Author name: Peg Johnston

Fear Mongering on Police Modernization

By /

It’s election season so no one should be surprised that partisans are throwing fear of crime into the mix.  The Police Modernization Bill, initiated by the Binghamton Human Rights Commission, would codify documentation of police encounters by ethnicity, would create training in cultural sensitivity, and encourage for diversification of the police force. It is similar to legislation in other cities where the relationship between police and minorities has created inequities. Even top cop YC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has favored the esentials called for in this legislation.

The police union opposed the bill and spread disinformation that police will no longer be able to respond to information provided by the victim of a crime and will no longer be able to present suspects to crime victims for identification.  According to Sean Massey of the Human Rights Commission, “These statements are completely false and this memo appears to be an unfortunate scare tactic intended to shift public support away from passage of the law.”

Support for the police is the third rail of GOP politics and also a handy bludger to scare the electorate.  An eleventh hour mailing by Joe Mihalko illustrates this perfectly, calling supporters of the bill “special interests” even though it has enjoyed widespread community support. “Bad policy”, “handcuffing the police” are other phrases employed to scare people.

Massey and Democratic council people have acknowledged that the bill may need tweaking to be sure that it doesn’t hamper police, but the opportunity for fear mongering was too convenient.

Sadly, fear mongering has had great success nationally and locally. The best way to prove that it doesn’t work is to not be frightened of legislation that hasn’t even been written.

Fear Mongering on Police Modernization Read More »

Beyond Recycling

By /

Local resident Les Platt, who has extensive experience promoting  recycling and creating opportunities for re-use, is working with BU students to explore new possibilities for the Southern Tier and solve the unequal marketing problems for recycled materials and used products.  According to Platt, “The overall goal here is to get as many people as possible studying different aspects of recycling, the obstacles to them, and possible solutions. The ultimate goal is to create realistic cost effective jobs at all levels, from basic labor through management. In the process we will become acquainted with the hundreds of business and professional opportunities available.”

Recycling is, for the most part, very popular with the general public. The more convenient a project is the more cooperative people will be. However, municipal recycling projects are usually not very cost effective for a variety of reasons. Prices of selling recycled materials is variable due to global demands. The recycling infrastructure is inadequate for a variety of practical competitive reasons. Study groups need to understand these dynamics and find productive cost effective ways of addressing them.

For instance, there are many non-profit institutions who collect clothes, household goods and furniture as a source of income to help pay for their good works. What most people don't know is that a percentage of these donated materials go to landfills because the non-profit does not have markets for all of them or because they need repairs that the institution is not set up to deal with.

Most people are also unaware that there is a national and international multi billion dollar infrastructure set up to handle these goods and their constituent materials. One aspect of recycling that is seldom mentioned is that recycled materials displace demand for virgin materials.  Therefore there is a vested interest with virgin materials producers to resist using recycled materials. Recycled materials are underpriced in most cases.

By involving both students and community members, Platt says, “I believe we can do all this by studying recycling processes, materials systems, how their accumulated, and utilized. I believe we can create incentives for these studies by setting up recycling projects or interfacing with existing ones.  I also believe we can give the general public a vested interest in our activities by using fundraising mechanisms to accumulate recycled materials and create a labor force of at risk youth, ex offenders, and other marginalized people. We can adapt whatever incentives we discover to their needs and improve their chances in life.”

If you are interested in being part of this study effort, contact Les Platt at platt21@ hotmail.com or watch this space for events.

Photo: "Plastic is Forever" water fall made from plastic water bottles byt Peg Johnston and Shawna Stevenson.

 

Beyond Recycling Read More »

Air and Water: Clark and Thomson

By /

Otter Creek by Aubrey Clark

This First Friday the Cooperative Gallery 213 will open an exhibit by Aubrey Clark and John Thomson titled: Air and Water. The exhibit, which will run from Nov. 6th to Nov. 28th  includes oil paintings, monotypes, and solar etchings by Aubrey and small sculptures by John. A reception, open to the public, will be held at the gallery on First Friday, November 6, from 6-9 pm.  The artists hope to lead a lively discussion on Third Thursday, November 19 at 7 pm about the challenges artists experience to create their work.

“My work in this exhibition was inspired by visits to Vermont, giving me time to see the movement and changes in the landscape, in particular Otter Creek,” said Aubrey Clark about her work. “I have continued to reflect on these experiences, to appreciate the visual ambiguity in nature, between earth and sky for instance. The work is elemental, moving past a single object or moment, suspending time.”

John Thomson talks about his art work, “I’ve had a lifelong intense interest in design, drawing, and structure, probably the result of designing and building hundreds of model airplanes and ships as a kid, and sailboats as an adult. I’ve been teaching design and drawing for forty years at Binghamton University. Recently I’ve been doing drawings and small sculpture expressing a lifelong interest in the natural world and more recently, digital imaging.”

The Cooperative Gallery, a popular stop on the First Friday Art Walk, located at 213 State Street in Binghamton, is open on Frist Friday 3- 9 pm and regularly Fridays from 3-6 and Saturdays from 12- 4 pm. Find us on Facebook at Cooperative Gallery 213 and sign up for our weekly e-newsletter on our website at  www.cooperativegallery.com or on our Facebook page.

 

 

Air and Water: Clark and Thomson Read More »

Blighted Building to Be Transformed into Aquarium Mural

By /

 10/25 THE MURAL IS FINISHED, AND DETAILED…   and Beautiful!!  Go visit at 21 Jarvis St. and take a selfie and post on Facebook!  

DPA installed a panel on the third side of the building at 21 Jarvis St. The panel was created by the participants in a workshop by Susan Champeny the artist who designed and painted Cat Fishing.  It, and the entire mural, is being dedicated to Hailey, a young woman who worked on priming the mural and subsequently committed suicide.

 DPA volunteers also detailed the mural by putting up a black "skirting" under the mural and doing touch up painting. The building itself is in poor condition making it difficult to attach boards to it.

Visiting mural artist Susan Champeny is lending her artistic vision and techniques to the Dept. of Public Art’s efforts to improve blighted buildings in Binghamton. The building at 21 Jarvis St. has become an aquarium with bright fish, and even a playful cat. The mural was painted in one week and installed in two parts this weekend. Local artists painted  along with Susan  at the DPA studio in the basement of theCooperative Gallery 213 State St. Binghamton.

“We are delighted to contribute this vibrant mural to this neighborhood,” said Peg Johnston of the DPA. “There are a lot of children in this area and a lot of pedestrian as well as motorized traffic. And Susan has been a great resource for local artists.”

Susan Champeny works with municipalities, private clients, community health centers, and educational institutions to create murals, mosaics, and recycled materials sculpture. “My goal is to inspire wonder and surprise in the viewer by creating memorable images,” commented Susan Champeny. “I am delighted to improve this neighborhood with art and to tackle a whole house mural project.”

The fight-the-blight-with-art project has also placed a large scale mural on Chenango St. with 11 panels depicting a food theme. Another site is on Glenwood Ave. and two or three other property owners have given permission to place a mural on a boarded up site. This project is made possible with public funds from the Chenango Arts Council’s Decentralization Program, a re-grant program of the NYS Council on the Arts, with support from Governor Cuomo and the NYS Legislature. Additional support for Broome County provided by the Stewart W. & Willma C. Hoyt Foundation.

More information on Facebook page Dept. of Public Art

Blighted Building to Be Transformed into Aquarium Mural Read More »

Seeking Artists and Crafters for VINES fundraiser

By /

VINES and Laveggio Roasteria are seeking artists and crafters to create
functional or artistic items from recycled burlap coffee bags to raise
funds for urban gardens and youth empowerment in Binghamton. The challenge
is to create something creative that features the burlap in some way, which
in previous years has ranged from handbags to furniture to paintings and
more. Submissions of items due the week of November 1st. Items will be
featured in a silent auction at the VINES Coffee Bag Silent Auction
Fundraiser on Saturday, November 7th 3pm-5:30pm at Laveggio Roasteria. All
proceeds raised will benefit VINES.
 
Burlap coffee bags are for sale $6/bag at Laveggio Roasteria, 101 Court St,
Binghamton during regular store hours Monday – Friday 7:30-4:00 and
Saturdays 9:00-1:00. Burlap Coffee Bags come to Laveggio from all over the
world carrying 120-150 pounds of unroasted coffee beans.
 
VINES (Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit corporation that organized in 2007 to create and sustain
community gardens in the Binghamton area. VINES contributes to a
sustainable and just community food system by bringing together diverse
groups of people, with a focus on youth development, to establish community
gardens, urban agriculture and community green spaces. We strive to develop
and beautify urban sites and empower community members of all ages and
abilities. For more information visit www.vinesgardens.org.

Seeking Artists and Crafters for VINES fundraiser Read More »

Photographer Basmann Named Gold Medalist

By /

Vestal Photographer Named Gold Medalist at International Photographic Competition. Nancy Basmann is honored by peers and jurors for high-quality photography

Vestal photographer Nancy Basmann of Nancy Basmann Photography was named a Gold Medalist during Professional Photographers of America's 2015 International Photographic Competition. Basmann’s work will be on display at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Jan. 10-12, 2016. This International Photographic Exhibit is held in conjunction with Imaging USA, an annual convention and expo for professional photographers and several photographic associations

A panel of 43 eminent jurors from across the United States selected the top photographs from nearly 5,200 total submitted entries at Gwinnett Technical College in Georgia. Judged against a standard of excellence, just over 2,100 images were selected for the General Collection and 1,085 (roughly 21 percent) were selected for the esteemed Loan Collection—the best of the best. The Loan Collection images will all be published in the much-anticipated "Loan Collection" book.

Basmann was named a Gold Medalist, meaning that two of her four merited images entered the PPA Loan Collection. In 2015 she was one of only 101 Gold Medalists.

Photographer Basmann Named Gold Medalist Read More »

Reclaiming Ruins: The New York State Inebriate Asylum

By /

Reclaiming Ruins: The New York State Inebriate Asylum and other "Abandonscapes" by A.D. Wheeler
Thursday, September 17 – Saturday, December 19, 2015

The Binghamton University Art Museum will open its fall exhibitions on Thursday, September 17, 2015. The Main Gallery exhibition, Reclaiming Ruins: The New York State Inebriate Asylum and Other "Abandonscapes" by A.D. Wheeler, is guest curated by Julia Walker, Assistant Professor of Art History. Walker will speak at the opening reception, which will be held Thursday, September 17, 5:00-7:00 pm. The exhibition will be on view through December 19, 2015.

A.D. Wheeler's evocative photographs of abandoned sites in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York speak to the contemporary taste for ruin and decay, but his images go beyond these structures' patinated surfaces to explore their historical content and architectural significance. He is especially interested in obsolete industrial buildings—not just factories and mines, but also the civic institutions that accompanied this pattern of life. Wheeler explores these sites thoroughly, sometimes over the course of several days, in order to identify and capture the particular environments that the passage of time has created within them. Making use of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, in which several shots taken at different exposures are combined into a single image, his photographs reveal the visual and historical layers that have accumulated at these sites and make a strong case for their reuse. By drawing attention to the beauty of these disused properties, Wheeler demonstrates their ongoing relevance and advocates for their preservation.

Several public lectures will be offered in conjunction with the exhibition. Photographer, A.D. Wheeler, will give a gallery talk on Thursday, October 1, 2015, 5:00 pm. Roger Luther from the Broome County Historical Society will give two talks: "Binghamton's Castle: Its History and Recent Developments" on Thursday, October 22, 5:30 and "Abandoned Asylums of New York State" on Wednesday, November 18, 6:30. Luther curated the complementary exhibition, The Castle on the Hill, on view in the Museum's lower galleries.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit binghamton.edu/art-museum.

Reclaiming Ruins: The New York State Inebriate Asylum Read More »

Rally in support of Iran Deal at Hanna’s Office

By /

A Press conference and rally will be held on Wednesday August 26 at Noon in front of Representative Richard Hanna's office at 49 Court St., Binghamton.  The purpose of this rally is to urge his support for the Iran Nuclear Deal.  Currently he is planning to vote no.
 
Last month, the United States and its P5+1 partners reached a historic agreement with Iran that aims to curb Iran's development of nuclear weapons while allowing the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. It supports a diplomatic initiative that has already begun and will curb the possibility of nuclear action.
 
We are encouraging Congress not to take any actions that could undermine this agreement. Instead, in the words of Bishop Cantú, we "urge Congress to endorse the result of these intense negotiations because the alternative leads toward armed conflict, an outcome of profound concern to the Church."

 

Photo credit by Robert C. Johnston (archival)

Rally in support of Iran Deal at Hanna’s Office Read More »

NEW YORK WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE – 1917-2017

By /

Sponsored by the New York Cultural Heritage Tourism Network
In conjunction with its Women’s Rights & Suffrage Committee

A conference to provide awareness, stimulate interest and nurture partnerships in preparation for the
Centennial Celebration of women’s right to vote in New York State & to explore cultural heritage tourism opportunities for 2017

Holiday Inn – Waterloo/Seneca Falls
2468 NYS Route 414
Waterloo, NY 13165
Thursday, October 1, 2015 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

NEW YORK WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE – 1917-2017 Read More »

Scroll to Top