THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 12, 1995 TAG: 9505110143
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
JOE CORONEL, an eighth-grader at Brandon Middle School, is about as reluctant to be in the spotlight as a teenager can be.
Despite that, that's where he was last Saturday afternoon when Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and a small group of Dome fans took time to commemorate the structure that used to occupy the block bounded by Pacific and Arctic avenues, 19th and 20th streets.
It was Coronel, 15, who produced the winning entry in the contest to design a sculpture which will be built from bits and pieces of the former civic center's original aluminum skin.
The Dome, the first aluminum structure built in this country in the 1950s geodesic style pioneered by the late Buckminster Fuller, was a Beach landmark from the time it opened in 1958 until age and deterioration made it a candidate for the wrecking ball last year.
The idea for the contest for elementary and middle school youngsters came from the students of itinerant Virginia Beach art teacher and Dome lover Robyn Vasile.
``I couldn't believe that the city was going to tear the Dome down,'' she said.
Wanting some memory of the 36-year-old building left behind, she posed a question to her art classes.
``If the city were to give you the Dome, what would you do with it?'' Vasile asked.
It was third-graders who came up with the answer that triggered the contest.
``Let's make a sculpture out of some of the pieces,'' they suggested.
Vasile liked the idea enough to get on the phone, write proposals and dog both city and school officials until her contest idea was accepted.
``She's the most persistent woman I've ever known,'' the mayor said with a laugh. ``She could track me down on the telephone no matter where I went.''
Vasile's persistence paid off. The final plan was to have students submit designs made of paper which Vo-Tech students would use as a model for a larger sculpture made from aluminum scraps saved from the Dome.
``We had more than 600 entries,'' she said. Some 40 of those were passed on to a committee for final judging.
When the selections were narrowed down to the top five, it was Coronel's modern sculpture that came out the winner.
``I'm just impressed,'' Oberndorf said when she handed him his award, ``that anyone this young and this talented could have the appreciation to be able to create a piece that will bring back such nice memories.''
Asked later how he felt during the presentation, Coronel answered with one word:
``Nervous.''
Coronel, who lives with his parents, Virgilio and Marilyn Coronel, an older sister and two younger brothers in the Alexandria section of the city, made his sculpture in school several months ago.
Even the usually quiet Coronel was impressed when Vasile recently took him on a tour of Vo-Tech so that he could see how and where his winning entry will be transformed into a sculpture.
``He was really excited,'' she said. ``He just kept saying `Oh, wow, this is going to be my sculpture?' ''
When finished, the piece will be displayed near the Dome site as a permanent reminder of the grand days when everyone from the Rolling Stones to Louis Armstrong to the Beach Boys played to audiences inside the inverted aluminum bowl.
Other finalists in the contest were Stephanie Spaulding, also of Brandon Middle School; Jacky Mayaen of Fairfield Elementary; Kristina Walton of Arrowhead Elementary; and Fernando Hernandez of Williams Elementary. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
Chosen from some 600 entries, Joe Coronel's design was turned into a
model by Vo-Tech students, who also will turn it into a larger
sculpture made from aluminum scraps saved from the Dome. It will be
displayed near the Dome site.
by CNB