Crown

The fiber artist Xenobia Bailey describes her aesthetic as “Funktional Design,” and crowns like this are perhaps her best-known creation. Trained in ethnomusicology and industrial design, and a longtime researcher at the Schomburg Center, she first learned to crochet in the 1970s. She began by making crowns and mandala-like designs (geometric motifs symbolic of the universe), then expanded to large-scale installations made with recycled materials. Her Funktional Vibrations is one of the largest commissioned works in New York City’s MTA transit network. To see it, take the westbound 7 train (just outside the Library on 42nd Street) to the 34 St–Hudson Yards station. Bailey’s colorful glass mosaic mandalas—which began as crocheted pieces—decorate the ceiling of the station’s main entrance.