Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1761)
Tsipi Ben-Haim
City Arts, New York, NY
(Phone: 212/966-0377)
RELEASE: 00-142
More than 130 New York City youths had the opportunity to
describe what it would be like to live on Mars, but not with
words. These students used their imaginations and a paint brush.
They created a 7,000 square foot mural completed at the end of
July that is one of the largest in New York City and is on the
Bronx Community Elementary 64 building that faces the school yard.
Students and community members painted the space scenes under the
direction of artists Nicholas A. Enright and Nils Folke Anderson
of Big Hands, a Bronx-based artist collaborative. Although NASA
provided visual information to help spark the students’
imaginations, the children relied mostly on their own creativity
to interpret space exploration, past and present, with a focus on
Mars.
This permanent outdoor mural is partially funded by the NASA Art
Program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The mural’s
producers, CityArts, a non-profit thirty-two years old public art
organization will join NASA, Community Elementary 64, Big Hands
and other civic, state and local officials in a dedication
ceremony on Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. EDT. The ceremony will take place
on Townsend Ave, between E. 170 St. and E. 171 St., Bronx, NY.
The mural is a Mars Millennium Project sponsored by the White
House Millennium Council, the U.S. Department of Education, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the J. Paul Getty Trust.
The Mars Millennium Project challenges students to work in teams
to produce a work of art or science that reflects their vision of
the future. “Living on Mars” represents a new NASA millennium
initiative of Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, who has tasked the
NASA Art Program to reach out to diverse communities.
– end –
