Spring Migration

by Anna Valdez

Open at all times

See the schedule for island hours.

Anna Valdez​’s Spring Migra­tion (2026) explores the sea­son­al rhythms and tran­sient his­to­ries of Gov­er­nors Island, high­light­ing the endur­ing themes of arrival, depar­ture, and sanc­tu­ary using the sym­bol­ism of migra­to­ry and non-migra­to­ry bird species, cho­sen for their beau­ty, endurance, and envi­ron­men­tal impacts.

The piece is also about tran­si­tion. From the Indige­nous Lenape peo­ple who uti­lized the land sea­son­al­ly to fish and har­vest nuts, to the ear­ly set­tlers and gen­er­a­tions of mil­i­tary per­son­nel sta­tioned on its shores, the Island con­tin­ues to trans­form. Like the birds that vis­it each spring, these inhab­i­tants have become part of the Island’s his­to­ry and lega­cy before mov­ing on. 

Illus­tra­tions of these birds — the non-migra­to­ry Pere­grine Fal­con and the migra­to­ry Bal­ti­more Ori­ole, Orchard Ori­ole, and Mag­no­lia War­bler — are set against dig­i­tal­ly manip­u­lat­ed pho­tographs of Gov­er­nors Island’s land­scapes and botan­i­cal details, invit­ing view­ers both on the fer­ry and across New York Har­bor to prac­tice the act of look­ing close­ly, beck­on­ing them to find the extra­or­di­nary details with­in ephemer­al space.

The Har­bor Charg­er, New York’s first hybrid elec­tric fer­ry, marks a mile­stone this spring with Spring Migra­tion, the first mur­al com­mis­sioned specif­i­cal­ly for a Gov­er­nors Island ferry.

About the Artist

Anna Valdez is a mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary artist who exam­ines the rela­tion­ship between objects, cul­tur­al for­ma­tion, and col­lec­tive con­scious­ness. Cre­at­ing an epic tableaux in her stu­dio, Valdez moves seam­less­ly between still life and land­scape paint­ing as she col­lects objects and makes new ones — throw­ing, fir­ing, and glaz­ing new ceram­ic ves­sels inspired by ideas for paint­ings, new plants or taxi­dermy, recent trips, or works in progress. Tog­gling between col­lec­tion, cre­ation, obser­va­tion, and fic­tion­al­iza­tion, Valdez works with sat­u­rat­ed hues and sur­pris­ing scale shifts to com­mu­ni­cate an abstract tem­po­ral­i­ty. Lay­er­ing the per­son­al with the his­tor­i­cal in dense com­po­si­tions that col­lapse fore­ground and back­ground, Valdez’s com­po­si­tions resem­ble immer­sive installations.

Valdez (b. 1985, Cal­i­for­nia, Unit­ed States) received her BA in Anthro­pol­o­gy and Art from Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Davis in 2009 and her MFA in paint­ing from Boston Uni­ver­si­ty in 2013. Her work has been exhib­it­ed nation­al­ly at venues includ­ing Crys­tal Bridges Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art in Ben­tonville, AR; North Car­oli­na Muse­um of Art in Raleigh, the Con­tem­po­rary Art Muse­um in Raleigh, and Asheville Art Muse­um, in Asheville, NC; NC, New Britain Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art in New Britain, CT; Hashimo­to Con­tem­po­rary in San Fran­cis­co, CA and New York City, NY; David B. Smith Gallery in Den­ver, CO; and OCHI in Sun Val­ley, ID and Los Ange­les, CA. Valdez’s work has been fea­tured in pub­li­ca­tions includ­ing The New York Times, Jux­tapoz Mag­a­zine, New Amer­i­can Paint­ings, Art­sy, and Artillery Mag­a­zine. Her work is includ­ed in var­i­ous pri­vate and pub­lic col­lec­tions includ­ing the, New Britain Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art in New Britain, Con­necti­cut, The Colum­bus Muse­um in Colum­bus, Geor­gia, Amer­i­can Muse­um of Ceram­ic Arts in Pomona, CA, Xiao Muse­um in Chi­na, the Phyl­lis & Ross Escalette Per­ma­nent Col­lec­tion of Art at Chap­man Uni­ver­si­ty in Orange, CA, the Microsoft Art Col­lec­tion in Seat­tle, WA, and Aritzia in Toron­to, Cana­da. Valdez cur­rent­ly lives and works in Los Ange­les, CA and Sacra­men­to, CA.

Web­site: https://​www​.annavaldez​.com/

Insta­gram: @missannavaldez