Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville photographer, Howard Ash, was in the Fuller Dome on 10/22/21 to document these scenes from the dome’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Center Director Benjamin Lowder sharing a bit of the Dome’s history at the 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Choreographer, Nicole Thomas, performing a Katherine Dunham style tribute dance in honor of Allegra Fuller Snyder at the Fuller Dome 50th Anniversary.
10/22/21 gathering in honor of the Fuller Dome’s 50th Anniversary
Percussionists, Atum Jones (L) and Rodney Lindor (R) accompanied the dancers Yanvalou in the Fuller Dome.
Nicole Thomas leading her dance students in a Yanvalou in the Fuller Dome
Dance students from University High School performed a Katherine Dunham style dance at the Fuller Dome’s 50th Anniversary.
An exhibition celebrating the Fuller Dome’s history opened on 10/22/21 in honor of the dome’s 50th Anniversary.
Visitors got see examples from Buckminster Fuller’s personal library on view at the Fuller Dome’s 50th Anniversary exhibition.
Buckminster Fuller’s own globes, donated to the dome by the Fuller Estate, were on view in the Fuller Dome Gallery for the 50th Anniversary exhibition.
10/22/21 Celebration in the Dome
On 10/22/71 Buckminster Fuller dedicated the miniature earth geodesic dome he and Shoji Sadao designed for the newly created Southern Illinois University campus in Edwardsville Illinois. Bucky read an essay that day in 1971 to dedicate the building. The essay is titled “Geoview” and it describes Fuller’s vision and intention for the creation of his Edwardsville dome. 50 years to the day, on 10/22/21, Bucky’s family and supporters came together for a 50th anniversary reading of his “ Geoview” essay. Bucky’s language is verbose but when examined, it is revealed to be exactly constructed to convey the meaning he had intended it to communicate. Get inside the mind of Buckminster Fuller and enjoy this 50th Aniiversary reading of “Geoview” :
A 50th Anniversary reading of Buckminster Fuller's "Geoview" essay, originally read by Bucky for the 1971 dedication of his Religious Center, miniature-earth, "Geoscope" dome built on the SIUE campus. "Geoview" is read here on 10/22/21 (50 years from the day Bucky read it) by Bucky's grandson Jaime Snyder, his granddaughter Alexandra Snyder May, Bucky scholar David McConville, Bucky's colleague Amy Edmondson, Bucky devotee Benjamin Lowder, Bucky's niece Lucilla Fuller Marvel, and author of the Bucky play D. W. Jacobs. Today the Center is known as the Fuller Dome and it is managed by a nonprofit org. the Center for Spirituality & Sustainability.
Friday, October 22nd, 2021, marks the 50th anniversary of the day that Buckminster Fuller dedicated his dome on the SIUE campus by reading his essay "Geoview." The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability would like to mark the Fuller Dome's 50th anniversary by inviting you to join us in the dome for an evening celebrating its history while looking to its future. The evening starts at 6PM with program comprised of:
A reading of "Geoview" by Fuller's, family, friends, colleges & devotees
A dance tribute from the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe
An exhibition of art and artifacts donated from the Fuller Estate
Plus, live string and piano music from the SIUE music department
The 50th Anniversary Exhibition opens in the Fuller Dome Gallery at 7:30 PM following the program
On October 22nd in 1971, Buckminster Fuller and Shoji Sadao dedicated the geodesic domed Religious Center that they had designed and built together for the newly created Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville Campus. At the dome that day, Bucky read an essay he had written for the occasion. The essay is titled "Geoview, Go In To Go Out" and it describes Bucky's intention for the Center's design as well as the Center's connection to our planet's 90th longitudinal Meridian. The Center is topped by a translucent, three-quarter-sphere, miniature-earth, geodesic dome that perfectly straddles the planet's 90th Meridian. Bucky was able to align the miniature-earth dome's 90th Meridian with the actual 90th Meridian so that when you stand in the center of the dome and look up, you are looking at the place that you are standing on the actual planet. In doing this, you see your place in the world from vantage point of the heart of the planet, and since the miniature-earth dome is translucent, you look out to the heavens and see the world's place in the universe. Providing this immediate sense orientation of the human individual with-in the universe is a remarkable architectural achievement and the Center is in many ways Bucky's master work. Today the Center is named the Fuller Dome and it is managed by a non-profit organization, the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability.
The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability will hold its 2021 Celebration of World Faiths on Wednesday, October 20th at 7:00 pm in the Fuller Dome on the SIUE campus. The program will feature a, 45 minute, film created by CSS, “Compassion is Natural When You See the All in All,” followed by a discussion and Q&A with the film’s presenter, CSS Director, Benjamin Lowder.
Lowder’s presentation connects the theme of ‘compassion’ to the legacy of Buckminster Fuller through use of the Fuller Dome as an architectural metaphor that dissolves boundaries and reveals the sacred geometry of Nature to promote a unified and compassionate worldview. This annual CSS event focuses on building unity and understanding in alignment with the Center’s mission to “promote humanity’s sacred connection to the earth and each other.”
The Celebration of World Faiths’ film screening in the Fuller Dome is free and open to the public—however, registration is required to join us in person. Due to Covid restrictions, capacity is limited to the first 35 registrants.
The Fuller Dome is a Buckminster Fuller designed, miniature earth, geodesic dome located on the SIUE campus just off of Circle Drive next to visitor parking lot B. For more information call the Center at (618) 650-3246 or email toviablack.css@gmail.com
Republished from the SIUE News:
L-R: Helping to lead up the Brooklyn group are SIUC graduate students Alex Grenhoff and Abigail Frankel, and SSCC graduate assistant Breanna Booker (seated).
The problems are longstanding, but the mission is clear. The current situation is bleak, but the commitment to the future is hopeful. The resources are threadbare, but the partnerships are secure. After decades of historical disinvestment and systematic disparities, the Illinois communities of Venice, Brooklyn and Madison (VBM) are targeted to be the recipients of community and economic development, thanks in part to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Successful Communities Collaborative (SSCC).
The SSCC, along with Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), SIU Board of Trustees Vice Chair Ed Hightower, EdD, Madison County Leadership Council, and Western Illinois University (WIU) with Innovation Network’s (IIN) Sustaining Illinois Seed Funding, is engaged in community-led strategic planning to revive and set in motion a prosperous design for VBM. Other challenges that the communities face include the deindustrialization that led to rapid population decline. The collaborative team has hosted two community planning workshops that included community leaders, regional architects and planners, environmental and disaster assessment experts, economic advisors and university representatives.
Connie Frey Spurlock, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and SSCC director (left) and Ed Hightower, EdD, SIU Board of Trustees vice chair.
Leading teams of graduate students on strategic planning and design development proposals are SIUC School of Architecture Professors Craig Anz, PhD; and Rolando Gonzales, PhD. The proposals include a focus on flood prevention methods, such as rain gardens, storage tanks and additional greenery. “This work aligns with our School of Architecture mission to serve our communities,” said Anz, “to better our greater socio-environmental conditions, and prepare future architects to make real-world impacts in the 21st century.”
Connie Frey Spurlock, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and SSCC director, and Breanna Booker, SSCC graduate assistant, are researching and documenting social and economic aspects needed to inform the overall project and directly engage community members in the planning. “We are working to put the needs of the community first, by developing plans centering around the people who live there,” explained Booker. “The community members are going to be part of every step of the process, and I am looking forward to seeing what they have in mind.” WIU faculty are working with community leaders and stakeholders to build local grocery facilities in the Venice township, in correspondence with strategic planning proposals.
“The VBM project is an extremely exciting one and is like no other I have worked on before,” said Sean Park, WIU program manager and outreach specialist. “With improvements planned in housing, food access, job training, transportation access and other areas, the possibility of improving the quality of life increases greatly.” The project involves site visits, community workshops, architectural design sessions and presentations to leaders and stakeholders. The proposals will include township and neighborhood layouts with new community facilities and amenities, and proposed environmental resilient development.
For more information visit siucarchitecture.wixsite.com/siu-community.
SIUE Successful Communities Collaborative (SSCC) is a cross-disciplinary program that supports one-year partnerships between the University and communities in Illinois to advance local resilience and sustainability based on community-identified environmental, social and economic issues and needs. Our mission is to connect Illinois communities with the dynamic resources of SIUE students and faculty.
The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability dome is honored to be one of the host sites for the 2021 Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability Conference. The conference seeks to highlight indigenous life-ways related to sourcing food in balance with local ecosystems. Our Center’s Advisory Board Member and Distinguished SIUE Professor, Gregory Fields organized the 2021 IKS Conference so that we may recall ways of living in alignment with the ecosystem that supports us. The conference is free and open to all online with registration and schedule information below. The Center is hosting Ed Spevak’s presentation titled “Native Foods, Native Peoples, Native Pollinators.” Register today to join us online for this important sharing of knowledge vital to a sustainable future for our species.
ALLEGRA FULLER SNYDER • August 28, 1927 - July 11, 2021
We are mourning the passing of Allegra Fuller Snyder. Her family shared with us that Allegra passed on Sunday, July 11th with the same ease and grace that she lived her life. Allegra was a dancer, UCLA professor, dance ethnologist, choreographer, and author. She shared her joy and enthusiasm for life through her love of dance. Allegra was the daughter of our building's designer Buckminster Fuller. We are forever grateful to the support and generosity she has shown to the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability over the years. Allegra’s support of the Center accounts in large part for our organizations vitality. Our prayers are with her children Jaime and Alexandra as well as the rest of her family as they navigate her passing.
The following memoriam was written by Allegra’s family upon her passing:
Allegra Snyder, professor emerita and former chair of the Department of Dance at UCLA, and a founder of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, died July 11 at her apartment in Stroudwater Lodge, Westbrook, Maine, at the age of 93. The daughter of R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlett Fuller, Allegra was born in Chicago. Her primary education was at the Dalton School in New York City, a learning experience that she cherished. On graduation day from Bennington College in 1951, Allegra married Robert Snyder, who had recently won the Academy Award Oscar for Best Feature Documentary in 1950 for his film on Michelangelo. Allegra attended the School of American Ballet and studied with Martha Graham during her years at Bennington.
After the birth of her two children, Alexandra Fuller Snyder and Jaime Lawrence Snyder, Allegra and Bob drove west to Los Angeles. With her children in school, Allegra enrolled at UCLA, earning a Master’s in Dance in 1967 and then joined the faculty there. She retired from UCLA in 1991. During her long career at UCLA, Allegra developed many curriculum innovations concerning dance, ethnography, culture, and art. In addition to serving as chair of the Dept. of Dance at UCLA, Allegra directed the World Arts and Cultures interdisciplinary program which became the Dept. of World Arts and Cultures/Dance in 1995. She researched and lectured widely around the world including a year in England on a Fulbright Grant and a year in Kerala, India, on a sabbatical.
She was long-active with the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) and the National Endowment of Arts, dance division. Snyder was a visiting professor of performance studies at New York University from 1982-83 and was honorary visiting professor at the University of Surrey, Guildford, England from 1983-84. She also taught at CalArts and at Naropa Institute.
Following the death of her father, Buckminster Fuller, in 1983, Allegra took a significant role in determining a path to preserve her father’s work and to find ways to promote its relevance going forward. She was a passionate and articulate educator on the principles of her father’s work and encouraged many to think independently and follow their unique experience in life.
Allegra enjoyed and took a keen interest in the growth of her two grandchildren, Olivia Allegra May and Rowan Keith May, and of her two step grandchildren, Mira Kennedy and Elizabeth Demaray.Allegra’s husband, Robert Snyder, died in 2004. After 55 years in Southern California, Allegra packed up her bags and moved back home to NYC. She spent eight years living in Murray Hill fully engaged in New York dance and other arts, as well as reconnecting with life-long friends and family. Throughout her life she spent many summers in Penobscot Bay, Maine, on Bear Island, which will be her final resting place.
The St Louis PBS station, Channel Nine, produced an informative and entertaining program on the legacy of our Center’s designer Buckminster Fuller. The region in Southern Illinois from St Louis to Carbondale is the most important region in the world for architecture directly related to Buckminster Fuller. You can watch the full program by clicking the link below:
Marilyn and Larry Kinsella return to the Fuller Dome on Saturday, July 24th at 7PM to share stories and ancient tools relating to the creation of Woodhenge at the Cahokia Mounds historic site near Collinsville Illinois. Woodhenge is an ancient solar calendar comprised of a large circle of cedar poles that were likely used to site Solstice and Equinox alignments.
Larry Kinsella is an ancient tool expert and he worked on the reconstruction of Woodhenge. He will talk about the stone tools he made and used to keep the reconstruction of Woodhenge as near to genuine as possible. Marilyn Kinsella is a gifted and renowned storyteller who will be sharing stories relevant to Woodhenge's theme of capturing the light and fire of the sun. We hope to see you in the dome on Saturday, July 24th for this exciting event. The Fuller Dome is located on the SIUE campus, just off of Circle Drive, next to Visitor Parking Lot B.
In this 3-part series we will be Searching for the Sacred through Islamic Mysticism on June 13th, Living in the Sacred through Ignatian Spirituality on July 11th and reflecting on our relationship with the sacred through Cognitive Behavior Therapy on August 8th.
This is on online event hosted through Zoom. The reservation ticket is $30 and includes $20 donation to Paul and a $10 donation to the CSS. Upon registering you will be given access to a zoom link to watch this inspiring series with author Paul Coutinho.
Please join us on Second Sundays at 7 pm to meditate and reflect with internationally renowned author and speaker Paul Coutinho, PhD. Inspired by Ignatian spirituality, Eastern spirituality, and Western psychology, Paul’s books include "How Big is Your God", "Just as You Are," and "Sacred Darkness."
Local group brings together historian and environmental advocate to explore the dark and dirty secrets of coal mining—past and present
The Confluence Climate Collaborative in conjunction with SIUE’s Fuller Dome will be hosting a unique event to dive into the environmental and human degradation of coal mining in Illinois. Author of Sixteen Tons, Kevin Corley will be on hand as well as Sierra Club volunteer and activist Joyce Blumenshine.
Corley’s book Sixteen Tons introduces us to the men and women who fought BIG COAL in the early days of mining in this country--exposing racism, corporate greed and human suffering which would be hard to imagine today. The author will lead us through and discuss the history and brutality of those practices.
Sierra Club Conservation Committee chair Joyce Blumenshine will present a present-day look at coal mining in Illinois with a focus on the Deer Run Mine near Hillsboro, IL and the devastation that is being caused to farms, homes and highways by long wall mining.
Event: Coal Mining’s Dark and Dirty Truth—Past and Present • Book Discussion and Presentation
Date: Friday, June 4
Time: 7:00 to 8:30 pm
All are welcome. The event is being offered in person with social distancing and via Zoom. Please RSVP by emailing wisdom@studiogaiaedwardsville.com or calling (618) 779-5378. The Confluence Climate Collaborative (CCC) is a grassroots collaborative with a mission statement that seeks to educate as many people as possible about how climate change threatens the planet and provide as many tools as possible to empower a change.
Stones are the Keepers of the Stories • An engaging presentation uniting the storytelling talent of Marilyn Kinsella with the stone-tool making skills of her husband Larry Kinsella
Marilyn Kinsella, the Storyteller, teams up with her husband Larry Kinsella, the Stone-Tool Maker to offer this entertaining and informative presentation in the Fuller Dome, on the SIUE campus, in Edwardsville Illinois, on Saturday, May 29th at 7:00 PM. The program opens with Marilyn presenting a traditional Iroquois story, "Skunny Wundy aand the Stone Giant." This tale recounts the adventures of the trickster, Skunny Wundy and his amusing encounter with the Stone Giant. Following the story, Larry demonstrates the primative tools that Marilyn referneced in the story - stone axes, atlatls, spears, banner stones, flint knives and arrow points. Larry explains the process of how these tools were made and how they were used. Marilyn returns to tell a riveting tale from the Northwest, "The Whistling Tsonquas."
The Center for Spirituality & Sustainability, presents a noon hour program in observance of Earth Day, on Thursday, April 22nd, 2021 in the Fuller Dome on the SIUE campus.
You may join us in person in the Fuller Dome. Seating will be limited to the first 40 attendees. Masks are required in the Fuller Dome. You may also join us here in a Facebook Live stream. The CSS is teaming up with Sally Burgess of Studio Gaia and the Sierra Club to offer this program integrating prayer with action. We'll be opening with a guided mediation / prayer for the planet followed by outlining legislation and actions steps directed to bring our relationship with the planet into balance.
“Mindfulness Week” at the Fuller Dome is a student lead project from the SIUE Applied Communications Studies program running this week from 3/29/21 to 4/2/21. It is kicking off a year long celebration of the dome’s 50th Anniversary. Check out the “Mindfulness Week” programming below:
“When you live close to something, you can take it for granted,” said Crowe. “I grew up in Wood River and was familiar with the Dome, but I certainly didn’t understand the significance of it. It’s been a real educational experience for me. There are people outside of the country who recognize the importance of and the legacy of (sustainability pioneer) R. Buckminster Fuller. He and his contributions should be better known in our country, region and state.”
Center Director Benjamin Lowder shares the Dome’s history and future plans with Senator Crowe.
“What struck me most is Fuller’s foresight, and that we are still considering the same things today,” continued Crowe. “I also learned how underutilized the Center is. The educational aspect and potential for SIUE students and others in the area is amazing.”
Senator Crowe and Benjamin Lowder admiring Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome on the SIUE campus
The senator was excited about using her position on the Senate Tourism and Hospitality Committee to elevate the CSS and help meet its objectives. “The Center fits in exactly with what we need in our area – tourism. We need to get the word out better about Mr. Fuller and everything he has contributed, so we can draw people here.” … You can read the full story here in the SIUE News …
L-R: Katja Kopp, CSS vice president of sustainability; Connie Frey Spurlock, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and CSS board president; and Jeanne Aguirre, CSS vice president of spirituality.
SIUE’s Frey Spurlock to Lead Center for Spirituality and Sustainability’s Board of Directors
Strengthening and expanding the work, influence and partnerships of the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability (CSS) on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is the vision of its board of directors’ new president Connie Frey Spurlock, PhD.
Frey Spurlock, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, SIUE Successful Communities Collaborative (SSCC) director and former CSS board member, is excited about working closer with the board in her new position. …
Read the SIUE News Feature on Benjamin Lowder’s appointment to the newly created CSS Director position
CSS Director Benjamin Lowder
CSS Director Lowder Helps Spread Buckminster Fuller’s Message to the World
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Fuller Dome Center for Spirituality and Sustainability (CSS) on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, by renowned sustainability pioneer R. Buckminster Fuller and his architectural partner Shoji Sadao. The CSS’s new director, Ben Lowder, plans to use the observance as a way to further advance CSS’s mission and Fuller’s vision.
“This occasion provides an opportunity to place the Center and its organizational mission onto a global stage through its importance to Bucky’s legacy,” said Lowder. “Increased awareness will amplify fundraising opportunities that will allow us to address the physical needs of the building, while maintaining the metaphysical aspects of our mission.” … click here to read the rest on the SIUE News site
Second Saturdays at the CSS
Click to register for this Second Sundays at the CSS speaker series
Beginning with February 14th at 7 pm, please join us on Second Sundays at 7 pm to meditate and reflect with internationally renowned author and speaker Paul Coutinho, PhD. Inspired by Ignatian spirituality, Eastern spirituality, and western psychology, Paul’s books include How Big is Your God, Just as You Are, and Sacred Darkness.
Due to our observance of SIUE's current pandemic mitigation guidelines we are offering this series as an online Zoom event. The reservation ticket is $30 and includes $20 donation to Paul and a $10 donation to the CSS. Upon registering you will be given access to a zoom link to watch the 3rd installment of this inspiring series with author Paul Coutinho.
The CSS is the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). We are an independent, not-for-profit organization, serving SIUE and external communities since 1971. We welcome all individuals and groups who share our values of diversity, inclusion, faith, and stewardship. Designed by Buckminster Fuller, the geodesic dome that is home to the CSS is a miniature earth which rests on the 90th meridian, the only line of longitude that is the same in both hemispheres of the planet. As such, the Fuller Dome embodies the essence of Fuller’s philosophies. Please, come sit in our central room, and look up – you are now at the center of the Earth, gazing out into the universe.
We are so excited and grateful for the new year and our new partnership with Studio Gaia, who is moving into the Fuller Dome with us. Our first collaborative offering with Studio Gaia, is happening online this Saturday, Jan. 9th, 2021, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM CST, as a Zoom Workshop being lead by Ruth Cohen Kubicek. We look forward to seeing you:
Have you been feeling disconnected, untethered, a little lost, scared or worried, or confused by all that is going on in the world? Join Ruthie for a time & space to clear & clean out your old energies, reset, reboot, & refresh.
Have you been feeling disconnected, untethered, a little lost, scared or worried, or confused by all that is going on in the world? Are you battle weary? Join Ruthie for a time and space to clear and clean out your old energies, reset, reboot, and refresh.
The workshop will provide a safe setting in which to explore what intention setting is all about, why it is important, how to bring yourself into a higher energetic frequency, get perspective and plant seeds to overcome our natural negativity brain bias, and become more comfortable with being with the empty space within, more comfortable with discomfort, and become more attuned and connected to our higher self and those of others. Join us this Jan. 9th, from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM CST for this inspiring Zoom Workshop.
