Ming Fay Papers
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Abstract
Ming Fay (Chinese: 费明杰, 1943–2025) was a sculptor and art professor born in Shanghai and based in New York City. Fay was widely recognized for his sculptures and large-scale public art installations. His work used the garden as a metaphor for utopia and explored the relationship between humans and nature. In addition to his artistic practice, Fay taught at the Pratt Institute in New York City and William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. The Ming Fay Papers (dated 1965–2014) comprise materials Fay created and collected over the course of his career as both an artist and educator. The collection includes proposals and project files related to both completed and unrealized public artworks; research and subject files; correspondence and administrative paperwork; exhibition announcements, catalogs, posters, and ephemera; publications; sketches on various types of paper; photographs, slides, and negatives; and press clippings.
Biographical Note
Ming Fay (Chinese: 费明杰, 1943–2025) was a sculptor and art professor born in Shanghai and based in New York City. Fay moved to the United States in 1961 to study at Columbus College of Art and Design; received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute; and an MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Fay was widely recognized for his sculptures and large-scale public art installations. His work used the garden as a metaphor for utopia and explored the relationship between humans and nature.
Fay exhibited his works extensively throughout the United States and internationally, and completed numerous public art commissions around the world. Fay's sculptures and installations range from large botanical forms to theatrical garden environments to immersive science fiction–inspired landscapes. His later work focused on the parallels between the symbolic meanings of plants and human desires; and investigated how the natural world reflects aspirations, anxieties, and states of being. Central to his practice was the concept of the garden as a metaphor for abundance, utopia, and humanity's enduring search for an ideal existence.
In addition to his artistic practice, Fay taught at the Pratt Institute in New York City and William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. He was also a visiting professor at the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Arrangement
The collection has been arranged into four series, one of which is arranged into three sub-series.
Series I: Artistic Works
Subseries I.A: Public Art
Subseries I.B: Exhibitions
Subseries I.C: Non Sculpture Artwork and Source Materials
Series II: Teaching, Lectures, and Conferences
Series III: Publications and Writings
Series IV: Administrative Papers
Materials are arranged in alphabetical order by topic within each series and sub-series.
Scope and Contents
The Ming Fay Papers (dated 1965–2014) comprise materials Fay created and collected over the course of his career as both an artist and educator. The collection includes proposals and project files related to both completed and unrealized public artworks; research and subject files; correspondence and administrative paperwork; exhibition announcements, catalogs, and ephemera; publications; sketches on various types of paper; photographs, slides, and negatives; and press clippings.
Series I: Artistic Works documents Ming Fay's conceptual artistic practice, including major public art commissions such as Delancey Orchard and Shad Crossing and Spiral Ears. The series further contains documentation of Fay's works, including original artworks; sketches on various types of paper; conceptual drawings, architectural plans, and project proposals; and exhibition announcements, posters, ephemera, press coverage, photographs, and related promotional materials. Examples of Fay's fruit, nut, and hanging garden sculptures exhibited in solo and group shows are documented extensively in this series.
Series II: Teaching, Lectures, and Conferences centers on Fay's academic career at both William Paterson University and the Pratt Institute, as well as lectures and conferences he attended or presented at. Materials include syllabi, project prompts, reading assignments, lecture notes, memoranda, newsletters, conference programs, and lecture flyers.
Series III: Publications and Writings contains Fay's essays, reviews, manuscripts, published works, notebooks, and sketchbooks; alongside English- and Chinese-language press coverage, interviews, and book excerpts that contextualize his artistic practice and career.
Series IV: Administrative Papers documents the administrative and professional aspects of Fay's work through correspondence; grant and residency records; resumes, biographies and artist statements; address books; loan agreements; budgets; and records related to the destruction of several of his sculptures in a fire at Hunt's Point Sculpture Park in the Bronx.
Subjects
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Ming Fay Papers; MSS 599; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Parker Fay on behalf of Ming Fay in March 2020. The accession number associated with this gift is 2020.024.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Appraisal
During the course of processing in Summer 2026, the following materials were removed from the collection: duplicate materials; tax documents; plant seeds; and English language publications that did not appear to mention Fay, have any personalizations from him, or personalizations for him. These materials were discarded per the donor agreement.
About this Guide
Processing Information
At the time of accessioning, materials were rehoused into smaller archival boxes and folders to prevent heavy boxes. A cross-walk of the original box numbers provided by Parker Fay and the current box numbers in ArchivesSpace is linked to the accession record as an external document.
In Summer 2026, this collection was arranged and described by an archivist. Since most of the materials were already housed in archival-quality folders and boxes, they remained in their current folders and boxes. Original folder titles were retained whenever possible, but new titles were assigned as needed. Oversized materials were rehoused into appropriately sized folders and boxes. Materials stored in binders or plastic sleeves were removed from those enclosures, rehoused into archival folders, and any relevant metadata was retained. After retaining two archival copies, duplicate materials were discarded in accordance with the donor agreement. Loose photographs and negatives were rehoused into archival photo sleeves; and slides were placed in stable archival enclosures. Any associated metadata was retained.
A selection of collaged art proposals and a rolled poster was stabilized and rehoused by New York University's Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department.
New York University Libraries follows professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity of the content. During processing, one optical disc was forensically imaged, analyzed, and arranged using Forensics Toolkit. The electronic records were intellectually incorporated into the finding aid.
