The I.S. 49/ROTUNDA GALLERY MINI-MUSEUM (223 Graham Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) is hosting a special reception in celebration of the student exhibition Making Plans on Friday, December 14th and will be on view through January 2002. Gallery hours are by appointment during school hours, Monday through Friday. Call I.S. 49 Principal, Mr. Al Garcia at 718-387-7697 to arrange a visit. Admission is free. Additional Information: 718-875-4047x11.

Offering promise, teeming with conflict, the city lures adventurers and visionaries. Urban landscapes reflect conscious artistic design as well as the vagaries of chance, and our shared histories and buried memories. Making Plans is an investigation of the art of architecture and building design created by 6th, 7th and 8th grade students in Art, Dance, Language Arts, Cultural Studies and bilingual Social Studies classes working with Gallery Artists Millie Burns, Alex Exposito and Hawley Hussey. Making Plans features City Silhouettes inspired by the two-sided drawings of visiting artist Heather Cox, Fantastic Structures that juxtapose images of ancient temples with contemporary skyscrapers, and drawings that explore repetition and rhythm to create optical illusions of movement. Also included are architectural plans, paintings and a site-specific installation.

I.S. 49/ROTUNDA GALLERY MINI-MUSEUM, is located in a first floor classroom of I.S. 49, 223 Graham Avenue between Scholes and Maujer Streets in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I.S. 49 is accessible by public transportation -- take the L train to the Grand Street stop, walk 2 blocks south on Graham Avenue.

About the I.S. 49/Rotunda Gallery Mini-Museum With support from the New York State Council on the Arts Empire State Partnership program, the Rotunda Gallery has developed an innovative arts education collaboration with I.S. 49 in Bushwick. In the fall of 1998, I.S. 49 students began working with the Rotunda Gallery in the planning, fabrication and installation of a fully functional Mini-Museum in the school. Since then, working with the Mini-Museum Team (including Meridith McNeal, Rotunda Gallery Director of Education, three Rotunda Gallery Artist Educators, and Mike Kaye, I.S. 49 art teacher) and using Rotunda Gallery exhibitions as a starting point, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students have engaged in a wide range of artmaking projects -- from book-making to sculpture -- that integrate the academic curriculum and reinforce the importance of reading and literacy. The program enables students to experience contemporary art, meet working artists, create artwork in a variety of media and learn about museum practice. Projects culminate in the installation of an exhibition in I.S. 49's Mini-Museum.

About the Rotunda Gallery Education Program Since 1984 the Gallery has provided access to the arts for thousands of students in Brooklyn public schools. Through classroom visits, Mini-Museum programs in fourteen schools and Professional Development/Teacher Training Workshops in seven school districts, the Rotunda Gallery provides a vital service by offering students in need innovative arts education that includes instruction in the arts as a discipline in and of itself and as an integral part of other academic programming. At the same time, we encourage museum-going in young audiences, helping these students to develop a life-long awareness and appreciation of art.

The Gallery gratefully acknowledges support for its education program from: the Milton and Sally Avery Foundation, The Chase Manhattan Foundation, The Education Foundation of America, HSBC Bank USA, Independence Community Foundation, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, J.P. Morgan, the New York Community Trust, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President and the Brooklyn Delegation to the New York City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Friends of the Rotunda Gallery.