HighWaterLine

More HighWaterLine on t.v.

June 9, 2008 on 12:43 pm | In climate change, Discovery Channel | No Comments

The G Word on Planet Green will be featuring the HighWaterLine project as part of their “Eco Marathon” show.

From the site: A New York artist [that’s me!] has found a graphic way to get the word out about rising sea levels, then, a car race where the goal is distance, not speed - teams of students try to drive their fuel-efficient vehicles as far as possible on one gallon of gas.

It will be airing a couple of times, the complete schedule.

Can someone invite me over to see the show and/or TiVo it for me? (I don’t have a telly).

Book Release Party

June 2, 2008 on 5:52 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Tuesday, June 3rd
Botanica Bar
(Houston b. Mott & Mulberry)

Come join me in celebrating the documentation of the HighWaterLine project. Limited copies will be available.

BOOK RELEASE

May 24, 2008 on 11:18 am | In Uncategorized | No Comments

The HighWaterLine Book is out! It is a beautifully designed book (thanks to my wonderful designer, Caitlin Martin!), with a ton of images and stories about the project.

It is for sale on Lulu.com, but if you want to get a special edition, come by the book release party on Tuesday, June 3rd (will post location soon).

HWL book coming out and moving on

April 25, 2008 on 7:45 am | In chalk line | No Comments

I haven’t posted much to this site because I have been busy with other projects - check out insert-here.org & seedingthecity.org.

I do, however have a book coming out on the HighWaterLine project. It has been designed by the wonderful graphic artist, Caitlin Martin. I am hoping to have a small book release party at the end of May, email me (eve at highwaterline dot org) if you want to know the details. It will also be available online (digital print on demand) I will post that information when I have it.

Upcoming events:

February 4, 2008 on 6:06 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Sonoma County Museum Ecocentric: Video Lounge January 26 - April 20, 2008 Includes the HighWaterLine video documentary by Justin Lange. (There’s also a Ruth Asawa show on - her work is beautiful, so take a trip up to the wine country!) http://www.sonomacountymuseum.org/

Eyebeam Feedback March 13 - April 19, 2008 Focusing on the process of creating various eco-visualization projects, this exhibition will feature the tools and project ephemera from the HighWaterLine project.

Exit Art E.P.A. (Environmental Performance Actions) Opens March 15 Human/Nature Panel: March 26 (with me), copresented by Ecoartspace & Nature Conservancy Includes the HighWaterLine video documentary (produced by Cicala Filmworks/Canary Project and filmed/directed/edited by Justin Lange. This show will include documentation of performances about environmental issues and is curated by Ecoartspace. http://www.exitart.org/

Re-Mapping the Line

December 4, 2007 on 3:27 pm | In Uncategorized | 5 Comments

So you might know that I am putting lots of images and stories up on the maps from the project - you can access them all through the timeline. Click on the dates of the weekend, then click on “detailed map” on the right under the map. There you can see images and where they were taken and read more about the experiences along the way.

In addition to that, I am interested in working on maps that explore the areas around the 10′ above sea level line. Looking at the obvious things, like ethnicity, age, income, number of people in household, language spoken. But also other things like the infrastructure and what area it services (so who would be affected if the power station in Dumbo was flooded). Things like distance from transportation in case of evacuation. Immigration status (are the coastal dwellers new or old New Yorkers). Types of industry. I am sure there is more to investigate, but this will give me a good start.

If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in working on this part of the project. I am interested in working with cartographers to generate the first version of the maps and artists to interpret the data. Email me through the contact page.

Get the behind the scenes stories!

November 21, 2007 on 7:39 pm | In climate change, global warming, community, public art, chalk line, Brooklyn | No Comments

You can find out how hard it was to peddle the bike over Brooklyn Bridge, what were the best neighborhoods for chalking, how many city agencies I talked to and all the stories I heard along the way.*

I will be screening the rough cut documentary and talking more in depth about the HighWaterLine project, upcoming projects and what it means to be an artist in the public realm at a couple of great events upcoming:

Tuesday, November 27th, Solar One:
The ongoing Tuesday night series hosted by the inimitable Chris Neidl is featuring artists working in/with the environment. I will be showing some of the new maps that I have been working on in regards to HWL and reviewing the new projects. I am also hoping to have a discussion about the power of art as intervention.
Solar One, East 23rd Street at the East River
directions
Tuesday, November 27th, 7:00pm
Tuesday, December 4th, Pratt Institute’s Urban Artists and Social Change Speaker Series:
I will be talking about HWL and upcoming projects and discussing the merits of artists taking on social action roles.
Alumni Reading Room (third floor of the Library), Pratt Brooklyn
directions
Tuesday, December 4th, 12:00pm-2:00pm

Please come out and join me for what I hope will be interesting conversations about the HWL and the greater world of art as issue and intervention.

*For the really juicy stuff you will have to catch me “off the record.

A never ending story

October 8, 2007 on 8:37 am | In climate change, global warming, public art, chalk line, Brooklyn, Gowanus, Greenpoint, Newtown Creek | 1 Comment

Today is Sunday, October 7. It’s the last day of the HighWaterLine project (in the chalking stage at least). I drew the line from the edge of the largest oil spill in US History and then on to the Queens border on Onderdonk Avenue. I was joined by a young man named Jay who we met in East Williamsburg. He enjoyed exploring his neighborhood, learning about the flood zones, the oil spill and most importantly, getting up close to his local waterway. (Which he pointed out, was coated with oil, filled with trash and smelled something awful).

So how did it feel to be finished? I think it was a little anti-climatic. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I just felt, well done with the chalking. I guess because there are some spin-off projects going on, and because its not like I stopped climate change or anything, that I just felt, okay done with that, let’s get other things going. Don’t get me wrong, it felt great and it has inspired me to want to share the stories through the map I mentioned yesterday, but I am through with the chalking.

So that evening we hosted a wrap party at the Can Factory in Gowanus (a half a block from the line). A big thanks to everyone who came out to support the project, it felt really good to have all your support and interest. We hung the 119 maps that I used for drawing the project, and it was pretty stunning to think, yes I covered that much ground. Again I think the online map is important because even though the maps are impressive, its the people and places along the way that really tell the story. We also aired the fantastic short film that Justin at Cicala Filmworks has put together from the footage on the project. It was really wonderful to see that and to condense the story of the project down to 7 minutes! We are still working on the film and are adding in the more recent footage so if you want to know when thats done sign up on the mailing list.

Like I mentioned before, I am working on some projects around the HighWaterLine, including the online map with images and stories, some collaborative maps with Deborah Balk, a demographer at CUNY who has been studying data around the world of people living on the coast - trying to get a better understanding of the impacts of climate change on coastal communities. I also hope to work with Center for Urban Padagogy on some youth mapping projects, and anything else that might come up!

That and I have already started work on the green roof project!

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it–

October 8, 2007 on 8:34 am | In climate change, global warming, community, public art, chalk line, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Greenpoint | No Comments

Today was the first day that I didn’t speak to any one at all. I was drawing through Williamsburg by myself and even though I passed many people, no one asked what I was doing. This might have been because people are pretty jaded about all of the truly massive construction going on down at the waterfront (I hope they are building in flood protection). So I had a lot of time to consider what the project means if no one asks me what I am doing. There is the outside chance that someone will see the blue chalk line and google it, coming across my site that way, or maybe someone who knows about the project will cross the line and tell their friends about it. But since I cannot rely on that happening I considered more my actions in the street. I covered quite a lot of ground on Saturday, traveling from South 5th up around Manhattan Avenue, then down through the North Brooklyn Industrial Zone to Greenpoint Avenue where it meets Newtown Creek (near the huge egg-shaped digesters and the new Newtown Creek Nature Walk).

And here’s what I realized, I may be the only person in New York who has walked the entire 10′ above sea level line - that crucial flood zone line - at least through Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. I wrote earlier about bearing witness. Well its true, now it is up to me to find ways to get out and talk about what I have seen. The places where the line passes through the scrap metal yards, where the line divides a neighborhood or submerges a park. I have lots and lots of pictures from the line, so what I thought would be useful would be to put together an online map of the line that has images from along the way. I have pretty good visual memory, so I am fairly certain I can map pretty close to exactly where all the images were taken. I can also include the stories I heard from the people I talked to along the way. That way I am sharing this wealth of knowledge that has built up in my head. Maybe I can even have other chances of sharing the information, of getting it out to as many people (particularly community groups, city agencies) as I can. A great thing about the project was that I really had *conversations* with people. I didn’t just hand over information and walk away, I stopped and talked and listened. And I heard some interesting stories along the way.

So if you want to sit down with me sometime and hear about all the people that I met, let me know, I am happy to share.

Brace yourself

October 2, 2007 on 7:19 pm | In climate change, global warming, community, public art, chalk line, Brooklyn, Red Hook, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge Park | 7 Comments

Wow, can’t believe its Tuesday already and I haven’t yet posted for the past weekend. Granted it was quite a crazy weekend and having been knocked out with a cold the week before I still have some recovery time. That and things are still kinda crazy this week. So here’s how it rolled:

Thursday I installed the beacons in Brooklyn Bridge Park for the Dumbo Art Center’s Arts Under the Bridge Festival. Came home to clean up, then jetted back to the park to illuminate the beacons. I have to say that I really love that park. If you haven’t been there before, you should really go. It lies under the Manhattan Bridge, and is connected to the Empire Fulton Ferry Park which runs along the water almost to the Brooklyn Bridge. Both of the parks provide a beautiful greenway that has stunning views of Manhattan. At night it is particularly lovely. You can look at all the lights of the city (and on the bridges) - let’s hope they are all low energy bulbs using alternative energy. Usually its is quite a peaceful park, but this weekend it was not. It was pretty much all crazy and crowded all the time.

After illuminating the beacons, I jumped on the B61 to ride over to Williamsburg where I had been so graciously invited to speak about the project as part of a 100-mile dinner at Like the Spice gallery. It was great, I spent a lot of the time talking with Gordon, co-owner of Urban Spring, who prepared the great meal.

Saturday was going to be a long day of drawing, making up for the Red Hook chalking that I didn’t get to finish and then doing the first pass in Dumbo. The water in Red Hook goes pretty far inland. Not as much as Spring Creek and Canarsie, but it is a much more densely populated area, with a lot of high rise NYCHA buildings down there. I also chalked past the working waterfront that still exists out on the west side of Carroll Gardens (I think they call it Columbia Waterfront). Then we rolled into Dumbo. There was quite a crowd down there. And I should have thought of this, but with all of the activity down there, most people just looked at me and didn’t think twice about my chalking activities. Having said that a few people did ask, and even more impressive I heard a number of times as I passed by someone explaining the project to their friends. “Oh, yes, she’s marking the flood zone from climate change - she’s done it all around Brooklyn.” Perfect! Let’s talk to each other (not just me) about the issues. Hurray!

My friend Tara DePorte from Lower East Side Ecology Center had come out to give away t-shirts on which she was asking people to write sustainable promises. That way, she reckons, every time they wear the shirt, if they haven’t done their promise, they will feel guilty and may be more likely to do it. I also think they will want to brag that they have in fact done it.

I popped into Nelson Hancock Gallery to drop off some more action packets and Rives (who works in the gallery) said they had a constant stream of people interested in and asking about the project. So the word is getting out!

And in order to help do that, I am working with Cicala Filmworks to create a documentary of the project. We will be airing a *very* rough cut at the HWL closing party next Sunday. Come on out and help celebrate!

The details are:

SUNDAY 7 OCTOBER 2007 6:00-8:00 PM

THE OLD AMERICAN CAN FACTORY
232 Third Street at Third Avenue Gowanus Brooklyn

Presented by The Canary Project + XØ Projects Inc; the evening’s events include: An exhibition of the project’s maps, drawings, images and tools; an installation of the Beacons; re-marking of the HighWaterLine at the Gowanus Canal on Third Street; a screening of a preliminary rough-cut of a documentary film by Cicala Filmworks; Q&A with the artist and filmmakers hosted by CUP: Center for Urban Pedagogy, and beer from Ommegang Brewery!

Please also keep in mind that this project is still seeking financial support - so donate here!