Art All Around Us — 6.4.25
Music, Film, Art Openings, Theatre & More — in the Bronx & a Bit Beyond ...
Hey Everyone!
I’ll start with this …
I was at The New York Botanical Garden (in the Bronx of course) over the weekend, and part of the “Van Gogh’s Flowers” exhibit is an outdoor celebration of a big influence on his work, including every kind of sunflower and various types and sizes of other yellow flowers. The bee in the photo above came over and wandered around until he arrived exactly in the flower’s center, and they then began the process of serving each other. If only all humans on the planet did this: relying on, and helping, each other whenever possible. (I took a bunch of pix on my iPhone and eventually came up with the one above.)
Details on Van Gogh exhibit:
“Van Gogh’s Flowers” is now open at New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx and the extensive exhibit is open until Oct. 21. All the info here. (By the way, Bronx residents can get free access to see most of NYBG. Learn more here.)
EXHIBIT OPENINGS/NEW EXHIBITS
It’s the 60th anniversary of Wave Hill in Riverdale. Celebrating that includes a lot of fun, including live performances at sunset this week and weekend, June 5 to 8. All the info right here.
And here are all the current art exhibits at Wave Hill.
At The Longwood Art Gallery in Westchester Square, Bronx, the exhibition “Transformative Impact” showcases “the powerful ways in which four contemporary Bronx artists — Maya Ciarrocchi, Ghislaine Sabiti, dan keith williams, and Natalie C. Woodengage — and curator Lucia Warck-Meister engage with their communities through socially and environmentally conscious art making.” It ends on July 2, and there’s a special event on Wed., June 18 from 6 to 8 PM called “LoopCurrent,” a “performance by Ciarrocchi that explores humanity’s lasting impact on the planet and imagines a world shaped by our future descendants.” All the info here and here.
Pelham Art Center in Pelham, NY is just a bit north of the northeast Bronx, and Metro North stops right nearby. The exhibit “13th Biennial Alexander Rutsch Award Winner: ransome” is on through July 13: “The artwork of ransome centers on his African American lineage, which is traced back to sharecroppers of the American South who migrated to northern cities along the East Coast. His pictorial narratives are personal, yet the symbols he uses are universal and interplay with larger social, racial, ancestral, economic, and political histories that inform our nation to this day.” Details here.
Lehman Art Gallery will have a showing of artwork, from K to 12 students that will be open to all. It’s just one day (I wish it was longer) on Thurs., June 5, from 10 AM to 4 PM. More info here. FREE!
On a New York Island …
Reading Hyperallergic (a great FREE online art mag you should check out) I came across info about this Governor’s Island group exhibit, “Eco Art on Island,” presented by Taiwanese American Art Council, which will be on in various forms throughout the summer. I really look forward to checking it out and there’s always more art in the same vicinity. FREE! All the info here and here.
DANCE
Lots going on at BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance) in Westchester Square this month thanks to its “Out Like That” series. All the info here.
FILM
Can you believe that the movie “Jaws” came out 50 years ago this month?! Well, Norwood resident and “Jaws” fan Jarrett Murphy has organized an anniversary screening of it on City Island on Sat., June 21 at 6 PM. It’s at Cinema on the Sound, 270 City Island Ave., Bronx. Get tickets ($10) here. And more info here. The event also presents the opportunity to “learn about local efforts to save the ocean, protect sharks and preserve the working waterfront.”
THEATRE
At Bartow-Pell Mansion in Pelham Bay Park, there will be seven performances of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” June 8 through June 15. All the info here.
And City Island Theatre Group, right across the little bridge from Pelham Bay Park, presents the play, “Ripcord,” written by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by James Mohn, on June 6 through June 14. All the details here.
Details on Riverdale Children’s Theatre summer session for third to tenth graders are right here.
MUSIC
The Bronx River Art Center presents the Bronx River Sound Festival on three June Saturdays: June 14, 21 & 28. All the info here.
This Saturday, June 7, from 5 to 8 PM, Hudson River Museum in Yonkers celebrates “Pride to African American Music Appreciation Month” with string quartet Diverse Concert Artists. There are two outdoor sets (5 & 6:40 PM) of live music that blends classical, pop, Broadway, and Hip Hop, spotlighting LGBTQ+ and Black composers. If it rains, the performances will be held indoors. FREE!
At Bronx Music Hall (on East 162nd Street near Boricua College) this Saturday, June 7 at 8 PM, “join host Randy Cohen for a special live taping of Person Place Thing featuring multi-Grammy-nominated Latin jazz icon Bobby Sanabria & Ascensión. Through stories and music, Sanabria shares the person, place, and thing that shaped his journey — from the heart of the South Bronx to the global stage.” Info and tickets here.
Lusito Carrión, Norberto Vélez and Cucco Peña perform at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in Bedford Park this Sat., June 7 at 8 PM. More info, including a video of them performing, right here. Tickets $35 and up.
The first Sunday of every month you can see the Bronx Music Podcast interview of Bronx musicians, hosted by Gary Axelbank, live at The Artist, on City Island. More info here.
As usual, there is a lot of great live music, as well as art and theatre, to check out at An Beal Bocht Café in Riverdale. Open mics, with Eric Sullivan are every Tuesday at 9 PM. Writers/Poetry Night with Melinda Wilson & Erin Lynn is on the 2nd Wednesday of every month. Yet there’s so much more. Check it all out here.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Through June 27, Riverdale Y features the exhibit, “The Bronx & The World War II Era,” commemorating the 80th anniversary of the war, sponsored by the Riverdale-based group Art for AID. You can look here at the photos being shown, which are also for sale at a relatively low cost.
En Foco and Kreate Hub Bronx present the photo exhibit “Shifting In Place” through Sept. 1 at Kreate Hub in the South Bronx. The exhibition features a curated selection of photographs by artists previously featured with Nueva Luz or the En Foco Archives and Study Center.
“Throwback: The Photography of Edwin Pagán,” an exhibit of Bronx native filmmaker and photographer is up at Pregones/PRTT Theatre in the South Bronx through Aug. 17. It’s presented in partnership with En Foco. All the info here and one of Pagán’s photos below.
ART EXHIBITS
The new exhibit at Bronx Museum on the Grand Concourse (part of which is currently being renovated and enlarged) is “Working Knowledge: Shared Imaginings, New Futures.” It’s on through July 6. (All visits to Bronx Museum are FREE!) The art is incredibly interactive, so I bet kids would love it, too. I hope a lot of school classes make a trip there.
Wilfredo BIO Feliciano’s solo exhibition, “king of hearts” at WALLWORKS, NY (now based at Inspiration Point in Hunts Point) is on through June 13. FREE!
BronxArtSpace presents in its Giving Light Social Justice Series: “Honouring Black Motherhood, Remembrance, and Reproductive Rights,” through June 19. The artists are Laura Alvarez, Wilhelmina Grant, Sandie Luna, Omari Maynard, Andrea Marie, and Kelly Nicely. The curators are Beverly Emers & Flor Montero. More info here. FREE!
Casita Maria Gallery in Hunts Point presents “You CAN Sit Here,” a multimedia solo exhibition by Bronx native Tiffany ‘Tiff McFierce’ McPherson, on through Aug. 16. More details here. FREE!
Riverdale Art Association hosts member exhibits, and its website shares members’ artwork. It also gathers artists to share and discuss their work in person. Check out all it offers right here. And you can see works of members here.
The exhibit “Beyond the Feminist Mystique,” at Blue Door Art Center in downtown Yonkers, is open through June 14. All the info here. FREE!
Through November, Bronx County Historical Society presents the exhibit “Uptown Rumble: Heavy Music in the Bronx,” Here’s what the show is all about: “While The Bronx is universally recognized as an epicenter for hip hop, salsa, doo-wop, jazz, reggaeton, and many other popular music genres, our borough is ignored in popular narratives about hard rock, heavy metal, and punk rock.” The show, at the Bronx History Museum in Norwood, features photos, flyerz, fanzines, clippings, memorabilia, oral history and more. FREE!
At the Derfner Judaica Museum in Riverdale, the exhibit “Nature’s Persistence: Recent Work by Shelley Haven,” is running through June 29. FREE! All the info and photos here.
Through June 15, Upstream Gallery in Hastings-on-Hudson (just a bit beyond Yonkers on the Saw Mill) presents the exhibits of “Rachel Weatherford Whitlow: A Sense of Place” and “Susan Richman: Dissolving Boundaries.” FREE! All the info here.
The beautiful Riverfront Gallery at the Yonkers Public Library in downtown Yonkers features the work of artist Elizabeth de Bethune through June 30, and its opening reception is this Thurs., June 5 from 6 to 8 PM. “de Bethune transforms the ordinary moments of everyday life — whether shared with family, friends, or the Queer community in Yonkers — into vibrant, textural paintings that resonate with warmth and intimacy.” All the info here.
The Unexpected …
Recently, I was at Com Tam Ninh Kieu, an excellent Vietnamese restaurant at 2641 Jerome Ave. just south of Kingsbridge Road, and came across these pieces by Steffi Michelle, a Bronxite whose work, she wrote, is “deeply rooted in nature and the ancestral wisdom of her Andean lineage from Ecuador, who expressed themselves through what is known as ‘Light Language,’ — a spiritual, intuitive form of communication.” You can see more of Michelle’s work @steffi_michelle and @readofroses.
BOOK READING
Led by Van Cortlandt House Museum, this Thurs., June 5 at 6 PM you can join a virtual book talk with Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings as they discuss their graphic novel “Washington's Gay General: the Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben.” Info here and here. FREE!
Let the River Flow …
Have a great week and weekend all of you. I hope you can take some time for yourself and enjoy the nature and art all around us.
Peace, Salaam, Shalom, Paz, etc.
Jordan