Mary is the originator of the Charleston Project, as well as its primary funder. Her family has had long affiliations with Charleston, beginning with her great-grandfather, Joseph Moore, who drew up the town’s original plan in 1837.
Mary’s hope is that the commissioned work will be of such interest to all ages that it will attract an increasing number of passers-by on the nearby I-57 junction to help boost the local economy as a whole.
(Project Originator / Primary Funder)
Mary grew up in Charleston whose wonderful town library fuelled her love of books. This love of books led to a post-college job in a secondhand bookshop near Greenwich Village in New York – a job she had loved and never forgot even when circumstances changed.
After marrying an Englishman, Stuart Manley, some years later and moving to the North of England, Mary remembered the job she had loved, and in 1991, together with Stuart, opened her own secondhand / antiquarian bookshop in a magnificent former Victorian railway station in Alnwick. That bookshop, Barter Books, now attracts over 300,000 visitors a year.
Designer of environmentally interactive, kinetic, light and sound sculptures (sculptures that interact with the environment such as wind, water, etc.) since 1980.
Since 1999 he has specialized in the design and execution of large to monumental kinetic and light sculptures for public places from his studios in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA and Geneva, Switzerland.
(Artist / Winning Proposal)
His passion in life is Kinetic Art for Public Places.
With this passion, as president from its inception, he co-founded the Kinetic Art Organization (KAO) www.kinetic-art.org in 2001 with a German and a US fellow Kinetic Artist. Now, with more than 1,000 members in over 60 Countries around the world, KAO has become the largest kinetic art organization in the world.
All Ralfonso kinetic sculptures move, as they interact with water, wind, electricity, as well as with the natural environment and most importantly, the viewer. He has been invited to teach or lecture about Kinetic & Interactive Art and STEAM EDUCATION (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) at numerous Universities and Art Panels around the world.
CHARM
CHArleston Revitalisation Movement
A community Not-for-profit organisation which has a mission to provide a platform for community involvement and increase economic vitality for Charleston, inspiring entrepreneurship, provide inter-generational activities, and joining with other groups to help Charleston thrive.