RELEASE:  00-113

A SCHOOL COMMUNITY IN THE BRONX 
EXPLORES "LIVING ON MARS" THROUGH ART

     So what would it be like living on Mars?  Southwest Bronx, NY 
school children will have an opportunity to describe it, not with 
words, but with a picture.  A 7,000 square foot mural to be exact.

     The NASA Art Program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute are 
partially funding a mural entitled "Living on Mars".  City Arts, a 
Manhattan-based art organization dedicated to transforming 
neglected areas of New York City into public art spaces and New 
Settlement a non-profit housing and community building 
organization in the South Bronx, are coordinating the project.  

     The permanent outdoor mural, one of the largest in New York 
City, is being painted on the walls facing the school yard of 
Community Elementary School 64, 1425 Walton Ave in the southwest 
Bronx under the direction of artists Nicholas A. Enright and Nils 
Folke Anderson of the Big Hands artist collaborative .  It began 
on July 5 and will be completed by the end of the month.  A 
ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for early fall to welcome 
kids back to school.

     Mars expert and former NASA Director of Advanced Concepts, 
Dr. Lewis Peach briefed the children and teens about life on Mars.  
Although NASA provided visual information to help spark the kids' 
imaginations, they are mostly relying on their own creativity to 
interpret space exploration past and present with a focus on Mars.  

     The mural is a Mars Millennium Project, an official White 
House Millennium Council Youth Initiative sponsored by the White 
House Millennium Council, the U.S. Department of Education, the 
National Endowment for the Arts, and the J. Paul Getty Trust. The 
Mars Millennium Project challenges students to work in teams to 
produce a work of art or science that reflects their vision of the 
future. 

     The NASA Art Program has been commissioning artists since the 
early 1960's. Traditionally, American artists have received a 
small honorarium to document the space program.  "Living on Mars"  
represents a new NASA millennium initiative of Administrator 
Daniel S. Goldin, who has tasked the NASA Art Program to reach out 
to diverse communities.  

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