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Living Sculptures What Art and Oysters One Artists Quest toCreate the...

New York City was once known as the oyster capitol of the world, with its water systems boasting 350 square miles of oyster reef. Now it has none.NYC environmental artist Mara G. Haseltine, who created NYC'ss first Solar powered oyster reef, wants to change that. Haseltine'ss focus lies on bringing Crassotrea Virginica, or New York'ss native oyster, back to New York'ss estuaries. This would create a natural filtration system, cleaning the waters--like a natural water treatment plant-- while simultaneously replenishing biodiversity that has been missing in New York'ss waters for nearly a century.

Haseltine'ss focus lies on bringing Crassotrea Virginica, or New York'ss native oyster, back to New York'ss estuaries. This would create a natural filtration system, cleaning the waters--like a natural water treatment plant-- while simultaneously replenishing biodiversity that has been missing in New York'ss waters for nearly a century. Mara'ss plan is to restore the oyster beds using a combination of art and environmental design. The average oyster filters 5-25 gallons of nutrient rich water per day. The restoration of 100 square miles of reef would filter twenty seven billion tons of wastewater that flows into New York'ss waterways annually. The reef would not only be a haven for oysters but would quickly become a diverse habitat for aquatic life of all forms, from gastropods to Striped Bass.

In her Living Sculptures series, Mara gives a talk and demonstration of her most recent oyster reef designs which she worked closely on with a team of marine biologists, ecologists and structural engineers. In 2007 she traveled to Indonesia and studied with the late professor Wolf Hilbertz (www.wolfhilbertz.com) and studied unique form of reef restoration in which calcium carbonate (Which is what both oyster shells and coral skeletons are composed of is leached from the sea to grow reefs which provide an home for the world'ss diminishing coral reefs. Haseltine has adapted this process for oysters in New York'ss estuaries.

At the ferry terminal guests will experience performance artist Jessica Delfino (www.jessydelfino.blogspot.com) who preform as Ghost of Oysters Past, the The lecture will take place on the WaterpodTM (www.thewaterpod.org) and ambitious project where artists will live sustainable for 5 months on a barge followed by a tour of her showcases her latest work, Modern Day Midden: Ode to Oysters Past, this installation located on the historic Governor'ss Island island (www.govisland.com) for the summer, is comprised of half a ton of oyster shells collected from local New York City restaurants, is not only a symbol of modern human consumption, and harkens back to a time when oyster middens littered greater Manhattan'ss shorelines.

Oysters grow on top of each other, forming structures, or reefs. These reefs both protect shorelines against water erosion and provide habitat for over 200 species of aquatic life. These bio-diverse reefs vanished after the industrial revolution due to over-fishing, dredging, pollution, compromising the immune system of the oysters.

Haseltine hopes her work will create a vision of an optimistic future, not only for New York, but for the entire planet.

Schedule:

1:30 PM: Meet at Manhattan'ss Governors Island Ferry Terminal, and arrival of special guest performance artist Jessica Delfino as Ghost of Oyster'ss Past

2:15 PM: Lecture 's38; Demonstration on Water Pod (environmental art barge docked off Governors Island)

3:15 PM: Tour of Modern Day Midden: Ode to Oysters Past (at Colonial'ss Row, Governor'ss Island)

Cost of event: Free (including the ferry ride)

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