Coney Island

Here’s your chance to vote on the Aquarium’s new Coney Island Boardwalk murals

May 2, 2017 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Murals by finalist Danielle Mastrion, Sheena Haruka Aoki and Sheena Wong Shue. Images courtesy of NY Aquarium
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Seven finalists have been chosen in the New York Aquarium’s contest to design the new Education Hall murals along the Coney Island Boardwalk. The aquarium announced on Tuesday that the three winning murals will be chosen by popular vote.

It’s going to be a tough decision — the aquarium started with 42 submissions by local artists and art schools, and a panel of judges narrowed them down to the seven most striking designs.

(Warning: Puns ahead.) You don’t have to be an affishionado to participate — you can vote just for the halibut. Anyone who wants to mullet over and give three murals their seal of approval can float over and hook their favorites at www.nyaquarium.com/2017-mural-competition. (End of pun-warning zone.)

“We received incredible submissions from artists all around the New York area who want to help transform our Education Hall boardwalk facade and inspire people to protect our waters. Now we need New Yorkers to help to choose the winner,” Jon Forrest Dohlin, director of the New York Aquarium, said in a statement.

The point of the murals is to raise awareness about the devastating effect of ocean plastics — the theme of this year’s World Oceans Day.

The New York Aquarium, part of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), says that more than 8 million tons of plastic ends up in rivers, streams and oceans, devastating wildlife of all types. At the current rate, the Earth’s oceans could contain more plastics than fish (by weight) by 2050.

The three winning designs will be installed and unveiled the week of World Ocean’s Day, June 8.

Finalists include Sheena Wong Shue, Haruka Aoki, Danielle Mastrion, Nicholas Pappalardo, Thomas Manco, Jana Liptak and Alisa Minyukova.

The panel of judges included Dohlin, who also serves as WCS vice president; Sue Chin, WCS vice president of Planning and Design and Chief Architect; New York State Assemblywoman Pamela Harris; and Pam Pettyjohn, president of Coney Island Beautification Project.

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