Avenue U Artwork Honored as Best in US

A ceramic flower design that is a part of Middlebrook's award winning piece, Brooklyn Seeds

Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Rob Wilson

NEW YORK CITY — A new art installation at the Avenue U subway station in Sheepshead Bay was named one of the best public artworks in the United States, the MTA announced Monday.

Brooklyn Seeds, created by Jason Middlebrook in 2011, is a giant mosaic of flowers that climbs up the wall of the subway station.

It was awarded the stop spot at the 2012 Americans for the Arts Convention held in San Antonio last month, the MTA said.

To see the piece up-close, take the Q train to Avenue U, and view the southbound stairwall leading from the street-level of the platform.

The artwork was commisioned by MTA Arts for Transit as a part of the rehabilitation of several trains on the Brighton Line, the MTA reported.

It was created using vibrant glass and ceramic tile by Miotto Mosaic Art Studio.

The plants in the piece are based on wildflowers that grow in urban neighborhoods, often found in unlikely places like cracks in the sidewalks, in alleys an along walls, the MTA said.

Middlebrook's art often deals with the beauty of where nature and the city intersect, according to the MTA press release. His public art work has appeared in the U.S., Central America and Europe.

The agency said Middlebrook tends to use different kinds of media in his pieces such as his recent work which consists of acrylic on wood planks, symbolizing the bridge between nature and culture.