Contemporary Art Underground: MTA Arts & Design New York

Sandra Bloodworth is former Director of MTA Arts & Design, the award-winning public art program that has transformed New York’s century-old transportation network into a first-rate museum. Bloodworth joined the MTA in 1988 and became director in 1996. She shepherded countless works of art installed in subway and rail stations including those by Nick Cave, Elizabeth Murray, Yoko Ono, Jacob Lawrence, Kiki Smith, Firelei Báez, and Alex Katz. Under her leadership, MTA Arts & Design has become a leader in art by creating a collection of nearly 400 public artworks that are beloved by millions. In November, Bloodworth will be awarded the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal from the Municipal Arts Society.

Cheryl Hageman is deputy director of MTA Arts & Design, responsible for commissioning new projects and maintaining the permanent art collection throughout the MTA system. She is co-author of the book Contemporary Art Underground, published by Monacelli Press in April 2024. Cheryl has applied an in-depth knowledge of materials and fabrication to produce and care for award-winning artworks during her two decades as an arts administrator.

Writer, editor, and critic Jessica Holmes’s writing features regularly in BOMB, Hyperallergic, and The Brooklyn Rail, where she also edits the ArTonic column. Other bylines include Vanity Fair Spain, The Magazine Antiques, and The Woman’s Art Journal. Recent exhibition catalogue contributions include Judith Braun: My Pleasure (Opalka Gallery, Russell Sage College), Ellsworth Ausby: Somewhere in Space, Paintings from the 1960s and 1970s (Eric Firestone Gallery) and Markus Linnenbrink: THEREARESPACESTHATBREATHE (Museum of New Art, Portsmouth). Previously she served as Editor-in-Chief of the arts publication Degree Critical. For nearly two decades, she worked for the Calder Foundation, including 6 years as its Deputy Director.