[Archived] Community Invited to Meet Colasanto Park Artist Béatrice Coron at On-Site Reception

For Immediate Release: September 9, 2021

The community is invited to meet artist Béatrice Coron on Friday, September 10 at noon at Colasanto Park (2700 Mount Vernon Ave.) Coron has been commissioned by the City of Alexandria to create a unique, site specific work of art for Colasanto Park as part of the park’s redesign which will include a spray park. Coron will be visiting Alexandria to tour the site and gather ideas for her project and will be available to meet and talk with residents in accordance with all Covid-19 safety guidelines.

More information about the project can be found on the City’s website here.

For questions about this project or to request reasonable disability accommodations, contact diane.ruggiero@alexandriava.gov or call 703.746.5590, Virginia Relay 711. 

About Béatrice Coron

After a national call, artist Béatrice Coron has been selected by the City to design and fabricate an original artwork to be integrated into the newly designed spray park. Born and raised in France, she was a city dweller, a shepherdess and truck driver among others, then she worked in tourism and lived in Egypt and Mexico for one year each and two years in China. She moved to New York where she launched her career as an artist in 1984. All these places left their mark on her thoughts and her art.

Béatrice explores visual storytelling in artist books, paper cutting and public art. Rather than leaving an expression for another, her work makes artist books for viewer to step in, or fine arts with theatrical methods. She creates environments for words and thoughts inviting the public to wonder, ponder, and discover a poetic vision.

Her work can be seen in major collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center and you can see her public art in New York, Chicago, Paris, and Hong Kong among others.

About Colasanto Spray Park/ Del Ray Gateway:

The Nicholas Colasanto Outdoor Pool located at 2700 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22305 between Mt. Vernon Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue in Del Ray was opened in 1969 and was closed in 2010. The City of Alexandria Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities Department Park Planning Division has engaged LSG Landscape Architecture firm to conduct community engagement and develop concepts for a newly designed, multigenerational, safe, all-season space which includes a spray park as a signature feature on the site. The site will serve as a community gathering space that has opportunities for passive and programmed activations. You can review the concepts and watch recordings of the public meetings here.

Construction of the spray park is expected to begin in 2022.