Art at Amtrak, a public art program in New York Penn Station, was created by Amtrak as a series of year-round, site-specific, commissioned art works by diverse NY and NJ based artists. 

OHNY Weekend tours will be led by Curator of Art at Amtrak, Debra Simon, and commissioned artists Ghost of a Dream and Dennis RedMoon Darkeem. The artists will discuss their process of creating the original site-specific work, a deeper insight into the work itself, and the importance of what they hope to achieve having their exhibitions in a public space such as Penn Station. 

Exhibited in the Concourse, a location from which one can travel anywhere, Ghost of a Dream's _Aligned by the Sun (Connections) _incorporates video stills of the sunset from 223 nations, and connects these images via the horizon line to create a continuous landscape that completely surrounds the Amtrak departure hall and places viewers metaphorically in the center of the planet.

In the Rotunda, Dennis RedMoon Darkeem has created Patchwork Travelers, which draws colors, patterns, and icons such as totems, earth mounds, and the medicine wheel from his Indigenous and African American dual heritage into an expansive, visually rich work. For Darkeem, the site-specific installation in Penn Station, a place that connects people and places, is an opportunity to honor and share his indigenous traditions with a large and diverse public audience.

Ghost of a Dream  Ghost of a Dream (Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom) make work about people’s hopes and dreams out of the ephemera created trying to attain those aspirations. They have had the honor to receive support from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, NYFA, Joan Mitchell Foundation, Artist Resource Trust, Jerome Foundation and received the first annual Young Masters Art Prize in London. Ghost of a Dream currently has solo exhibitions at the new MAAM museum in Boston, and at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill. Ghost of a Dream’s work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Vogue Magazine, Hyperallergic, BlouinArtinfo, ArtFCity, W Magazine, Interview Magazine, World of Interiors, and the VICE Art Talks series. 

Dennis RedMoon Darkeem  Dennis RedMoon Darkeem is Bronx-born and raised. He is of the Yamassee Creek-Seminole Native American Tribes and of African American descent. Dennis has been an Artist and Art educator for over 20 years working in the DOE, Private and Charter schools in the South Bronx and Harlem. He has been an Artist in Residence at Wave Hill and the Laundromat Project and has exhibited at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Brooklyn Museum, Creative Time and Smack Mellon among many others. Dennis has received fellowships and scholarships from the NYSFA, NYC Teachers Foundation, Surf Point Foundation, Culture Push, BRIO and the Price Waterhouse Fellowship Award. 

Debra Simon, Curator  An award-winning public art curator and producer, Debra has more than 30 years experience curating, commissioning and programming public visual and performing art programming for civic organizations, and the real estate industry. As the Director of Times Square Arts, Debra oversaw Midnight Moment, the world’s largest digital art exhibition on electronic billboards, and the annual Valentine Heart Design Competition among other projects for the over 300,000 daily visitors to Times Square. As Artistic Director at Brookfield Properties, Debra led a national arts program that commissioned and presented over 500 artists annually in New York, Denver, Los Angeles and Houston. She currently is the founder and President of Debra Simon Art Consulting.