S.I. Museum in the NY Times

Staten Island Museum Breaks Ground on New Home
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/staten-island-museum-to-break-ground-on-new-home

Staring at that image in the NY Times that accompanies the article about the Snug Harbor building renovation.

They managed to get in a bunch of demographics- hipster, old couple, mother and child, tourist.

The grass is green but the trees look more winter time.

And the exhibit banner is for the "Lost Bird Project".

Somewhere else I read that the Mastodon will appear to be breaking through the wall into the gallery space. Interesting visual impact.

Equinox Egg Standing

A bit of Donna Henes "CELESTIALLY AUSPICIOUS" ceremony this evening on Staten Island, as I balanced an egg on it's end at the time of the equinox.

For 18 years, thousands of people participated in Henes annual egg stand ceremonies on the black marble fountain in the plaza of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. I dragged myself out of bed one year and looking back I think about how amazing Henes was to get a bunch of us out of bed so early to stand around in the dark cold morning to look at eggs!

Henes still produces the ceremony in NYC, today it was performed in Brooklyn at Grand Army Plaza, at 7:21pm.

She says "In order to be real, a ritual has to be really done: actually, physically performed by each participant in a personally relevant way."

Not able to join the ceremony in Brooklyn I took the advice that Henes gives on her blog- "Stand an egg wherever you are."

Staten Island Mapmakers

When Debbie Davis map was first published i spent a long time pouring over it, discovering places I didn't know about and places I knew, but never considered their toxicity.

http://www.toxictrailmap.com/

http://photos.silive.com/advance/2011/03/toxic_trail_map.html

Many years ago a car service driver told me a story as we drove through Mariners Harbor of secret dumping of nuclear waste, which I laughed off as an urban myth. Maybe he was right.

Staten Island has several map makers that I know of, maybe there are more too.

Robin Locke Monda has made Staten Island maps full of personality, defining ethnic areas on the island.

Robert McMurray's remind me of to do lists, with annotations and reminders.

Nancy Bonior plays with our abstract man made boundary lines.

Different approaches to get us all to a similar place- defining our place in the world.