"Planet Earth" article by Jeri Rowe in Greensboro News and Record Sunday October 4, 2009

Rowe: At a busy corner, the world is waiting
Sunday, October 4, 2009 (Updated 6:09 am)
By Jeri Rowe
Staff Writer
Photo Caption: Planet Earth at S. Elm and E. Lee streets.

GREENSBORO — Head north on South Elm, and from a half-block away, at the dip of East Bragg, you can make it out — the green of the United States and the Popsicle orange of Central America.

When you get closer, near the rush of traffic on West Lee, you can see the wrought-iron word “Greensboro,” painted white and bolted tiara-like above a 5,000-pound air compressor.

The compressor looks like a huge bowling ball. But it’s really a globe. Europe is yellow, Asia is red, South America is white and Antarctica is gun-metal grey. It sits on a stone base, parked there by a crane, discovered on a lot a half-mile north near the railroad tracks.

It’s Greensboro’s newest piece of public art. A few days back, Sidney and Ricki Gray, the husband and wife who spearheaded the project, held a picture-taking ceremony to commemorate their big iron ball.

They invited the handful of volunteers involved to signify the end of a five-year project some call “Sidney’s World.’’ But the real title works, too. Planet Earth.

It’s not necessarily pretty. Some down the block even call it “tacky.’’ Yet, Planet Earth is classic Greensboro, in a Beef Burger kind of way, because it gives our city another quirky wrinkle in a spot that could explode.

Greensboro is expecting to spend millions to redevelop the corner of South Elm and West Lee. There’s talk of condos, retail, a grocery store and even offices for Guilford County Schools on those 10 acres of emptiness.

In the middle of it all will be Planet Earth.

That’s what the Grays wanted. They wanted to put on their empty lot beside the Sweet Shoppe something that would represent their link to — and love of — Greensboro.

Ricki is 59 , a UNCG grad. She raised three children in Greensboro and spent nearly three decades teaching in local classrooms. Her last stop: Room 7 at Irving Park Elementary, where she helped first-graders learn their place in the world.

Sidney is 63 . He breathes Greensboro. Matter of fact, he can look down South Elm and recall stories about people and places that stretch back for more than a half century.

He should know. He grew up there. His mother, Sylvia, ran Carolina Sales Co. , the spot in the 600 block of South Elm that has now become the artist collective known as Elsewhere . Sidney, the youngest of three, hung out there.

After their first child was born, Sidney and Ricki knew exactly where to go after they got out of the hospital — down to South Elm, to show Sylvia her newest granddaughter. Dani , their first child, is now 30.

Today, Sidney is a grandfather, a property owner, a member of the Class of ’63, the last graduating class of Greensboro Senior High, and one of the founders of the Old Greensborough Preservation Society, a nonprofit that later evolved into Downtown Greensboro Inc.

He’s also the “Mayor of the Alley,” the narrow avenue behind Glitter’s, a business inside a building he owns at Washington and South Elm. He calls it the Silver’s Building , after its old business: Silver’s Five & Dime.

And now, he’s the maker of Planet Earth.

It’s Greensboro’s newest landmark. Sidney and Ricki hope it will become a place of significance, a place of romance, a place where people can say, “Let’s meet at the globe’’ and everyone will know where to go.

It’s at the corner of South Elm and West Lee.

Sidney and Ricki found Planet Earth during their weekly “foot cruising,’’ their description of their walks through downtown Greensboro, from Center City Park to West Lee.

Ricki spotted it on John Tasker’s property on King Street near the railroad tracks. It was an old piece of machinery, an air compressor from a Navy ship Tasker and his dad had found.

But Ricki, the schoolteacher, saw something else: a globe, a Planet Earth.

That’s how it got started. Tasker donated the compressor. Artist Tony Forrest and sculptor Erik Beerbower donated their services.

Meanwhile, Sidney and Ricki spent $2,200 of their own money to build a stone base, rent a sandblaster and buy enough paint to turn the rusty compressor into a big blue ball with countries of almost every color.

And now, it’s done. Almost. Ricki and Sidney plan to mark Greensboro’s location on Planet Earth. It’s expected to draw the attention of anyone walking, driving or biking by one of Greensboro’s busiest corners, an intersection used by 28,000 cars a day.

It’s something shiny, something reflective. And for the Grays, Ricki and Sidney, that’s all they want. They want people to remember.

This is their town, too.




SidneyGrayOctober 4, 2009 - 9:30 am EDT
Thank you and the Greensboro News and Record for the article and for publically acknowledging the volunteers - Martha Forrest, Tony Forrest, Erik Beerbower and John H. Tasker, Jr. who helped make "Planet Earth Happen." We look to the future as this work of art continues to evolve.
Ricki and Sidney Gray

Planet Earth: Article by Greensboro News and Record - July 21, 2008

The world waits south of the railroad tracks

By Jim Schlosser
Special to the News & Record

Monday, July 21

updated 7:35 am

Sidney Gray and Martha Forrest

Credit: Jim Schlosser

GREENSBORO - The first impulse was to call Homeland Security.

What resembled a large World War II-era mine had been planted at Lee and South Elm streets. The large, round explosive devices used to bob around in the ocean, blowing gaping holes in ships that hit them.

Recently, the round object has been transformed into a blue-and-white globe by Greensboro artists Tony Forrest and Emmett Williams. On many mornings, they arose at 6:30 and worked until the heat made painting oppressive.

They were urged on by Forrest's wife, Martha, and Sidney Gray. Gray and his wife, Ricki, own the parking lot that's the site of what they've dubbed "Planet Earth."

Several people in the neighborhood say they can't find Texas or Michigan on the globe. But Gray says Planet Earth remains a work in progress. It will resume when Tony Forrest returns from Mexico.

The object originally served as an air compressor on a U.S. Navy ship. Gray, who owns various downtown properties, saw the compressor on land owned by John Tasker Jr.

Decades ago, Tasker and Gray were among the founders of the Old Greensborough Preservation Society, which sought to promote preservation and progress on downtown's south side.

Gray had been searching for an object to turn into public art at the Lee-Elm property, which he and his wife bought in 1978. He wanted to create something eye-catching, a conversation piece that might cause people to cross the railroad tracks into the south end of downtown.

Tasker had bought the compressor in the 1970s when he owned a metals business off Holden Road. He intended to sell it to anyone needing a powerful air compressor. But no one came along. The compressor went with him when his metals business shifted to King Street next to the railroad downtown.

When he sold the King Street land to become part of what's now City View Apartments, the compressor was still there. Tasker was eager to help when Gray contacted him. With a forklift, the 3,000- to 5,000-pound compressor was hoisted onto a truck and moved a few blocks to Lee and Elm. Gray then spent several weeks sandblasting away rust from the compressor.

Another beauty of Planet Earth is it didn't cost the city a cent. Tasker donated the compressor and moved it at no cost. Tony Forrest and Emmett Williams gave their time and talent. Sherwin-Williams Co. provided free paint.

Gray asks, "What better place for Planet Earth?

"Lee and South Elm are the entrance to downtown from the coliseum area and from I-40 and I-85,'' he says. "We have 28,000 cars a day pass here. We thought it a great work of art that would go well because this is such a pivotal corner."

Gray believes he has lined up a sculptor who will donate his time to weld - using several hooks on the compressor - a sign that would say "Old Greensboro.'' Gray thought about using "Greensborough'' again, but the town abandoned that spelling before the Civil War. Gray decided Greensboro is Greensboro.

Martha Forrest owns the Tin Rooster interior design-gift-accessory shop and the Blue Diamond Gallery, both on South Elm not far from Lee. She lives around the block in the new South Side residential/retail complex.

Martha Forrest believes Planet Earth will make the intersection a destination and that it could become a rendezvous marker. She's convinced family and friends are bound to gather for photos around the globe.

"It is really a gift of love to brighten up the whole downtown experience," she says.

The lower end of South Elm seems to thrive with antique and art shops and other commerce. And the new South Side project has added people and activity and won design awards.

But Martha Forrest says the big downtown promotions, such as Fun Fourth and the Festival of Lights, attract thousands to the north side of the railroad. During those events, few people detour south of the tracks, she says.

"We are all just individual proprietors paying rent each month, and we don't get a whole lot of attention," she says. "The money is not trickling down to this end of the downtown fast enough."

Well, not yet. The city plans to redevelop two rundown blocks across Lee, including what was the art deco-style Holsum Bread Bakery. Within a day or two after Gray and Forrest gathered at the globe to be photographed, a demolition crew leveled the old bakery.

But Martha Forrest says the redevelopment project - to bring residential and retail to the two blocks - is years from completion. Until then, rents and mortgage payments will continue to come due to those already in an area where people "enjoy a wonderful camaraderie and attitude and are looking out for one another," Martha Forrest says.

Planet Earth brought together kindred spirits: Gray, Tasker and the Forrests, all Greensboro natives. Gray's mother, Sylvia Gray, ran an antique and furniture business at 606 S. Elm St. from 1945 until her death in April 1997.

"I think it's a very clever idea,'' John Tasker says of Planet Earth. "Sidney was very creative about this."

Tasker warns that Planet Earth shouldn't be viewed as a clever "sign."

"We think of it as sculpture, " he says.

Planet Earth may spawn satellites. Martha Forrest and Sidney Gray see possibilities for more public art near the railroad tracks. Their goal: to psychologically forge the railroad barrier between north and south downtown.

"The idea," Martha Forrest says, "is to encourage people to cross the tracks."

Planet Earth: Article by 99 blocks Magazine - July 24, 2008

300 South Elm Street by 99 blocks Magazine - September 18, 2008

About me

Born:
April 15, 1946
Greensboro, North Carolina

Education:
Lindley, McIver on West Lee Street and Sternberger Elementary

Kiser Jr. High School

Greensboro Senior High Class of 1963

B.A., University of South Carolina

Family:
Married to Ricki Gray, a teacher with Greensboro Public Schools

Three adult children

Contact:
Email: asidneyz@yahoo.com

Blog: http://sidneygray.blogspot.com/

Phone: 336-275-0602

Sidney C. Gray's proposal for candidate and voter participation in elections

There are many creative people who should become political candidates but are hesitant to participate in the political process because of the monetary costs associated with a campaign. The citizen/voter should have access to the candidates' views on the issues so that an informed, intelligent and thoughtful decision can be made as to which candidate the voter supports.

I propose the following: Each candidate for political office can present a position paper to the correct City Department for free duplication. The City will make these position papers available without cost to its citizens in our libraries, parks and recreation departments as well as any City owned facility. The City of Greensboro will provide the position papers to our private and public media outlets for insertion and distribution in their publication at no charge to the candidate.

Sidney C. Gray's Response to Off the Record Blog (Doug Clark) on "Plenty said at District 3 meeting"

Here is my response to Doug Clark's post regarding Thursday evening's District 3 meeting.