Creative Bronx Happenings from North to South ....
Lots Going On This Week in Theatre, Dance, Music, Photography and More ....
Sometimes art isn’t limited to the exhibit we set out to see; it can also include who and what we unexpectedly encounter. My wife and I ran into this couple just as I was leaving the Wave Hill exhibit, “Ruben Natal-San Miguel: Nature Finds a Way.” Souleo Wright, at left, is featured in one of the photos in Miguel’s show and his partner, Beau McCall (right), is an artist. Both are wearing some of McCall’s own artwork based on his family’s button collection. According to his website, he “creates wearable and visual art by applying clothing buttons onto mostly up-cycled fabric, materials, and objects. With deliberate focus the buttons are arranged to stimulate one’s curiosity and imagination, while simultaneously drawing attention to the unique history of buttons. Thereby McCall’s work generates a discussion surrounding many topics such as pop culture and social justice.” (More info on Miguel’s exhibit below re: current Wave Hill exhibits.)
Dance & Theatre
Last Friday, Bronx Council on the Arts, in collaboration with Uptown Melody, launched its 2024 BX Expression series at the Bronx Beer Hall in Mott Haven, featuring Caesar the Poet, the Back Lotus Band, and the hip-hop dance group WRT the Collective (photo above). It all was a blast, including the great food and drink at The Bronx Beer Hall. You can see more of the Collective’s work @wrtthecollective. You can sign up for two more upcoming FREE series performances here. A bit of WRT the Collective’s performance in video below. (I’m not sure why it didn’t upload in color. I’ve gotta lot to learn video-wise. :-)
The brand new Bronx Music Hall (reported on in recent issue) presents the dance performance “Bronx Rising!” this Friday, April 26 at 7 PM exploring Tango from Argentina. It’s $10 for adults and $7 for seniors. There’s more info @bxmusic on Instagram.
BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) features a good few dance and theatre performances in May in Westchester Square, including “Every Day is Earth Day” on Thurs., May 2 at 8 PM, which BAAD! reports is “an impactful evening of environmental activism through art with dynamic dance solos by Laura Shapuro and Davalois Fearon, a short film on environmental trauma by Paloma McGregor, and an interactive address by 2016 White House Champion of Chance Kayhan Irani. Followed by a panel discussion between all featured artists.” More info and tickets here and here.
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company presents its celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, May 10 and 12. More info here.
The PRTT in the name of the theatre group Pregones/PRTT (which has truly excellent performances in its South Bronx theatre) stands for The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, which is the name of the organization’s performance space on West 47th Street in Manhattan. From May 2 to May 26, the performance there will be “The Desire of the Astronaut,” “which explores the enduring myth and popular iconography of the astronaut through the fictional story of Esteban Only, the last Boricua in space.”
This Saturday and Sunday (April 27 @ 7 PM and April 28 @ 2 PM) at An Beal Bocht Café in Riverdale, Poor Mouth Theatre Company presents “Running With Coffee,” by Eileen Byrne Richards. It’s a “timely tragicomedy about caregiving, mid-life, mental health and fighting over the washing machine after your parents move in!” Tickets are $20 and you can pick them up at the Café or go here to purchase.
Music
And speaking of An Beal Bocht, it has a lot of good live music going on including The John Pinamonti Band performs next Friday, April 26 at 8 PM. There are a lot more happenings to check out here. It’s FREE to get in but all are urged to “Please Be Generous!” when a staffer brings around the gratuity basket to gather tips for the performers.
And go here to learn about concerts at Starving Artists and its weekly open mic on City Island.
Art Exhibits & Related Happenings
My own exhibit, “Aftereffect: Art & Photography,” continues through April 27, at the Poe Park Visitors Center, which is the gray, modern building in the park near the corner of Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse. The exhibit includes my photography and abstract, mixed media art. It’s open now through Saturday from 8 AM to 5 PM. (Just knock on the door that faces the park. The other main door facing the Concourse isn’t accessible right now). Here’s one of my mixed media pieces in the exhibit, “Next Steps.”
Bronx Documentary Center’s current exhibit in Melrose, named for the late photographer Anja Niedringhaus, who was killed in 2014 by an Afghan police commander, is a moving collection of Niedringhaus’ images from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The show continues through May 5. I haven’t seen it yet, but a few pals who did see it say it is not to miss!
BronxArtSpace presents “Hold me as I fly,” which “embraces the paradox in the necessary practices of deep, grounding care and experimental risk-taking on the path toward liberation.” The exhibit runs until May 18.
The Riverdale Y Sunday Market at Riverdale Temple (4545 Independence Ave.) has more than just farm food on May 5. It also features the Riverdale Art Fest, which runs from 10 AM to 3 PM.
BxArts Factory, at 240 E. 153rd St., hosts a Spring Market with “unique artworks and handmade crafts from talented local artists,” on Sat., May 4 from 11 AM to 7 PM.
En Foco co-hosts an exhibit with Wallworks NYC and Judith Escalone, called “Phantasmachina,” a showing of works by Tricia McLaughlin, featuring a selection of drawings, paintings, and renditions of creatures in 3D animation. The exhibit is on through April 30. More info here.
Biennial (Part Two)” at the Bronx Museum is on through June 16. As the museum states on its website, “The exhibition features work by 27 artists who participated in the Museum’s flagship AIM Fellowship—an annual professional development program for artists based in NYC—in 2020, 2021, or 2023.” (Admission is always FREE at The Bronx Museum!)
There are three new exhibits at Wave Hill in Riverdale, which I saw last weekend at the opening. (Admission is FREE on Thursdays.) Here is a photo of one piece from the exhibit: “Perfect Trouble: Queering Natureculture.”
And the last issue of Art All Around Us included a photo from another Wave Hill exhibit: “Ruben Natal-San Miguel: Nature Finds a Way.” More info here.
A few weeks ago I went to a great opening of “I Stood My Ground,” a group exhibit at Longwood Art Gallery (led by Bronx Council on the Arts) at Hostos Community College on the Grand Concourse, just south of East 149th Street. More info on the exhibit here. There’s a closing gathering on Wed., May 1, 6 to 8 PM. You can RSVP here.
Gallery 505 in Riverdale is currently showin “Color of an Independence,” by Jose-Luis Tejeda. Exhibit is on until June 28.
Bronx River Art Center has an excellent FREE group exhibit, “NEVER WAIT!/¡NUNCA ESPERES!” through June 8.
A Bit Beyond the Bronx
Blue Door Art Center in downtown Yonkers offers FREE “Playdates with Jazz and Poetry” monthly through June, including this coming Sunday. It includes and an open mic for musicians and poets. More info here.
Workshops/Programs for Adults & Kids
Every Saturday from 2 to 4 PM, BronxArtSpace, on 700 Manida St., provides FREE art classes for all ages, which include drawing, painting, collage and flip-book animation. How cool is that?!
And just as cool, and open to all ages too, is “Sing With Us!,” weekly Monday night singing classes for adults and school-age kids from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, April 18 through June 17 (except Memorial Day) at Bronx Music Heritage Center. For more info go to @bxmusic on Facebook and Instagram or email lmolde@whedco.org.
Great interactive exhibits and programs at the relatively new Bronx Children’s Museum.
Bronx River Art Center, on East Tremont Avenue, provides children’s and teen art classes.
Blue Door Arts Center in downtown Yonkers has a FREE workshop that features many FREE kids’ and teens’ art workshops.
Through its Youth Photo League, Bronx Documentary Center in Melrose offers a “FREE after-school and summer documentary photography programs [that] teach[es] middle and high school Bronx students to use photography, writing, and research to explore social justice issues and prepare them for college and future careers.”
Enjoying Art All Around Us? If so, I’d be grateful if you could share it with friends and family, co-workers and neighbors. Thanks!
If you can, let me know what this newsletter has led you to, and what you think of what you saw. Have a great week!