May 22-23 Papermaking with Plants – Anytime, anywhere, anyhow

Jane Ingram Allen, TCC's visiting artist in residence will led this 2-day adult workshop which will cover how to make paper from local plant materials with minimal equipment and facilities and sustainable practices. The emphasis will be on creative problem solving to make unique handmade paper art using ordinary household equipment and plants found in your own backyard. The instructor will introduce unique techniques that she has developed from her experiences as an artist in residence in Taiwan, Nepal, Japan, Brazil, the Philippines, Tanzania and Bali, Indonesia as well as at art centers and nature parks in the USA. Both Asian and Western papermaking techniques will be used during the workshop. This workshop runs 9am -4pm with abreak for lunch. Students will provide their own lunch.

Jane Ingram Allen is an American sculptor/installation artist and hand papermaker. She is originally from Alabama and has lived in New York State since 1988. In 2004 she received a Fulbright Scholar Award for a six-month research project on hand papermaking in Taiwan. Her Fulbright grant was extended through July 2005 with sponsorship by the Taiwan Council for Cultural Affairs/National Endowment for Culture and Art. Jane’s work in Taiwan has resulted in the publication of a book “Made in Taiwan – an American Papermaking Artist’s Journey Around Taiwan” that details her experience of living and working in 14 different communities and using over 135 different plants to make paper. Jane currently lives in central Taiwan with her husband Tim who is teaching English at a local college.

Sunset Wine and Restaurant Tasting

Get Outside! Explore Nature! Learn Running Basics! Have Fun!

The Teaneck Creek Conservancy is pleased to support the Tenafly Nature Center while they repair their trails by holding The Trail Running Club at TCC. The Trail Running Club is a FREE youth fitness program that focuses on our mission of teaching the next generation to appreciate nature. Together we will build endurance, learn new skills, develop teamwork, and get healthy!

Educator/Coach Phil Germakian, a NJ certified teacher educator, is a USA Track and Field Level 1 coach and is CPR-certified. His intimate knowledge of TCC’s trails and enthusiasm for both running and nature will make this program safe and enjoyable for all. This is a non-competitive running club. No experience is necessary but space is limited. To register call Devery at TCC 201-836-2403 or email devery@teaneckcreek.org.

The Teaneck Creek Conservancy is located at
20 Puffin Way Teaneck, NJ 07666

For directions go teaneckcreekconservancy.org and click on directions

WINDOWS ON THE PARK II

WINDOWS ON THE PARK II
Public Space - Private Space
Exhibit opens May 8, 2010

The Teaneck Creek Conservancy is delighted to announce the opening of Windows On the Park II, an exhibit that examines the boundaries between public and private space. The exhibit is made up of window frames that have been removed from the walls of homes — the walls that claim to protect an individual’s privacy — and have been transplanted into the imaginary and elusive walls of the public exhibition space within Teaneck Creek Park

Viewers who look through these window frames have to decide whether the images they see are reflected in the windowpane or if the images are photographs taken in the park and mounted to replace the glass. The images may contain a tangible as well as intangible frame-within-a-frame, thereby eluding the viewers’ perceptions of the boundary between private and public space. The images’ subjects, colors, shapes, and other formal features, as well as their combinations, provoke additional scrutiny of this uncertain limit.

Said curator Rachel Banai: “Is there a separation between public space and private space? Can we employ our mind to define our private space? Is our mind our only private space? This exhibition challenges the myth that there is a separation between public and private spaces. It unsettles our belief that we can use our mind to separate between the public and the private. It argues that we do not enjoy privacy even in the supposed intimacy of our mind. Public and private spaces are interwoven, and they are the results of our imagination, education, and belief systems as well as the consequences of technology, government, religious, and commerce control and indoctrination.”

This exhibit will run from May 8 through May 31. It is sponsored by the Teaneck Creek Conservancy and Puffin Forum Photography Club members.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation visits Teaneck Creek Conservancy

The Teaneck Creek Conservancy is maturing from it's community based roots to a recognitionzed EcoArt innovator. We were fortunate to be invited to apply for a grant with The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and a subsequent site visit by Wendy Liscow, Program Officer. She shared her experience at TCC in her blog http://blog.grdodge.org/2010/02/03/notes-from-the-road-teaneck-creek-conservancy/. Her comments are copied below as well.

"Notes from the Road: Wendy Liscow, Program Officer Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

The conversation with Dodge Foundation grantees about our new guideline themes Creativity and Sustainability has stimulated a wonderful investigative journey, but the real satisfaction has come from experiencing the two concepts coming together in action. As my colleagues and I travel the state visiting current and potential grantees, we have the honor of witnessing passionate leaders making these connections. Recently, I met some board members of Teaneck Creek Conservancy, a group of environmentalists, artists, educators and community advocates who shared a vision to save 46 acres of land, but in a manner that utilized eco-art to strengthen the community’s connection to and experience of the park.

This marriage of sustainability and creativity was brought to life during a January walk in the woods.The hike into Teaneck Creek Park was not long, but the path was still covered with splotches of ice and snow and the air was brutally cold, so it felt like we would never reach our destination. Just as I was longing for my scarf left back in the car, we turned the bend and five bright patches of color emerged from the bleak winter landscape to grab my attention. There sat five beautifully painted massive cement storm water pipes: spherical murals in nature, telling the story of nature. If you had ventured down the same path this past spring you would have been distraught to discover five graffiti-covered storm pipes that had been littering this otherwise pristine slice of nature since the 1960’s.

Strolling later in the buggy heat of summer you would have found lead artist Eduardo Alexander Rabel, students from a variety of Teaneck schools, and community volunteers sketching, then painting, the visual stories of the vibrant local flora and fauna, and the impact of humankind on nature over time.The artistry took my breath away, but the depth of the community art process was what impressed me most, and it is all captured in this wonderful video that I urge you to take the time to watch. www.youtube.com/teaneckcreekconserva

This is not Teaneck Creek Conservancy’s first marriage of art and nature. In April 2009 members of the Puffin Photo club led by professional photographer Rachel Banai put together an unique outdoor art exhibition called “Windows on the Park” that utilized old sash windows to frame photographic works that told the story of the seven year transformation of this brownfields-to-greenfields track of land. Many people would agree that nurturing creativity, supporting public art projects and protecting our environment are worthy endeavors, but they approach each task separately. But when they combine these laudable goals, something larger than the sum of the parts occurs, as Dodge Program Director Michelle Knapik noted in her recent post about The Voices From the Land project.

We are interested in knowing if you have participated in or seen creativity and sustainability in action, experienced the flow of these two forces coming together, and if so, what was it that made this connection meaningful?"

The Five Pipes Are Open

After painting all summer in the muggy, buggy heat lead artist Eduardo Alexander Rabel, the students of Thomas Jefferson Middle School, and community volunteers both young and old, are proud to present the final product of hundreds of hours of creative artistry.

On October 21st we celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony officiated by County Executive Dennis McNerney.

“This unique artistic project involved the transformation and beautification of five graffiti covered storm pipes that had been abandoned in the 1960’s on what is now the 46 acre Teaneck Creek Conservancy in Teaneck, NJ. The murals painted on the pipes are educational in nature, addressing the theme of human relationship to nature throughout different eras in local history.” Lead Artist, Eduardo Alexander Rabel.

Sneak Preview

So what is it about being around creative people? They are like flashes of bright red in gray landscape. I always feel elevated in their presence.

This weekend the Creek is opening a photography exhibit that features the work of members of the Puffin Camera Club. An eclectic bunch, led by professional photographer Rachel Banai, they have been documenting the environs of the Teaneck Creek Park for over seven years now. Their collective work has captured the metamorphosis of this 46-acre brownfields-to-greenfields site with amazing clarity and beauty.

In the "Windows on the Park" exhibit PCC members have used old wooden window sashes to frame some of their most striking images. In the exhibit the frames will be hung from the black walnut trees in the meadow area of the park during the month of April.


We had a great time hanging the work. Each piece was more incredible than the next. I couldn't help thinking about what people see when they come to our park. It is intentionally a wild place, without the outward trappings of formal gardens or trimmed and groomed green spaces, but that does not mean it is without great beauty. The photographers in this group can see it, and catch it. Can you?

Come on out and see for yourself:

Windows on the Park / Artists' Reception

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Noon to 2:00pm / Teaneck Creek Park / 20 Puffin Way, Teaneck NJ

For directions or more information, visit our website, and follow the programming links.

See you on the trails!