A Brooklyn-based artist has created a vibrant mural for an affordable housing residence near JFK Airport.
Muralist Danielle Mastrion painted a massive 13-story mural flanking the front-facing sides of the soon-to-open Baisely Pond Park Residences, the city’s first hotel-to-affordable-housing conversion.
Mastrion began the mural in June and completed it on July 1. It is now visible from the Belt Parkway and in flight paths out of JFK. The project is produced by the NYC nonprofit ArtBridge, which specializes in transforming underused spaces and active construction sites into public art.
“At ArtBridge, we believe public art should emerge from the neighborhoods it lives in,” said Jon Souza, program director at ArtBridge. “This mural reflects that ideal — it was shaped by local voices and inspired by the textures of everyday life in Queens. Projects like this one remind us that art in public space can do more than beautify — it can listen, honor, and reflect.”
Mastrion has transformed the former Hilton hotel into a vibrant tribute to Queens, featuring smiling youngsters, flowers, and butterflies symbolizing growth and transformation. In a personalized touch, she paid homage to her friends Nicole Lytle and Giannina Gutierrez, who are lifelong Queens residents.
She worked with a team of assistant artists, Outer Source, Vince Ballentine, and Anthony Carter to transform the facade using latex paint and spray paint donated by Sherwin-Williams.
Mastrion has been a muralist since 2012, and said the project was her tallest mural to date. She took a unique approach to the project, using a Meta Quest 3 VR headset to map her renderings and paint each section.
Originally, Mastrion was going to use a projector, but the sheer size of the piece forced her to think outside the box.
“I bought the headset on a Sunday afternoon. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and tried it out at home Sunday night, and then by Monday morning, I was up testing out and using the headset,” she said.
A month before she began the project, Mastrion had created a mural for a local elementary school close to the site and took inspiration from students as to what should be represented.
“ They were just saying we’re really proud that we’re right next to JFK,” she said. “I remember with that project, all the little kids were drawing airplanes. So in my head I was like, a little kid has to have something with an airplane in this.”
In paying homage to the students, Mastrion had included a young boy, around the same age as the students, who was smiling towards JFK airport while he held an airplane.
“ I also was thinking it would be really cool if these little kids grow up to be pilots or travel, that’s just my idea behind that portion of the mural,” she said.
While working on the mural, Mastrion said she understood the significance of authentically representing the soul of southeast Queens and the whole borough.
“ Everyone across New York City is going to see this mural, and people from other countries, so I wanted it to speak to Queens, but I also wanted it to be just like a big, welcome to New York City piece,” she said.
Other parts of the piece, with many “Easter eggs” on display, also paid homage to southeast Queen’s hip-hop culture.
One of Mastrion’s subjects is an ethnically ambiguous young girl representing the multi ethnic neighborhoods surrounding the area.
“ She has a big crown, and it just says Queens. But then, she’s also wearing heavy gold rope chains. That was supposed to reference the hip-hop influence that came from Queens and Jamaica, Queens,” she said. “The little boy on the other side, his shirt says NYC, but it’s in the Run DMC font.”
The mural also references the Knicks and Mets by using the iconic blue and orange colors associated with the respective teams.
Mastrion said she chose to feature her close friends on each of the walls to highlight their contributions to Queens as hometown heroes. Gutierrez, whose portrait is on the left wall with the young boy, hails from Jamaica, while Lytle, who is pictured on the right with the young girl, is from Kew Gardens.
“ I was like, who am I gonna put on this wall? I wanted to put two native Queens girls who I actually know who are working artists. Nicole is a mother, a teacher, and an educator. [Gutierrez] is a curator, and all of their roots are from Queens,” she said.
Mastrion said she spoke to her friends about their childhood memories associated with the borough, which inspired her to add in other details, such as “The Ave” sign, which pays tribute to Jamaica Avenue, the F, and E train line, and large bamboo gold earrings with “Queens” embroidered on the design.
“That’s one of the things where like every New York City girl has a pair of those [earrings],” Mastrion said.
Another detail is the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Unisphere depicted on the gold chain worn by the young girl.
“That’s such a major landmark for Queens; people come from all over the world to see that,” she said.
Mastrion said the mural was meaningful to her, as she knew her work would be on the facade of a building providing affordable housing to formerly unhoused individuals.
“ I think that’s incredible for people to have the opportunity to live in a space like that,” she said. “ I think that’s why I wanted the murals to just be very hopeful. Everyone in the mural is actually looking up. It’s supposed to just make you feel hope, proud, strong [and] beautiful,” she said.
As a muralist, Mastrion believes the Baisley Pond Park Residencies is one of her most significant projects.
“ It’s one of the tallest murals in all of New York City. As a muralist … it’s a huge accomplishment. It made me feel very proud. I’ve been working in New York City for the last 13 years. I’ve painted in every borough, I’ve painted in mostly every neighborhood, and it kind of made me feel like this was the culmination of all those years of hard work,” she said.
