4316 Water Colors

Mark Malmgren

December 20, 2001
Lower Manhattan
Image Courtesy of Mark Malmgren

Creative Time, with the assistance of The Downtown Alliance, distributed over 4,000 handmade watercolors to workers and residents in Lower Manhattan. The paintings, made by Mark Malmgren of Clemson, South Carolina, in honor of those missing since the 9.11 tragedies, were gifts to the Downtown community distributed for free in the spirit of healing after September 11th.

"These are unusual times," Mr. Malmgren said, "and we are all searching for a way to use our talents and energy to help. This is simply my way of doing that. This is my gift to a city and people that have given me so much."

Beginning on September 15th, Malmgren began painting watercolors at a rate of 75 a day in an effort to counterbalance the destruction of 9.11with creativity. The paintings were mostly of flowers in pots or freestanding and delicate greenery, sparsely wrought in black pen and dappled with watercolors. Numbered, signed, and dated, the 4000+ unique paintings were simple but serene. Mr. Malmgren found Creative Time when he drove a selection of the watercolors to New York City, where his daughter lives. Seeking assistance in distributing his paintings to New Yorkers, Mr. Malmgren contacted Creative Time. Creative Time was eager to embrace this profound gesture by distributing Mr. Malmgren's paintings to the Downtown community in hope that the humanity and kinship in giving these paintings would promote healing and remind us all of the importance of simple, creative, and selfless gestures.

Creative Time, in partnership with the Downtown Alliance, distributed the paintings on Thursday, December 20 to sites in Lower Manhattan such as police precincts, fire houses, office buildings, public schools, toy drives, City Hall, hospitals, and subway stops.