Request for Artwork 2014!

North Newark Urban Garden

Outdoor Art Display

May-October 2014

North Newark Urban Garden at 248-250 Garside Street, Newark seeks creative artwork to a plant, insect or nature themed exhibit(s) for its 2014 temporary outdoor display.

 

North Newark Urban Garden

 

 We are a committed to build a group of individuals to improve the appearance of our neighborhood and create a bond with our neighbors, and teach children the importance of where food comes from.  Situated at 250 Garside Street,  the vacant lot is intended to become a community garden.  The Gardens' goal to show the community  how to have beautiful and practical garden in the neighborhood, without the use of chemicals, incorporate more plants into your diet and use the supermarket less.

 

The garden is adopted by Marieliz Monclova,  and she wants to provide the opportunity for year-round learning through education programs and special events.

 

North Newark Urban Garden's theme is "Healthy Living While Beautifying Our Neighborhood" and its purpose is to inspire environmental sensitivity and sustainability. 

 

Exhibition Description

From Sunday, May 4 through Sunday, October 19, 2014, North Newark Urban Garden will display the work of arts of students and artists in the neighboring community.   This garden  will feature outdoor garden artwork  interpreted from or inspired by plants, insects, and nature created by students in the neighboring schools.

Artists will be selected through a first come-first serve basis until we are able to exhibit one to nine that encourages neighbors to bond and to explore the "community garden."   The students and/or artists should draw  upon ideas of beautiful trees, flowers, plants, insects, fruits, vegetables and other natural wonders that surround us every day in a garden. Though not required, we encourage artists to consider the use of sustainable products to fabricate their work to ensure that the project has minimal impact on the environment, and will offer additional interpretive and educational opportunities related to resource conservation.

 

The objective of the outdoor display would be:

·        To inspire the community with the beauty of plants

·        To increase awareness of the community garden

·        To promote North Newark Urban Garden and its mission

·        To educate the public about eating healthy

·        To create and promote partnerships among local business, and other cultural organizations

·        To showcase the work of our students locally

 

Selection Process & Criteria

The request for artwork is coordinated by North Newark Urban Garden. To ensure  the highest quality exhibition,  I will only accept artwork from those who responded by April 22, 2014 (extend to April 29, 2014). North Newark Urban Garden reserves the right to use any and all images, renderings, and models for the promotion of the exhibition in print or electronic formats. The art must be designed to be withstand outdoor heat and rain of  the summer, it must appeal to the families. 

 

Guidelines & Responsibilities

The work must be original and suitable for outdoor display in adverse weather conditions.   Work must be appropriate for viewing by visitors of all ages.  A work must be able to be installed on available sites, some in grassy areas, both sloping and flat, and some in garden beds.  

Artists are responsible for all costs.  It is the responsibility of the artist/company to arrange for the installation of artwork at the Garden betweenMay 4, 2014 and May 25, 2014 and to completely remove it between October 20 and October 22, 2014.

 

North Newark Urban Garden reserves the right to photograph and reproduce images of the work for marketing and educational materials.

 

Please respond to the following with information about the proposed artwork by April 22, 2014, by phone message or electronic format.  Provide name of company, school, name, when do you think the work will be ready. 

 

Contact Information :

Please direct all inquiries to:

Marieliz Monclova

North Newark Urban Garden

Phone: (862) 218-0330

newarkurbangarden@gmail.com

I am inviting you to the "Sustainable Living Empowerment and Enrichment Conference"

 I am inviting you the to this inspiring event! 

“Sustainable Living Empowerment and Enrichment Conference”

Join us June 15, 2013

Saturday, June 15, 2013, in Smith Hall of The Rutgers Newark campus of Rutgers University, 101 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07102, the Sustainable Living Empowerment and Enrichment Conference presents 20 speakers from a variety of disciplines. The speakers will address the question: how to use their own values and experiences to inspire others to form healthy, sustainable communities. The event is free and open to the public, and lasts from 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The purpose of the conference is to inspire and empower attendees, so they become active participants toward the goal of building healthy, sustainable communities. The speakers will use their own experiences and values to convey how they have been driven by their passions to various achievements. From urban farming to wellness to solar technology and climate change, the speakers will share information and experiences that assist with the creation of sustainable communities. Empowerment is a multidimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power in people for use in their own lives, communities and in society by acting on issues they define as important.

The event was organized by members of the Newark Community Garden Coalition with the support of the Greater Newark Conservancy, Newark Science and Sustainability Working Group, and Essex County 4-H. The Newark Community Garden Coalition (NCGC) is a coalition of gardeners and urban farmers. Taking the approach of social entrepreneurship, they work to enrich the overall quality of life in Newark, New Jersey by developing, supporting and promoting city gardens, produce farms and other agricultural space.

(Rutgers Cooperative Extension, 162 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102 Contact: Rebecca Kalenak, Essex County 4-H Agent, (973) 353-1338 ext. 104, kalenak@njaes.rutgers.edu, #sustainlivenwk)

Mission & Purpose!

North Newark Urban Garden

"Healthy Living While Beautifying Our Neighborhood"

Mission
 We are a committed to build a group to improve the appearance of our neighborhood to create a bond with our neighbors, and teach children the importance of where food comes from.  The Garden's  goal to show the community  how to have beautiful and practical garden in the neighborhood, without the use of chemicals, incorporate more plants into your diet and use the supermarket less.

Purpose & Objective of Garden

To provide the opportunity for year-round learning through education programs and special events.  To grow edible and decorative plants.  To inspire environmental sensitivity and sustainability. 
This garden  will feature outdoor garden artwork  interpreted from or inspired by plants, insects, and nature created by students in the neighboring schools.  The garden will grow edible fruits,  vegetables, and flowers.

·         To inspire the community with the beauty of plants

·         To increase awareness of the community garden

·         To educate the public about eating healthy

Newark Community Garden Coalition

The Newark Community Garden Coalition

The Newark Community Garden Coalition was created this past September to bring different residents in Newark who are gardeners, whether it is at a roof top, vacant lot, or their backyard. The purpose of the coalition is to strengthen and provide support to anyone trying to create a space where we are beautifying and contributing to green eating in Newark. Different working groups were also created, and the Farmer's Market Working Group was created to develop a farmer's market at each ward. This year we did an event for the South Ward in Newark, and this is the summary of the day's event.

I would like to thank Luis Ortiz from Reelmark Entertainment for the great footage!

New Perspective and Continued Commitment

This summer has been a difficult summer trying to build Monclova Health Coach and North Newark Urban Garden.

I never planned to execute North Newark Urban Garden on my own, and I didn't start this by myself.  It began over 12 months ago with a twitter conversation, where I commited myself to start a community garden.  I am still here, and I'm ready once again to recruit and enroll others who are willing to still work with me in the North Newark Urban Garden.  There is an URGENT need to have fresh food,  natural food, and to be able to sustain ourselves in this economy. 

The garden to me was a way to show the world that we can cultivate fresh food, and we don't need to continously go to the supermarket.  Food grows easily with very little effort, why are we struggling in 9 to 5 jobs where we feel disatisfied promoting someone else's agenda, and we are still broke. 

We are in a boat to pharmaceutical land, looking for magic pills, and getting sicker and sicker.  Our kids today need to learn where they food comes from, and how to really have a good QUALITY life.  The garden for me is a place where I can use as an education tool, not just for the community, but for myself. 

There in lies the biggest challenge.  I have NO CLUE how to grow food, how to mix petemoss with dirt, how to make beds, how to maintain a compost, but I have to pull thru with this.  I know how to prepare it, and how to EAT it! As I love to eat,  and I eat for FUN. 

My relationship with food has changed over the years, we need more than food to survive, but better quality relationships, hugs, a good job, and continued growth and evolvement. 

If you want to be part of this experience please feel free to send me a message at newarkurbangarden@gmail.com and let me know your thoughts!  

A Newark Garden in the open!

As I was driving from Whole Foods in Vauxhall, I drove by Elizabeth Ave.  There I saw a garden in the open...not gated, not bothered, but looking as pretty as it could....

This makes my vision clearer and better for the garden, and I hope that other see this and can join me in the adventure!!

 You can see the rain barrels, the beds with two levels, sticks with plants getting ready to go around it, pots around with the Newark Conservacy labels.

We need volunteers. Let's get inspired North Newark!

Spur of the moment we were able to get a delivery of soil from Greater Newark Conservancy, which meant Saturday plans to check out the House Music Festival weren’t anymore. We have all realized to have our North Newark Urban Garden get off and thrive, we all need to make sacrifices, so this will be one of many more to come.

So after the morning judging of (link to blog post), we got changed and all met at the garden to move the soil. Unfortunately, the gates opening is 4-feet instead of 8-feet so the truck wasn’t able to fit into the gates entrance to make the drop inside the garden area. The drop was made mostly outside of the gate. Regardless of where the soil was dropped, we were happy and grateful for it. We rounded up our helpers and started shoveling the soil onto the tarp.

Besides the soil drop, we also cleaned up the weeds and macheted some tree’s down. Well it started off as being macheted and quickly turned to using the chainsaw. Neighbors have been very curious in what we are doing in the lot and interested in being a part of it. We are happy with the progress and without the teamwork we wouldn’t be!

21st Annual City Garden Contest (we were JUDGES!)

On Saturday, we had the pleasure of being shuttled around the city by Greater Newark Conservancy as judges for their 21st Annual City Garden Contest. (North Newark Urban Garden's very own Mike entered his own garden into the contest, wish him luck!!) There are over 10 categories to choose from and you are able to enter into a maximum of 3 of those categories. Our judging category for the day was for the Best Combination Flower/Vegetable Garden.

We met up at Greater Newark Conservancy a little after 9 a.m. and headed out and about in their van to start the day full of judging. With clipboard in hand and jotting down the points of each garden while, we were all quite impressed and proud of our fellow neighbors and their gardens. You can see all of their hard work and creativity they put into beautifying our city. One of participants was a 13 year old boy! It was definitely inspiring as new community gardeners but more as born and raised Newarkers.

The next round of judging will take place in the beginning of August. We will be reporting back during that time!

Garden Pick up #1

The venture over to Greater Newark Conservancy to pick up supplies for the garden was a good start to a new beginning. We received soil and seedlings to get us started and will be making another trip back soon.

The people are great there and very helpful, especially their gardening information and tips. They offer great programs, workshops and sale items at affordable prices to the community. They have a beautiful garden area for you to walk through, where I saw many unique and vibrant flowers.