When Past Art Has Such Relevance to the Political and Personal Present
... Faith Ringgold and the art and struggle all around us
Before listing all the great creative happenings in our vicinity, I’ll start with this …
The artworks above and below aren’t by a Bronx artist, nor are they being shown in the Bronx. But whether or not you’re a Bronx fan of Faith Ringgold — even a recent one like me — the expression of her incredible work is within us and our borough nonetheless (and she did spend much of her life in nearby Harlem). Ringgold died a couple of weeks ago at 93. I had seen one large powerful work of hers at MoMA, “American People Series #20: Die” — highlighting violence between races — several times in the hallway in recent years but I don’t think I looked into her work further. But in March, just one month before she died, while visiting our daughter at college in Massachusetts, my wife and I stopped by the Worcester Art Museum and saw a solo exhibit of hers: “Freedom to Say What I Please.” It blew me away. Her work is so diverse in its materials, so engaging, and sometimes evoking a history of her love and pride. Yet much of it is also a riveting, intense — even upsetting — report of our nation’s racism, its violent conflicts in the 1960s and beyond. And it is so, so relevant to what our country is experiencing at this very moment, more than a half century later: racism, political horror, campus conflicts over a war we are so much a par of, a decaying planet and more.
Here’s what the museum reported in their description of her exhibit.
The exhibition title comes from a portion of the story inscribed on Picasso’s Studio, spoken by a fictional character inspired by Ringgold’s life experiences: “You asked me once why I wanted to become an artist and I said I didn’t know. Well I know now. It is because it’s the only way I know of feeling free. My art is my freedom to say what I please. [It’s not important] what color you are, you can do what you want [with your] art. They may not like it, or buy it, or even let you know it; but they can’t stop you from doing it.” These words aptly summarize Ringgold’s approach to her artwork, which continues to be as influential as the day it was made.
Indeed. Ringgold’s work is so related to what we need to grapple with … and, yet, relish nonetheless. Only art can do that.
Speaking of relishing, here’s a piece of Ringgold’s on the front page of The New Yorker this week. It made me smile.
Big Weekend Event a Bit Beyond The Bronx
There are a lot of cool art events, exhibits, and interactions this coming weekend (May 4 & 5) in Yonkers thanks to the 10th annual Yonkers Arts Weekend. I really recommend checking it out. Here are the many things going on at the Blue Door Art Center. And you can learn more here and here about what’s going on throughout Yonkers. Most of it is pretty much downtown, close to the Bronx. I strongly encourage you to go to the 20th Annual YOHO Open Studios gathering in a giant old factory where you can visit and meet artists of all kinds in their studios and learn about their work. It’s at 540 & 579 Nepperhan Ave. between 11 and 5 PM both days.
Dance & Theatre
BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) features a good few dance and theatre performances in May in Westchester Square, including the play, In Scena!’s “The Visit,” (photo above), Thursday, May 9 at 7 PM. It’s FREE! 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 and here’s a photo of the dance group performing.
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. Now through 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.”
Speaking of Pregones/PRTT, students from Mind Builders, a nonprofit arts org in Wakefield, will perform at Pregones (575 Walton Ave. in South Bronx) in “So You Think You can Act!/PYT Theater Performance” this Friday, May 3 from 7 to 8 PM. For more details click here.
Art Exhibits & Related Happenings
There are three new exhibits at Wave Hill in Riverdale, which I saw recently at the opening. (Admission is FREE on Thursdays.) More info and photo in last edition.
“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!)
Bronx River Art Center has an excellent FREE group exhibit, “NEVER WAIT!/¡NUNCA ESPERES!” through June 8.
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. And another BDC exhibit has a FREE opening this coming Friday, May 3 from 6 to 9 PM: “Orinoco - Frontera de agua -” (Water Border) “is a visual and literary essay featuring various stories and voices from those who have forged a life in this stateless area near the Orinoco River border between Colombia and Venezuela.” More info here.
As I wrote about in more detail in a previous issue, Alexis Maria Montoya’s engaging, wonderful collage exhibit at Casita Maria in Hunts Point is on through Aug. 16. And if you want to learn more about Montoya, her exhibit and Casita Maria, check out this BRONXNET interview on YouTube.
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.
Fashion King of Kingsbridge
I live in Kingsbridge Heights, in the northwest Bronx, just a few blocks uphill from Broadway in Kingsbridge. About eight years ago, I saw the man in this photo (below) sitting at the corner of West 231st Street and Broadway and stopped by to chat. His name is Lewis, and every time I’ve seen him since in that same spot, he’s in a different, cool, colorful outfit. We’ve had some good conversations and last year, I gave him six of my photos of him in one frame. I look forward to giving him another six in the near future. :-) Talk about art all around us?! It so often arrives in ways we never expect.
Workshops/Programs for Adults & Kids
Every summer and fall/spring season, Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center in Wakefield (northeast Bronx near 2/5 trains) offers a number of FREE art programs for kids and teens in addition to public performances, workshops and presentations.
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 through June 17 for adults and school-age kids from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, (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.”
(If you know of any other kids’ arts programs in The Bronx — especially if they’re FREE — please let me know! Thanks!)
Music
OK, here’s a return of what is likely to be a wide variety of performances of all who choose to take part: Uptown Melody brings back “Wine & Soul” open mic and showcase at The Andrew Freedman Home (which is at 1125 Grand Councourse, pretty much right across the street from The Bronx Museum) next Thursday, May 9 from 7 to 10 PM. Uptown Melody is calling for singers, poets, comedians, and hidden talents to come and take part. You can see and learn more @theuptownmelody on Instagram.
This coming Sunday, May 5 at 2:30 PM the Lehman College and Community Chorus and the Lehman Symphony Orchestra perform at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is FREE.
As usual, An Beal Bocht in Riverdale has a lot of good live music going on. It’s FREE to get in but all are urged to “Please! Be! Generous!” to gather well-deserved tips for the performers.
And go here to learn about open mic and concerts at Starving Artists on City Island including Hannah Glick: an evening of Broadway and more, this Saturday, May 4 at 8 PM.
If you appreciate Art All Around Us and can afford it, I’d be grateful if you signed up for a paid subscription. It takes me more than half the week to get it done, and that time is increasing, as my knowledge of, and interest in, the Bronx art world grows and grows.
Thanks to all readers who have already signed up for a paid subscription and those of you who have spread the word about its existence. I am truly grateful!