December 2001 NEWS

CONTENTS:
Towers of Light
FEATURED BOOK/CD: Graceful Passages: A Companion for Living and Dying
Earth Celebrations: Saving Community Gardens
Greenarts.org

TOWERS OF LIGHT

Towers of Light is a proposal for a temporary art action conceived for downtown New York City in response to the September 11, 2001 tragedies. Two artists, Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, and two architects, John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi, have come together and proposed Towers of Light as a profound and simple symbol of strength, hope and resiliency; a reclamation of New York City's skyline and identity; and a mnemonic for loss of life. Towers of Light, an initiative led by Creative Time and The Municipal Art Society of New York, consists of twin white beacons of light that will rise from Lower Manhattan and be visible from a distance; the project will neither interfere with nor detract from rescue and recovery, debris removal and reconstruction. The beacons will at once echo the World Trade Center Towers and serve as a votive candle in memory of lives lost while giving presence to the ongoing and heroic relief efforts downtown. Towers of Light is an immediate and temporary artistic gesture to foster hope, unity, healing and comprehension of the mass devastation suffered by New York City and the world at large. To support this project or learn more about it, please visit their web site at www.creativetime.org/towers/

FEATURED BOOK/CD:

Graceful Passages: A Companion for Living and Dying

A Companion Arts Production produced by Michael Stillwater and Gary Remel Malkin. The small hardcover book has 55 pages and two CDs $27.95. Click here to order.

This CD and book offer an exquisitely poignant and beautiful combination of word and music dedicated "to all who journey into the light of their deepest longing, and all who help them on their way." Graceful Passages is a unique resource for people who are facing the prospect of dying themselves or the death of someone close to them. The wisdom of such figures as Thich Naht Hahn, Ram Dass, Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross are both printed in the book and voiced over the first CD of lovely music by Gary Remal Malkin. The second CD allows you to hear the music without the words. Although Graceful Passages is designed for assisting the passage into death, it is also very poignant reminder to appreciate life. 

Earth Celebrations: Saving Community Gardens

Earth Celebrations assists in the preservation of over 80 community gardens in New York City, including the All People's Garden (picture above).

Earth Celebrations is, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering ecological awareness through the arts. Since 1991, Earth Celebrations has been working to preserve the community gardens on the Lower East Side, and throughout New York City through innovative arts projects, theatrical pageants, performances, exhibitions, video programs, web-site, and art & ecology workshops for children and adults through schools, community centers, and gardens.

Earth Celebrations Garden Pageant Project fosters awareness about the importance the community gardens in the city, the need to preserve them, and their unique contribution to the ecology and diverse cultural life of the neighborhood. Gardeners, artists, youth, and community residents, work together over months creating the many spectacular giant puppets, costumes, dance, music, and performances for the pageant. The workshops culminate in two large-scale theatrical pageant productions. In Rites of Spring: Garden Pageant is a day-long day-long procession visiting over 40 gardens. At each site, gardeners, artists, and children await the procession's arrival to present poems, dances, performances, and ceremonies honoring the history of the gardens and the local heroes who created these ecological oases in the city.

For more information, please visit the Earth Celebrations web site at www.earthcelebrations.com

Greenarts.org

Greenarts.org is a great resource for anyone who wants more inforamtion about environmental art. Their web site includes a listing of projects and artists, and an extensive reference section ideal for anyone researching contemporary art and theory regarding our natural environment. Visit them on the web at www.greenarts.org

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