Asbury Manor Community Meeting

On March 4th, a community meeting was held at the Wadsworth Avenue Evangelical Church. Art-En 301 students shared a presentation, which is being transformed into a Kickstarter campaign. A lively community discussion followed the presentation and many good ideas were gathered. Here is a link to the powerpoint.

Ashley Porter, owner of Porter Consulting Engineers, met with us on March 6th and reviewed design proposals. He shared an official map that extended our understanding of the site, which sits not just in the floodplain, but is actually in the floodway. This was surprising news as our research showed only that Asbury Manor is in the floodplain. This new information requires some reconsideration of the site and our plans for the shelter. As a result of this news, we will have to prepare a topo survey and secure special permits that we had been told previously would not be needed.

Mr. Porter reviewed student concept designs and provided excellent structural recommendations, which we are working with. We will meet with Mr. Porter again on Monday March 25th to review designs and set our project budget, as well as a date for doing the required topographical survey. Once final designs have been determined, Porter Consulting Engineers will prepare the required engineering certifications for the project.

Betsy Damon and the Keepers of the Water: serendipity at its best!

On February 27th, Betsy Damon presented a lecture (Water Rules: Life) and shared information about her international work via Keepers of the Water, an international effort to work with communities worldwide to use community-based art strategies to spearhead local efforts to restore landscapes, communities and water.

Amelie Xie's post on Betsy's visit sums up what I love most about collaboration and that is serendipity and coincidence! You can visit Amelie's post by clicking on her blog link (see menu on right of screen re: students)

In my wildest dreams I never would have anticipated that one of my students would have known of Besty's project in Chengdu, but low and behold, Amelie grew up in China and is familiar with the project! Here is a link to Besty's Keepers of the Waters project (or google Keepers of the Water). Click here is a link to an article in YES magazine on Betsy's work in China.