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If you’ve wandered around Hudson Square lately and noticed bursts of color blooming at your feet, you’re not imagining things. Twenty hand-painted fiberglass spheres have quietly appeared throughout the neighborhood as part of Walk to the Water 2.0: Hudson Square Storyline, a new public art installation unveiled this week by the Hudson Square Business Improvement District.
Created in collaboration with illustrator and data-visualization designer Jenny Goldstick, the project transforms more than 100 stories collected from locals—residents, office workers and business owners—into swirling, data-driven artworks. Each sphere represents shared experiences and emotions mapped across the community, turning anonymous anecdotes into something tactile and delightfully unexpected.
Placed in sidewalk tree pits, the spheres act as both art and wayfinding: Follow them west from Hudson Street to Spring Street, then north along Washington Street until you reach the Hudson River waterfront. The route mirrors the BID’s ongoing Walk to the Water initiative, launched in 2024 to draw pedestrians toward the neighborhood’s long-overlooked river connection—now easier to reach thanks to the new crossing at Google’s 550 Washington Street campus.
“Hudson Square Storyline introduces a new approach to community public art using data visualization and locals’ stories to celebrate the voices and experiences that make Hudson Square such a vibrant neighborhood,” said Samara Karasyk, president and CEO of the Hudson Square BID, in an official statement. “By listening to these incredible anecdotes, capturing trends and transforming them into colorful illustrations, we are not only pushing the boundaries of public art but also creating new ways for people to discover Hudson Square and its waterfront.”
The installation builds on the success of last year’s Walk to the Water debut, which featured artist Clementine Martinez’s spheres exploring Hudson Square’s 400-year history. Goldstick’s follow-up feels more personal: a collective portrait of the neighborhood’s creativity rendered through color, pattern and movement.
With its cheerful palette and storytelling roots, Hudson Square Storyline turns an ordinary walk into something closer to a neighborhood scavenger hunt, one where every turn and every sphere tells a tiny story of city life.
For a self-guided art walk, start at Hudson and Spring Streets and follow the spheres all the way to the water.