Artist Registries

I just stumbled onto the COAHSI artist registry.

 I remember mumblings at some point that this was happening, but never a followup that it was in place. I know alot of artists who are not listed and should be. Get your info out there. Below I also listed a few other NY registeries.

 http://www.statenislandarts.org/artist-registry

http://registry.whitecolumns.org

http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram















Photo of the remains of "Crystal" Dominic Cloutier's
installation from "Glow" St. George Ball at the S.I. Museum

1001 chairs for Weiwei

 My first expectation of the reenactment of Ai Weiwei’s project Fairytale: 1001 Qing Dynasty Wooden Chairs (call-to-action-1001-chairs-for-ai-weiwei) was that there would be rows of people neatly lined up in a solemn spectacle. I arrived at the scene to find something more like an opening in a gallery with no walls. A bunch of people mingling, many well know artists and critics, some seated, some with signage, next to a group of chanting Chinese activist.

Eventually someone organized the group for a photo op. All people with chairs were requested to line up in rows. And almost as many photographers started snapping. Then it was requested that since the piece was about empty chairs that we leave our chairs and move to the side for that image to be captured. So while not exactly to my original idea, the arts community did end up with an esoteric protest image.

see also- http://bambuser.com/v/1586643

Over the past eight weeks, more than 100 activists in China have disappeared, been detained, or are confined to their homes, including Weiwei's lawyer.  Today's protest was enacted internationally.

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.

Schools on Staten Island dead last funding art classes

Clay masks created by PS 18 students 2001

article in the Staten Island Advance
Schools on Staten Island dead last funding art classes
Published: Sunday, February 27, 2011
By Amy Padnani

I haven't been involved in education for awhile, but as much as I've heard NYC schools in certain neighborhoods have long had a dearth of art education. I taught at S.I. PS 18 in 2001 for the Studio in a School program one day a week and it was the only art education in the school. At the same time my son went to PS3 in the West Village of Manhattan where there was a full time staff art teacher and additionally the parents pooled money to hire ceramics and music teachers. Different priorities for divergent communities.

As an attendee and presenter of arts programming on Staten Island it would be great if more of the non-arts community had an appreciation for what is offered here. It seems most often at events the art community is just working and reaping the benefits for itself. Is that the result of the Staten Island public not getting enough exposure to the arts as youth or just laziness?

The article mentions that some cultural community leaders are now creating the SI Teaching Artist Institute. It doesn't tell you that the artists have to pay to attend. I felt bad for the artists attending this training since Studio in a School pays the artist for their training. And training the artists isn't going to solve the inadequate amount of arts education, parents and school leaders need to fight for curriculum improvement.

Fluxfest buttons by Picasso Gaglione