From Riverfront to Uptown, Art Lights the Way in Peekskill

“Peekskill, in a way, is two cities. It’s the city up on the hill and the city down by the river,” says Livia Straus, co-founder of Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art. “That’s something many river cities struggle with. The waterfront draws people in, but how do you get them to come into town?”

For the past seven years, Straus and a coalition of artists, arts organizations and public agencies have been working on an answer. The result is Enlighten Peekskill, a citywide public art initiative that uses illuminated sculptures, colorful arches and murals to connect the waterfront, train station and downtown.

Officially launching during Upstate Art Weekend on June 25, the project is the culmination of years of planning and investment aimed at strengthening Peekskill’s identity as an arts destination and encouraging visitors to explore beyond the riverfront.

Funded through New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, Enlighten Peekskill includes four illuminated sculptures, five gateway arches and 11 mural installations created by dozens of artists. The works are organized into three interconnected projects: The Five Elements Arches near the train station, the Illuminate Peekskill sculpture series and Making Connections, a collection of murals celebrating the city’s history and culture.

The Five Elements Arches

Just outside the Metro-North station, visitors and commuters encounter The Five Elements Arches, a series of colorful artworks mounted on the Route 9 overpass arches at South and Requa streets. Created by artists Christine Knowlton and Candace Winter with the help of Peekskill residents, the works draw on the elements of earth, water, fire, metal and wood.

“We held paper-painting and shape-cutting workshops in schools, libraries, coffeehouses, music festivals and art studios,” says Knowlton. “More than 1,500 hands across our community helped create the pieces used for the mural art.”

Their collaged art boards were then upscaled and fabricated for the arches, ranging from 13 to 21 feet high.

Illuminate Peekskill

The journey continues with a series of illuminated sculptures leading visitors from the train station toward downtown.

The first stop is Open Doors, artist Sandra Muss’s installation of three brightly colored freestanding doors framed in neon light.

“At night, they illuminate the entrance to Peekskill, and during the day, you might see children playing in and out of the doors,” Straus said. “They symbolize an open pathway into the city. That’s what we hope people take away—that Peekskill is a special place, a friendly place, a place with open doors.”

Under the Route 9 overpass on Central Avenue, Luminated Rhythms by artist Shagun Singh pays tribute to Peekskill’s Ecuadorian community—which makes up roughly a third of the city’s population—through illuminated forms inspired by traditional pollera skirts.

“It draws on the colorful skirts worn in traditional Ecuadorian dances, and you can almost feel them flaring outward,” Straus said.

The route continues past David Farquharson’s Pillars of Shared Light, two interactive columns that change color after dark when people pass by. At the top of the hill, Wind Farm—a series of solar-powered pinwheels by Scott Goss—glows at night in changing colors, marking the final stop in the sculpture sequence.

Making Connections

While the sculptures create a physical pathway through the city, Making Connections tells Peekskill’s story through murals spread across downtown.

“We really wanted public art that had some feeling of continuity and real connection to our identity as a city,” says Robin Kline, a Peekskill-based potter and former president of the Peekskill Arts Alliance.

Created by 36 artists across 11 installations, the murals in Making Connections honor abolitionists and the Underground Railroad, celebrate the city’s industrial heritage, highlight musicians and community leaders, and depict everyday life in the city.

Among the largest murals is Above the Fruited Plain by Carol Bouyoucos, a nine-panel digital landscape overlooking the train station parking lot on North Water Street. Other installations include Bob Barthelmes’ Honoring the Public Trust above police headquarters, which depicts the city skyline beneath an eagle with outspread wings. 

At Central Avenue and Washington Street, aerosol artist Lance Johnson’s mural Did You Hear?—created in collaboration with Larry D’Amico and Peekskill teenagers—features text from Tupac Shakur’s poem The Rose That Grew From Concrete alongside vibrant graffiti-inspired artwork. Inspired by the same poem, Promise of a Rose Garden, a sculpture project by Simone Kestelman and Peekskill elementary school students, brings color and life to McGregor Brook Park through four ceramic rose planters. 

Elsewhere in the city, atop the brick building at 201 S. Division Street that houses the popular Bean Runner Café, where jazz musicians regularly perform, Leonardo Moleiro’s The Musical Totems uses bold shapes and colors to celebrate Peekskill’s rich jazz heritage and creative energy.

Together with installations in parks, on buildings and along passageways, the murals create a citywide outdoor gallery.

Welcome, Everyone!

“We are trying to show what our community is about [and] what connects us…to really give people a sense of pride of place,” Kline shares. “We’re a very diverse community and we want people to really see their shared values and their shared history.”

As Peekskill prepares to welcome visitors, Straus hopes they leave with a deeper appreciation for both the city and the creative community that calls it home.

“I think people will come away understanding that Peekskill is a city for the arts. Peekskill is a welcoming city with great energy, great restaurants and a lot of art,” says Straus. “It’s a place where people can come, explore, reflect and connect.”

Then, with a laugh, she adds: “And take good selfies.”

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_{Photos (top to bottom): “Wind Farm,” Scott Goss, 2026 (photo credit: © Joseph Squillante, 2026); ‘Five Elements Arches,’ Christine Knowlton & Candace Winter, 2024 (photo credit: © Christine Knowlton, 2024); ‘Open Doors,’ Sandra Muss, 2024 (photo credit: © Joseph Squillante, 2026); ‘A Day in the Park,’ multiple Peekskill Arts Alliance artists, 2025 (photo credit: © Joseph Squillante, 2026); “Luminated Rhythm,” Shagun Singh, 2026 (photo credit: © Joseph Squillante, 2026)}