New Places And Spaces For Artist Thea Lanisizero
By George Wallace

Some folks know her as the artist who did those bamboo pillars at the corner of Pulaski and Park Avenue in Huntington, or the leader of Heckscher Museum ArtSense to craft a one-of-a-kind sculpture in Huntington's Heckscher Park from bamboo and jute rope woven into the shape of a Nautilus Shell.

Some folks know her as the artist who did the huge recycled 'smooth sailing' mural on a recycled sail, shown at Coney's Marine, or the leader of an interactive community knit sculpture is on view at the Huntington Station Library.

And some folks know her as the artist who created a steel-whorl Anne Frank dress installed in a park in Melville.

In fact Thea Lansizero's made an impression with her sculptures and other works from Key West to New England, not to mention in the Northport and Huntington area - where she's been an arts entrepreneur for decades.

If you think Key West sound exotic, it is. That's where she put up something called "Pyramid at the Edge of Heaven" -- an homage to the skillful Calusa Indians that resided on the southwest coast of Florida for 6,000 years before Juan Ponce de Leon began his quest for the famed fountain of youth.

Next up for Thea is an installation called "Psyche's Active Space" which will be present Sat/Sun throughout September (except Sunday Sept 26) at the Governor's Island ArtFair in New York City for 4Heads -- a New York-based arts crew that specializes in commandeering and beautifying unused spaces - developing unique environments for the purpose of exhibition, installation and performance so that artists from all over the world can make good use of dismissed areas.

Each year the group "hotwires" an abandoned military barracks on historic Governors Island, launching a sizable exposition of independent artists. The collective takes a unique swing at the art fair tradition with its "hands-off" curatorial technique. At the Governors Island Art Fair, over 100 independent artists are selected solely on the merit of their work, and, once chosen, each is given a room where they are set loose to create an environment of their own design.

The Fair commences with an opening party that is free and open to the public on Saturday, September 4th from 11am-6pm, and continues every weekend of the month.
With no admission fee to enter the Fair, visitors to the island are free to stroll more than 120 rooms of the abandoned army barracks that have been commandeered by participating. Musical acts, performance artists and interactive creative programs will be on-going every weekend in addition to paintings, photographs, sculpture, video, and sound and object installation pieces.

For those who want to check out Thea's work but cannot get to Governor's Island -- or to Key West -- a visit to Huntington's Arboretum Park in Melville, off Bagatelle Rd and heading down Threepence Drive, will have to suffice. There one may check out the steel dress mounted at an Anne Frank Memorial Garden - in effect, a sculpture of a young girl's dress which she says is meant to "connect memory, loss, femininity and hope."