Exhibit Opening

Well I've been in St Croix a little over a week now, and so it's probably about time that I let you know what I've been working on! Not too long ago the National Park Service purchased property on the top of a hill that looked down on Salt River. This land included a beautiful house that has since undergone renovations in order to function as a Visitor Contact Station for the park. Since the renovations (which were underway when my class was here in 2010) this building has gone unused because there wasn't someone on the NPS staff to coordinate and design it's use. All that changed this September when David Goldstein was hired as the Park Interpreter, and he is the man with a plan who I am partnering with throughout my time on St Croix.

The last week has been spent preparing for the first official exhibit opening at the station on monday November 14th (the date that Columbus is believed to have arrived at Salt River). Here the design process on a Marine Research and Education Center is shown through six student projects from my class and three alternatives by an architecture firm (Lord, Aeck and Sargent). Visitors are invited to become part of the design process as well by contributing ideas and critiques to the exhibition. The significance of this event is HUGE as it is put on by both the NPS and the Territorial Government of the island. Salt River Bay is one of the only National Parks that is jointly owned and operated by both local and federal government, and this fact has led to a lot of complications in terms of jurisdiction, decision making and action. This exhibit not only will set a precedent as the first co-hosted event and initiative of these two entities, but it will also be the first forum where the progress of this project will be shown to the public in such a way that they can see, understand AND contribute to it.

So onto the exhibit!!!! When we got here last Monday the place was a MESS- leaves, dirt and cobwebs everywhere, and hurricane shutters still tightly clamped on all the windows. Our first job was to get down and dirty with a broom and some windex- not very glamorous, but sometimes making a difference requires a bit of sweat and tears. Then I arranged the pieces for the exhibition, and David and I rigged up lighting and mounting for the work. The night of the event about fifty people came out, and after they had spent some time in the exhibit a local historian Wilfredo Geigel presented a lecture about the debate surrounding the location of Columbus's landing.

Throughout the week we spent working on the exhibit space it was amazing to see how people were already responding to our work- even before a single piece was hung! The building was shut up for so long that our arrival was noticed by the people living nearby, and many of them stopped in throughout the week to see what was going on. With last night's event, the new exhibit and this Saturday's Family Day I know that the work doing is going to make a big difference and really bridge gaps between the Park Service and the local community.