AMP news
A m e r i c a n  M u r a l  P r o j e c t
   February 2010
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In This Issue
Links Project
HealthCorps Project
Habitat Project
Donor Spotlight
Construction Plan

2010 is getting off to a busy start. With several grants submitted and a few more in the works, we are off the mark with immediate action in the New Year. I am hoping to find new sources of funding in the next year to add strength to our core support and keep pace with our continued growth in membership and volunteer help. 

It is certainly not the easiest time for an aggressive fund raising strategy, but we believe it is the best way to move forward. We have a huge building campaign ahead, and at the same time, we can't afford to let up on further development of all our educational programs and projects. 

I'm AMPed!
Ellen

LINKS Links Project

Very exciting news for all of you in the Wisconsin area. AMP has been invited to participate in the Gathering on the Green Festival outside Milwaukee, July 8 - 10. This year's event, with its theme 'It's So Easy to Be Green,' is dedicated to conservation and the environment. We will be working on three of our giant recycled paper-pulp links with kids and adults attending the festivities. Two of the links will stay in Wisconsin. The third will become one of the links in the mural. Last year, over 10,000 people attended the three-day festival. Our AMP crew will not have much time to geez.

Since the company that fabricated these links, Keiding Inc., is also in Milwaukee, we are planning to make a short documentary while we are there on the fabrication at the factory. Many people volunteered their time, materials, and expertise to this effort: Joe Grugy, head of the International Paper Pulp Association; John Choren and his students at the Milwaukee School of Engineering; Jim Gehl, CEO of Keiding; and the Keiding employees who masterminded the fabrication of the link, which is the largest paper-pulp piece created from a mold. Since my relationship with everyone who is responsible for this singular accomplishment has been long distance, I can't wait to thank them in person. It goes without saying that the people who have made this possible for AMP are the people we're honoring in the mural.

Photo: One of AMP's 50 links to be installed in the mural.

UConn
Healthcorps Project

Irene Engel started the HealthCorps tongue depressor project through the UConn Health Center Auxiliary, and they have been raising money for AMP at the same time. Thanks to Irene's ingenuity, we are piling up more tongue depressors in the studio and, a terrific bonus, have a wonderful new supporting partner in UConn Health Center.




Photo: Children decorating tongue depressors at UCHC

Habitat signature

Habitat Project

As we head into spring, Habitat for Humanity volunteers are forming up across the country and around the world to build homes for people in need. Many of these volunteers are collecting scraps from the building projects for AMP's tribute to Habitat on the mural. We have had terrific support from everyone in the Habitat organization. Their last newsletter included an appeal to donate materials to AMP. 

Eugene Korsunskiy, a Williams College graduate who created the AMP virtual walkthrough of the mill, has joined Habitat's Bike and Build Program. College students begin a biking expedition in the Carolinas and finish months later in California, stopping along the way to build houses at designated Habitat sites. Eugene is going to be sending signed scrap pieces from each of the build sites back to our studio. He has also promised to mail photos and updates for AMPnews as he crosses the country. It is going to be a lot of fun to follow his progress.

Click here for more information on our Habitat Project.

GFWC
Donor Spotlight

We are looking forward to what lies ahead in our work with the GFWC women in Connecticut, now so many of them close frien
ds, as well as anticipating the possibility of support from the GFWC on a national level.


Photo: Members of GFWC/CT
Construction PlanAMP install

In early February, construction manager Paul Eseppi and David Shaughnessy of Burr McCallum Architects called together all the outside engineers and designers for a last consultation meeting to coordinate everyone's designs and make final adjustments to the mill-renovation plans. Three hours later the final pieces were in place. This, after six years of searching for the building site, adding the adjoining property, doing the Brownfields cleanup, and working on several versions of the plans. We have retained a professional estimator to determine the costs of Phase One of construction. 

Stay tuned.

Photo: February construction meeting

The American Mural Project is a three-dimensional painting so large that a
special building is being created for it. It is a celebration of American ingenuity
and commitment to work.  The Project seeks to inspire, to invite collaboration,
and to reveal to people of all ages the many contributions they can make to
American culture.  It is intended as a tribute and a challenge.

Board of Directors: Barbara Douglass, Frank Finch, Rosita Forte-Dobson,
Jim Garfield, Ellen Griesedieck, Joe Griesedieck, William Harding, Susan Lane,
Thad Meyerriecks, Gayle Moraski, Sam Posey, Laurie Roy,
JoAnn Ryan, Rosellen Schnurr, David Stack, John Whitman
Founding Board: Huyler Held, Ivan Kronenfeld, Paul Newman,
Mehmet Oz, Peter Philip, Ileene Smith Sobel, Frank Stella

PO Box 538 � 100 Whiting Street � Winsted, CT 06098 � (860) 379-3006
www.americanmuralproject.org