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My flag design was selected to fly at the iconic Rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City in 2023.
When I look down from my window onto the streets of Manhattan, I see colors zooming by on motorbikes, bicycles and scooters, delivering the world’s cuisine. Chinese, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Farm to Table, Mexican, Standard American—to name a few—will grace the desktops in high rise office buildings and the cozy apartment dining room tables at twilight. My flag is a celebration of the diversity and instant access to so many varied dishes and my appreciation to the food delivery cyclists who work so hard to nourish us with fabulous cuisine. Rockefeller Center is symbolized emblematically on the manhole cover along with the globe acting as a dish flanked by a fork and a knife. I hand painted my design with acrylic paint on canvas.
Rockefeller Center in New York City, announced its collaboration with City Harvest, the world’s first and the city’s largest food rescue organization dedicated to feeding New Yorkers in need, for The Flag Project. The Project invited people from across the globe to submit artwork inspired by their most memorable food memories in the city — an unexpected meal at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to an unforgettable Michelin-starred meal at one of the city’s greatest restaurants. The winning images flew around the iconic Rink at Rockefeller Center April 3rd – April 30th 2023.
The Flag Project generated hundreds of incredible responses, garnering creative and inspiring submissions, not just from New York and the U.S., but from across the world.
The Flag Project helped usher in a new era of togetherness and human connection amidst a difficult time. Rockefeller Center was proud to fly these meaningful flags for all to see, in the heart of New York City.
The flags are archived as part of the history of Rockefeller Center.
Limited edition artist’s book, signed and numbered by the artist.
Click here to view excerpts
“…Denise Shaw modestly claims to be seeing “through a Westerner’s Eye,” but the words and images we see here question such distinctions. In reality, this book also tells us, we are all one people.”
–Milo C. Beach, Director (retired), Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C.
“Denise Shaw’s art work provides a hauntingly beautiful complement to the poetry through which her images reflect and interweave, like a half-waking dream.”
–Katherine Mosby, Award winning author of three novels as well as the collection of poetry entitled “The Book of Uncommon Prayer”
With a foreword by Dr. Palitha Kohona,
Sri Lankan Ambassador to The United Nations
Hardcover 62 pages, full color $75.00
To order by mail:
US orders: $75.00 + $6.00 Shipping & Handling
Total $81.00
International orders: $75.00 + $40.00 Shipping & Handling
Total $115.00
Send check or money order payable to:
Denise Shaw
Dog is God spelled backwards. “My copilot”, inspired by our German Shepherd Nick and BARK Magazine’s slogan “Dog is my copilot”. This painted sculpture, auctioned at Sotheby’s, represents a W.W.II fighter pilot wearing a flight jacket with the inscription: “Nick the Search and Rescue Ace.”
“America’s Tribute to Search and Rescue Dogs” is a public art initiative whose goal is to raise much needed financial resources for professional and volunteer Canine Search and Rescue organizations throughout The United States of America,” according to the American Kennel Club. The dog sculptures patrolled the Manhattan’s streets August 2002.

Easter is a time of renewal and rebirth. This is the theme living in the psyches of many New Yorkers in the wake of 9/11. I have drawn a bluebird, which is the New York State bird, hatching from an egg shell. The bluebird carries in its mouth a red rose, which is the New York State flower. It can also symbolize love and paradoxically war.
The bluebird is superimposed against the New York City skyline and the skyline in turn is against the background of the dawning of the sun’s rays. The rays were inspired by the sun on the New York State seal as well as the writing: “Excelsior” meaning “Ever Upward”. The clipper ship is also an element on the New York State seal, perhaps suggesting the early Dutch settlement and commerce.


Dixie-O
Included in the Dixie¨ “Art of the Plate” Exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City, May 1 – June 3, 2003.

Strawberry
Dixie¨ “Art of the Plate” Exhibition
Included in the Dixie¨ “Art of the Plate” Exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City, May 1 – June 3, 2003.

This painted sculpture was famous for its thematically prescient message in the form of a tear rolling down the bovine’s cheek. Inside this tear was painted the Trade Towers, one year before the apocalypse that changed the world. She grazed in the park at Columbus Circle, Manhattan in 2000 and was featured on CNN
Tiger Parade
Tiger Parade is a public art exhibition that places life-sized fiberglass tigers, uniquely designed by host city artists, in the “urban-jungle” of city landscapes for the public to view. As the world’s largest premier public art event featuring tigers, Tiger Parade raises awareness of the species’ endangered status through the universally appreciated medium of art.
Tiger Parade reaches audiences globally, across cultural and lingual barriers, through large-scale public exhibitions displaying the tiger in all its majesty, as a commanding symbol of nature’s beauty and power.
Through generous sponsors, millions are able to view the public art exhibition for free. Proceeds raised from Tiger Parade’s auctions and merchandise sales go to benefit the Global Tiger Fund, which seeks to implement economically sustainable solutions to conserve the tiger’s natural habitat, thereby protecting the biodiversity needed to maintain the species survival.