Right In Front of Us ...
Art exhibits, performances ... and what we see everywhere we look ...
Hey Everyone!
I hope there is something in this newsletter that interests you and draws you out to explore what’s going on art-wise in the Bronx and a bit beyond. That’s what “Art All Around Us” is all about. And it’s not all inside stuff. It’s also almost everywhere we look. So, I’ll start with a photo I took in 2022 of one part of a fire alarm poll in Kingsbridge Heights (more of my photos on IG @jordanmossbx) …
Exhibit Openings
The Bronx Documentary Center in Melrose will have its opening for “Conzo: A Look Back at the Bronx, 1977 to 1984,” on Friday, March 22. (See photo below and more photos in my last newsletter and the one before that.) It’s the work of accomplished documentary photographer Joe Conzo, Jr., who grew up in the South Bronx. Some of his Bronx photography is on his website.’
Reminder! Opening for exhibit “Leftovers,” by Alexis Marie Montoya is tomorrow night, Thurs. March 21 from 5:30 to 8 PM, at the Casita Maria Gallery in Hunts Point. The opening includes DJ music and refreshments.
The Bronx Museum, on the Grand Concourse. presents the group show, “Bronx Calling: The Sixth AIM Biennial (Part I)” through March 31.
With its opening on March 27 from 6 to 8 PM, the Longwood Art Gallery at CUNY Hostos presents the group exhibit “I Stood My Ground,” through May 1. Here’s a photo of one of the pieces from the show …
Lehman Art Gallery at Lehman College in Bedford Park continues to feature a great group exhibit, “Variations: Selections From the Benefit Print Project,” through May 4.
Derfner Judaica Museum in Riverdale presents “Aspects of Appearance: Portraits from the Collection in Context,” through June 30. See photo below.
Untitled (Portrait of a Man). 1979. Oil on canvase. By Benjamin Levy. En Foco has two current exhibits: Boricua Lens: Sophie Rivera Portraits, at Pregones/PRTT, 575 Walton Ave. (by appointment only) through April 4; and The Story Unveiled: Illuminating Womxn’s Narratives at the BxArtsFactory, through March 31. And they co-host an exhibit with Wallworks NYC and Judith Escalone called “Phantasmachina,” an exhibit of works by Tricia McLaughlin, featuring a selection of drawings, paintings, and renditions of creatures in 3D animation. The opening for the latter is April 6 from 1 to 4 PM. More info here.
Live Music
There are still three remaining performances of the South Bronx Concert Series in March at Pregones/PRTT. There’s Latin Jazz featuring Pete Rodriguez this Saturday, March 23 at 7 PM; Classical, Bronx Piano Sunday, with Olga Vinokur on Sun., March 24 at 3 PM, and Jazz Funk with the Groove Collective on Saturday, March 30 at 7 PM. More info here.
More ongoing live music at An Beal Bocht in Riverdale and ongoing concerts at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, and Hostos Center For Arts & Culture.
The above info is what I’m aware of. I’m sure there’s a lot more live music all over the Bronx. If you know of any cool happenings, please let me know!
Free Art Workshops
In downtown Yonkers, Urban Studio Unbound provides free art workshops. There are two this coming Sunday, March 24. One, led by artist Kaili Woop, from 1 to 3 PM, will include gel plates to create monotype and Collagraph prints on a canvas pouch. Participants will experiment using texture and mark making when using a gel plate to print on fabric. The second one, The Cyanotype Workshop, from 3 to 5 PM, will be led by AJ Springer. “A Cyanotype is a monochrome print or image made by placing objects on a pre-prepared, light-sensitive surface. Participants will work with various materials — plant matter, lace — anything that light can pass thru and we’ll use a light box to make their prints!” All supplies provided but RSVP is required. Email: amandaiocousu@gmail.com. More info here.
Bronx Council on the Arts presents its last free workshop for this month on Tuesday, March 26 from 6:30 to 8 PM. (I signed up and looking forward to it!) For visual artists, it’s called “The Art of Presentation: A Practical Guide to Building, Crafting, and Perfecting Your Portfolios.” Sign up here. (BCA also recommends reading online, “How to Write an Art Proposal in Six Easy Steps.”)
Opportunity for Bronx Artists and Photographers!
Speaking of BCA, it invites Bronx-based photographers and visual artists to design a cover for Bronx Memoir Project Volume VIII, a multi-genre anthology written during the 2023-2024 Bronx Memoir Project Workshop Series. The selected artist will receive a stipend of $500. The application deadline is Monday, April 1 at 11:59 PM. Application here.
Workshops/Programs for Kids & Teens
On Saturday, March 23, the Bronx Arts Factory, hosts a FREE Family Weaving Workshop! Check it out.
Bronx River Art Center, on East Tremont Avenue, provides children’s and teen art classes beginning April 8.
Blue Door Arts Center in downtown Yonkers 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.”
Making a Good Point: Rick Rubin
In the past few years, I’ve read a lot of books regarding creativity. I’ve found many points useful to my work. Here’s a long — yet excellent — quote from The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin.
All art is a work in progress. It’s helpful to see the piece we’re working on as an experiment. One in which we can’t predict the outcome. Whatever the result, we will receive useful information that will benefit the next experience.
If you stare from the position that there is no right or wrong, no good or bad, and creativity is just free play with no rules, it’s easier to submerge yourself joyfully in the process of making things.
We’re not playing to win, we’re playing to play. And ultimately, playing is fun. Perfectionism gets in the way of fun. A more skillful goal might be to find comfort in the process. To make and put out successive works with ease.
Oscar Wilde said that some things are too important to be taken seriously. Art is one of those things. Setting the bar low, expecially to get started, frees you to play, explore, and test without attachment to results.
This is not just a a path to more supportive thoughts. Active play and experimentation until we’re happily surprised is how the best work reveals itself.
One last thing …
I was invited to talk about how my brain cancer surgery in 2012 lead me to a life in the arts. It’s on March 28 at 7 PM in Riverdale at 505BX (505 W. 236th St.). I’ll bring a bit of my art as it is relevant to what I’ll be talking about. If you can make it, I look forward to seeing you! More info on flier below.
I hope you can find the time to explore something from above … or somewhere else I don’t yet know about!
Have a wonderful week and weekend!
—Jordan