New York State Pavilion Paint Project

New York State Pavilion Paint Project

~Who's Who~

Chris Kellberg

1) Where were you born and raised? I was born and raised in Flushing, Queens; on the doorstep of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the World's Fair, so to speak.

2) What is your favorite fair or fair-related memory? My favorite experience was the Belgian Village and the whole concept that you could recreate an environment that made you feel as if you were in an entirely different place: Europe, albeit with tourists. The famous food item goes without saying so I won't say it.

3) How did the fair influence you then and how does it today? I had many World’s Fair influences, from the bearings at the SKF pavilion to the idea of lasers at the GM pavilion and of course Space Park. They ultimately led me to consider a career in engineering.

4) When did you get involved with the paint project and why? Thanks to John Piro and our friendship through the worldsfaircommunity.org where we traded ideas about the New York State Pavilion as far back as 2008. John had the polish and background to convince former Queens Park Administrator Estelle Cooper that he could paint the rotunda with his own resources, an offer she couldn't refuse. Five years ago I lived in Los Angeles so he was quite surprised when I showed up one day to help with the painting.

5) What does the NYSP mean to you and what do you hope for its future? The New York State Pavilion is a New York City and a New York State Landmark that has been too long forgotten. It shares that neglect with too many other Queens landmarks. It is an achievement in civil engineering that helped to establish the cable suspension roof that would become the signature for Madison Square Garden, New York City’s premiere sports facility.

6) What do you do for a living and what (else, besides painting the NYSP) do you do for fun? I am a photographer who has just completed a book about the New York State Pavilion to be released through Arcadia Publishing on October 13, 2014. I am also a Senior Principal Mechanical Engineer at Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, VA where I specialize in spacecraft design and deployable structures.