Michele Oka Doner Discusses New Public Installation 'Talisman' and Career in Civic Art
Artist Michele Oka Doner, based in New York, is preparing to unveil a new public artwork titled 'Talisman' on the Park Avenue Mall at 66th Street this spring. The installation features 300 illuminated heads arranged to evoke a sacred grove, placed on platforms with trees to meet structural weight limits set by the MTA. Oka Doner, now 80, reflects on her extensive career in public art, which includes a mile-long floor piece at Miami International Airport viewed by over 50 million travelers annually and 'Radiant Site,' a 1991 installation at the Herald Square MTA station that won a national competition in 1987. She attributes her civic engagement to her upbringing in Florida, where her father served as a judge and mayor, and her artistic development to time spent in Detroit after studying at the University of Michigan. Oka Doner emphasizes the importance of handcraft and transcendent ideas in art, advocating for subtle, impactful work that engages communities without aggression.
Key facts
- Michele Oka Doner is unveiling 'Talisman,' a public installation with 300 illuminated heads on Park Avenue Mall at 66th Street in spring 2026.
- The installation must adhere to an 8,000-pound weight limit due to its location over a Metro North tunnel, requiring trees to be placed on platforms.
- Oka Doner's previous public works include 'A Walk on the Beach' at Miami International Airport and 'Radiant Site' at the Herald Square MTA station, completed in 1991.
- She won a national competition for 'Radiant Site' in 1987, early in her time in New York after moving from Detroit.
- Oka Doner credits her civic-minded approach to art to her father's roles as a judge and mayor in Miami Beach, where she was born in 1945.
Entities
Artists
- Michele Oka Doner
Institutions
- MTA
- University of Michigan
- Metropolitan Opera
- Whitney Biennial
- Parks Department
Locations
- New York
- Park Avenue Mall
- Miami
- Detroit
- Florida
- Ibiza
- Syria