dec. 5. Learn more.

Follow the Woodhaven Mural Project on Instagram and Facebook.