On June 11, Studio Museum in Harlem is hosting the final event in celebration of the groundbreaking publication Smokehouse Associates. Artists on Artists: sonia louise davis, David L. Johnson, and Shamel Pitts on Smokehouse Associates presents an afternoon of dance, readings, lectures, and more, all in Harlem Art Park, the site of one of the art collective’s first painted walls.
El Museo del Barrio is proud to announce Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección, the Museum’s most ambitious presentation of its unique, complex, and culturally diverse permanent collection in over two decades. Organized by Rodrigo Moura, Chief Curator; Susanna V. Temkin, Curator; and Lee Sessions, Permanent Collection Associate Curator, the exhibition will present approximately 500 artworks, including new acquisitions and artist commissions, through rotating displays over the course of one year. Something Beautiful cuts across traditional chronological, geographic, and media-specific categories, reconsidering the Collection through new interdisciplinary approaches rooted in El Museo del Barrio’s foundational history and legacy. This forward-thinking model focuses on the contribution of Amerindian, African, and European cultures as the basis of visual production in the Americas and the Caribbean. See list of participating artists. The exhibition will open on May 19th.
East Harlem’s Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute will celebrate Record Store Day at 120 E 125th Street with DJ sets spinning a variety of genres on vinyl, a film screening, and a pop-up shop.
This free event, entitled RnBnP Record Store Day: Diggin’ Through Crates, features sets by DJs Hard Hittin Harry (African/Caribbean) and DJ Kamala (Jazz/House). The event’s pop-up shop with vinyl records and roller skates available for purchase will be hosted by The Shop NYC on Saturday, April 22nd from Noon to 6:00pm.
Over the years, we’ve trekked all over the five boroughs viewing works created by artists living and working Uptown. On Saturday, April 22nd and Sunday, April 23rd, local artists will be opening their studio doors for an East Harlem Open Studios Tour from 1:00 to 6:00pm ~ a chance for the public to not only see the artwork, but spend time with the artists.
Continue reading “Dates Set for East Harlem Open Studio Tour ~ April 22-23”
The Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) in partnership with Hunter College East Harlem Gallery, has announced the opening of the exhibition, Ida y Vuelta: Experiencias de la migración en el arte puertorriqueño contemporáneo (Arrivals and Departures: Migration Experiences in Contemporary Puerto Rican Art), from March 30th, 2023 through September 30th. The exhibition, a major show featuring 19 artists whose works respond to the processes, causes, and consequences of traveling and living away from their place of origin, will mark the first time in ten years that CENTRO will be partnering with the Hunter East Harlem Gallery, neighbor to the CENTRO Library & Archives, as part of their 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Sitting in on the recent CB 11 meeting, Jana La Sorte, the Administrator of Historic Harlem Parks, gave an update on a plethora of good news happening in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem.
The Park, which runs from 120th Street to 124th Street, and from Madison Avenue to Mount Morris Park West, is the home to the historic Harlem Fire Watchtower, the Harlem Drummers, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, a swimming pool, and from what we heard in this meeting, it may be the new home of Harlem Eat Up!
Continue reading “Getting Ready for Summer 2023, Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem is in the News”
In 2021, the New York Public Library enhanced, repaired, and expanded public spaces to the tune of over $335 million in a capital construction program. In addition to the highlighted Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library and upgrades to Gottesman Hall in the iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (including the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures), the Library spent $37.4 million on 30 other branches serving the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Many of these projects were stalled during the pandemic, and have now been restarted. One such project is a complete renovation for five of the original Carnegie Libraries. And one of those five is located at 224 East 125th Street. Below are a few renderings for the new space, including artwork.
As the world commemorates Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) launches its latest in-person exhibition entitled, Rhythm, Bass and Place: Through the Lens. Launching on March 17, 2023 with a free public reception at CCCADI (120 E 125th Street, NY, NY 10035), this exhibition, featuring the photographs of New York photographers Joe Conzo Jr. and Malik Yusef Cumbo, explores the moments in which musical styles were created in New York City’s African Diasporic communities. From portrait to photojournalism, this exhibition is a testament to a social movement, a cultural renaissance and a communally crafted sound experience that reverberates worldwide.
The Esplanade Friends’ years of tireless advocacy is paying off, thanks in large part to your continuing support. The Pier 107 and Bobby Wagner Walk Project is finally moving forward. Community Board 11 and the New York City Economic Development Corporation want to hear from you about whether to rebuild the Pier on 107th or 112th St. Register for the February 9th or 11th visioning meetings now.
Continue reading “Pier 107 ~ Bobby Wagner Walk Reconstruction Project Wants to Hear From You!”
El Museo del Barrio is delighted to present the 46th Annual Three Kings Day Parade and Celebration! Returning to an in-person experience, the Parade’s theme this year is Entre Familia: Mental Health & Wellness of our Communities, giving space and focus to the importance of mental health and wellness, in light of national political and health occurrences these past few years.
Continue reading “The 46th Annual Three Kings Day Parade by El Museo del Barrio on January 6, 2023”
Kick off the holiday season in Harlem with the Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta, created through a partnership between NYC Public Markets (run by NYC EDC), Uptown Grand Central, TBo Harlem & Union Settlement.
Leaning as if falling into the sea, artists Kevin Quiles Bonilla and Zaq Landsberg reimagined a garita from the historic fortresses of Old San Juan, hammered by hurricanes on the fifth anniversary year of Hurricane Maria.
We were on site at the East Harlem Art Park for the installation of For centuries, and still... (anticipated completion).
Heads-up for all who love watching the installation of outdoor art sculptures ~ on the heals of the deinstallation of ‘Thomas J. Price: Witness,’ last week, Breathing Without Fear by Art Lives Here artist-member Reuben Sinha will be installed on Sunday, October 16th from 1:00 ~ 4:00pm as a celebration of public art in Marcus Garvey Park. The new temporary sculpture will be located on the east-side oval lawn at Madison Avenue and 123rd Street in East Harlem.
Art Lives Here is thrilled to be back at JVS Project Space presenting a new exhibition featuring three collaborating artist members. Look This Way is an exhibition that takes photography beyond its expected boundaries with sculptures and assemblages that create an unexpected dialogue. In a culture inundated with images, the artists are exploring how visual art informs our perception of essentially everything. Look This Way opening on Saturday, October 8th.
Continue reading “Art Lives Here Presents ‘Look This Way’ opening at JVS Project Space”
El Museo del Barrio is proud to announce the opening of three new exhibitions this fall: Juan Francisco Elso: Por América, and Reynier Leyva Novo: Methuselah, and DOMESTICANX. On view in Las Galerías and Room 110, the exhibitions offer new, contemporary revisions on canonical figures and theories from Latinx, Caribbean, and Latin American art history. Juan Francisco Elso: Por América explores the legacy and de-colonial reverberations of the late Cuban artist Juan Francisco Elso (1956-1988), whose work is presented alongside a multigenerational cohort of more than 30 artists from across the Americas. Commissioned in relation to the Elso exhibition, Reynier Leyva Novo: Methuselah is a digital artwork that explores the epic journey of a monarch butterfly from a poignant, and timely transnational perspective. Concurrently, DOMESTICANX brings together the work of seven intergenerational Latinx artists to expand on artist and critic Amalia Mesa-Bains’s theory of domesticana, first originated in the 1990s.
Continue reading “El Museo del Barrio Announces Exciting Fall 2022 Lineup with Three Exhibitions”
El Museo del Barrio is pleased to present Reynier Leyva Novo: Methuselah, from October 27, 2022 to March 26, 2023. Conceived by the Cuban-born and Houston based artist Reynier Levya Novo, the digital artwork virtually reproduces the 5000-kilometer transnational migratory journey of a single monarch butterfly, tracking its travel from southern Canada across the United States to Mexico. Embodied through the life of a virtual avatar, the epic journey is hosted and reproduced in real time on a specially designed, open-access, dedicated website. Commissioned by El Museo del Barrio with the support of VIA Art Fund, the in-person mixed-reality presentation at El Museo debuts in conjunction with the upcoming Fall exhibition, Juan Francisco Elso: Por América.
RSVP for the Public Program & Virtual Project Launch on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 7:00pm Here.
Continue reading “Reynier Leyva Novo: Methuselah to Open at El Museo del Barrio”
The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), in partnership with the Friends of Harlem Art Park Alliance (FAPA), is hosting its 4th annual AFRIBEMBÉ FESTIVAL: Sankofa! on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. The free, daylong celebration of Pan-African artistry, intellectuality, and musicality will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Harlem Art Park and throughout East 120th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues.
The Giglio Society of East Harlem will hold its annual event from Thursday, August 4th through Sunday, August 7th. Established in East Harlem in 1908 by Italian immigrants from the town of Brusciano, Italy, this is a tradition that has been carried out in what use to be known as Italian Harlem.
Continue reading “The East Harlem Giglio Society Prepares to Celebrate The Feast of the Giglio 2022”
Vicente and Christina Barreiro have owned and operated Casa Latina Music Shop on 116th Street in El Barrio for more than half a century. We were sad to hear that this historic shop will be closing its doors.
In the summer of 2017, the Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force unveiled ten presentation boards in the lobby of the State Office Building on West 125th Street. The boards told an incredible story of a burial ground located on East 126th Street, under the current bus depot, with history dating back to the 1660s ~ and exhumations continuing to this day. This month, The African Burial Ground Task Force updated the community at at CB11 meeting.
NYC Parks celebrated its 13th annual Street Games in Thomas Jefferson Park on Saturday, April 30, 2022.! This FREE family-friendly event featured classic games, including double dutch, pogo sticks, hula hoops, a boxcar derby, and more.
Continue reading “The Annual East Harlem Street Games Set for Saturday, April 30, 2022”
With the exhibition Miscreant Matter, artists Katherine Earle and Carol Paik pose the question, “Can we capture all the discarded, rejected, degenerate, degraded and miscreant matter and repurpose it through these small acts of creation?” It appears so ~ today, Earth Day, is the perfect day for this post.
Hi-ARTS has joined forces with Black Women Photographers (BWP) for Center Focus. BWP’s inaugural group exhibition, which showcases the work of seven of its acclaimed and emerging members, will run from April 11 to April 29 at Hi-ARTS.
The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) announced the signing of a 49-year lease at the organization’s newest location, where they will continue to foster space for cultural equity and racial and social justice in New York City’s arts and culture community. Located at One East Harlem, 201 East 125th Street, the new cultural center will expand CCCADI’s footprint and provide a space where African descendants with diverse cultural expressions and contributions can gather to exchange, search, and affirm their roots.
Continue reading “One East Harlem to be Home to Local Non-Profits including CCCADI”
The Abyss of the Ocean: Cuban Women Photographers, Migrations, and the Question of Race focuses on identity and resistance through the creative practices of five artists living and working in the United States, Mexico, and Spain. The exhibition reveals the experiences and strategies of survival of María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Coco Fusco, Marta María Pérez Bravo, Gertrudis Rivalta, and Juana Valdés within the matrix of Latinx Art. Through their work, these artists challenge the concept of Latinidad and its relationship to Blackness in the modern/colonial project. Unsettling the totalizing definitions of Cuban, Latin American, and Latinx Art, The Abyss of the Ocean presents key photographic series produced since the 1990s. These photographs lay bare the nuance of the artists’ multiple Diasporic identities while confronting racist and colonialist stereotypes of women’s bodies.
El Museo del Barrio is pleased to present Raphael Montañez Ortiz: A Contextual Retrospective, from April 14 to September 11, 2022, the first large-scale exhibition dedicated to the artist, activist, educator, and founder of El Museo del Barrio, since 1988. Curated by El Museo’s chief curator, Rodrigo Moura, and guest curator Julieta González, the exhibition spans several decades of his production, from the 1950s to the early-2020s, in different media such as film, painting, photography, video installations, documents, and assemblages. This is the largest exhibition-to-date dedicated to the artist.
RSVP for Exhibition Tours of Raphael Montañez Ortiz: A Contextual Retrospective on Saturdays and Sunday at 1pm and 2:30pm until September 11th.
RSVP for Raphael Montañez Ortiz: Panel Discussion and Performance on Saturday, September 10th from 3-6pm.
Hi-ARTS, New York City’s premiere incubator for urban art, recently announced its new cohort of artists-in-residence. The East Harlem nonprofit helps artists — like Radha Blank, Ebony Noelle Golden, Nona Hendryx, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Dominique Morisseau — develop their works of art into masterpieces, whether they be theater, music dance, visual arts or multi-media. Other artists who have performed or been involved with Hi-ARTS include the late Chadwick Boseman, Yasiin Bey/Mos Def and Sarah Jones.
First up is Friday Lynton, a Brooklyn-based Guyanese-American metal artisan known for her amazing sculptures. Lynton is a resident of SKY LAB, Hi-ARTS’ program that supports socially engaged artists who center community in the development and research of their work, including practitioners who create outside of the traditional studio or theater.
The Africa Center and Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) will kick-off Black History Month with the opening of African/American: Making the Nation’s Table. This exhibition will highlight the many ways African culture has influenced African American Cuisine, and how those traditions have blended to create the foundation for American food.
Yimby gave a glimpse into the future of the empty lot located on the corner of Park Avenue and 116th Street, announcing that permits have been filed for a ten-story mixed-use building with affordable housing at 1638 Park Avenue. The lot is one block west of the 116 Street subway station, serviced by the 6 train. Bernard McNamee, Managing Director of Affect Property Group is listed as the owner behind the applications. Marin Architects is listed as the architect of record.
The 45th Annual Three Kings Day will be celebrated virtually, with some in-person programs in El Barrio this year, with the fitting theme: Samos el Cambio: Protecting the Environment for Future Generations, honoring the work of those who call on us to sustainably steward our environment, and help foster cultural transformation through community empowerment and artistic expression. The Event also takes into consideration the health and safety of the community by celebrating on-line, and presenting a series of activities spread out over several weeks.
Continue reading “El Museo del Barrio’s 45th Annual Three Kings Day (Hybrid) Celebration!”
From tamales to coquito, sorrel to sweet potato pie: The Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta is back for the 2021 holiday season, to celebrate the diversity of cultures that make up East, Central and West Harlem.
Launched to great success two years ago, the market was suspended last season due to the pandemic, but is back in action this December thanks to creators Uptown Grand Central, TBo Harlem, Union Settlement and NYC Public Markets (operated by the NYC Economic Development Corporation).
Continue reading “The Harlem Night Market Returns to the Historic La Marqueta!”
After the loss of Serengeti Tea and Rite Aid on 125th Street, we were sorry to see all the empty shelves at Harlem Fresh, suspecting the worst ~ But delighted to hear that the market will close in late November for a complete renovation, to reopen in January, 2022.
Continue reading “East Harlem’s ‘Harlem Fresh’ to Reopen After Renovation in January, 2022”
Did you know that an Arnaldo Pomodoro sculpture is on the Nathan Cummings Plaza on the Fifth Avenue side of the Guggenheim Pavilion of Mount Sinai Hospital? We were intrigued and found the following information on this commissioned piece in the Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine.
Continue reading “El Museo del Barrio Announces an Exciting Fall 2021 Exhibition”
We first came upon the work of Jaynie Gillman Crimmins last year in the group exhibition ‘Form, Paper, Scissors, at Living With Art Salon. In that exhibition, Crimmins displayed creations from two of her major series ~ ‘In Search of Beauty’ and ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost.’ Beautiful and thoughtful pieces. So when we heard that she had an exhibition opening this month ~ we were all ears.
The name of the current exhibition is Matter and Spirit. These two entities have a long history of being deeply intertwined, and for good reason. As we engage with the world around us, we also sense something more than what our eyes can see. What that other dimension is has been the subject of many explorations in verbal language – poetry, philosophy, metaphysics – as well as in the visual language of art.
The Studio Museum in Harlem announced its fall programming, kicking-off the season with Thomas J. Price: Witness, the artist’s first solo museum presentation in the United States. As part of the Studio Museum’s ongoing inHarlem initiative, the nine-foot-tall bronze sculpture entitled The Distance Within (2021) will depict a young Black man looking down at his cell phone. The large-scale artwork celebrates a familiar form rarely monumentalized within a public setting and continues the artist’s exploration of blackness and Black masculinity as it relates to presence, movement, and freedom.
We knew there had to be a story behind an installation named ‘Flowers of Turtle Island‘, and so it is that artist, Naomi Lawrence, created her large-scale floral installation based on the folkloric tales told by the Lenape and other tribes of indigenous Americans, passed down verbally from generation to generation.
Flowers of Turtle Island becomes the 4th temporary public art installation that appeared in the neighborhoods of Harlem this Summer. Installed at Eugene McCabe Field, the Fiber Art mural completes the public art gallery curated by Connie Lee that begins in Harlem Art Park with Capucine Bourcart’s Plastic Fantastic!, winds through Marcus Garvey park with Susan Stair’s Ascending the Mountain, and ends at Collyer Brothers Park with Julio Valdez’s I Can’t Breathe. An additional art installation will be added this fall.
Beginning with the first of three panels along 121st Street, the image above (corner of Park Avenue) begins with the Black-Eyed Susan; Aster Blue Violets; Echinacea Coneflowers; and Cow Parsley.
Continue reading “Naomi Lawrence: Flowers of Turtle Island Arrive in East Harlem”
Concrete Safaris in East Harlem is hitting the streets this month with three dates for kids to save. Friday, August 6th and Friday, August 13th, get ready for Youth Host Jungle Gym 2021; On Friday, August 13th explore the Youth Host Photo Expo and Streetscape Garden Tour.
Continue reading “Concrete Safaris Hits the Streets in East Harlem Beginning this Weekend!”
As we approach August, and the return of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, Summerstage, and Jazzmobile’s Summerfest, ~ Uptown Grand Central and Jazzmobile announced the August 12th commemorative street co-naming of East 126th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Art Kane Harlem 1958 Place will be named on the 63rd anniversary of the gathering of the 57 jazz luminaries in the iconic East Harlem photograph taken by Art Kane ~ A Great Day in Harlem.
Continue reading “Celebrate Art Kane Harlem 1958 Place ~ a Co-Street Naming on August 12th”
The largest stenciled mural in the world was completed this week by (who else would you expect to do it?) artist, Logan Hicks, located within the East River Plaza complex on 117th Street in East Harlem. How cool is that!
“This started with a vision of going beyond making just a mural. I wanted to make an environment where people could forget they were in the middle of the city – even if only for a minute.” ~ Logan Hicks
Continue reading “Logan Hicks: Tunnel Vision comes to East Harlem”
The Manhattan Community Board 11 Environment, Open Space & Parks Committee present an El Barrio Parks Tour, exploring 14 parks in northern East Harlem!
Continue reading “CB 11 Presents an El Barrio Park Tour of 14 Parks!”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Civic Practice Partnership Artist-in-Residence, Miguel Luciano, is having a party and we’re all invited! The block party is a celebration of his new exhibition, on view at Hope Community Inc.’s Galeria del Barrio, and it is also a celebration of the culmination of Luciano’s there-year residency at The Met.
Continue reading “Miguel Luciano: Cemi-Libre Block Party Celebration & Exhibition in East Harlem”
Harlem Art Park unveiled its latest temporary public art installation, Plastic Fantastic! With a kaleidoscope of color, artist Capucine Bourcart encourages the viewer to evaluate their own environmental footprint. The large-scale installation measures over 66-feet wide and 7-feet high, demonstrating the abundance of single use plastics and its impact on our public spaces and our environment. Plastic Fantastic! interacts with Jorge Luis Rodriguez’s permanent sculpture, Growth, installed in 1985, along with the unique architectural elements that make this park a hidden gem in East Harlem.
Join artist Capucine Bourcart for Opening Reception and Preview, Thursday, July 8, 2021 from 5-7pm at Harlem Art Park ~ CANCELLED due to weather.
Continue reading “Capucine Bourcart: Plastic Fantastic! Arrives in Harlem Art Park”
It’s back! The Giglio Society of East Harlem announced this week that the annual celebration will take place this from August 5-8, with a free Freestyle music concert on Friday night, and a Children’s Giglio lift on Saturday, followed by a Sausage & Peppers Eating Contest sponsored by Premio Sausage ~ and Sunday, August 8th,The Giglio Lift! Donations will be collected for the American Cancer Society for Breast Cancer and for the Alzheimer’s Association.
In 2019, Mohammed and Ibrahima Diallo ~ also known as the Ginjan Brothers opened the popular Ginjan Cafe’ in the historic Corn Exchange Building in East Harlem. Opening early every day, they were the place to go for your morning coffee/cappuccino, pastries and Crepes. You may also know them from their popular cold-pressed West African juices (that, by the way, can now be found in all 145 Whole Food Stores in the North East).
Continue reading “The Ginjan Cafe’ in the Historic Harlem Corn Exchange Building”
CALLING ALL ARTISTS: The Grandscale Mural Project is BACK. And this year, we’re going bigger than ever before — with murals on East 125 stretching all the way from Fifth to Madison, Park, Lexington and Third avenues.
Continue reading “Uptown Grand Central Announces ‘Let’s Paint! Community Mural’ & Call for Artists”
When the National Black Theatre announced its intention to develop its current site, concerns about the interior (and exterior) artistic treasurers were of great concern. The property, which was purchased by the Theatre’s founder, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer in 1969, houses the largest collection of Nigerian New Sacred Art in the Western Hemisphere. Hand carved wood totems and copper, aluminum and brass relief were created for the Theatre by traditional Nigerian artisans from the Sun-Oshogbo Sacred Grove. They carved these works using tools and methods which spanned seven generations. With its founder, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, dedicated to the preservation of this unique spiritual tradition, it is no wonder that the upcoming project, demolishing the current structure, and creating a new, would present questions about the preservation of the artwork.
NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, yesterday joined elected officials and community members to officially cut the ribbon on improvements to playgrounds at Morningside Park and Thomas Jefferson Park in Harlem. The projects are two of more than 800 completed under Commissioner Silver’s leadership, advancing the City’s mission to build a more equitable 21st century park system.
Continue reading “NYC Parks Celebrates $5.6 Million Investment in Two Harlem Parks”
Taller Boricua kicked-off 2021 with the online exhibition, Women on the Edge of Time, featuring a collection of art by members from the prestigious and long-standing New York arts organization, New York Society of Women Artists (NYSWA). The exhibit went live, online, during Women’s History Month in March, with 36 member artists expressing their thoughts on such issues as social justice and the struggle for equality through their work.
Real Estate Week reported that MADD Equities is moving forward with a new Harlem development, after closing on a $15 million loan for the acquisition of the final site ~ with the entire lot encompassing 124 – 132 East 125th Street, which includes the old Apple Bank building. Demolition expected in 2022, with anticipated completion in 2024.
According to Urbanize, the new 100,000 square-foot structure will include office, retail and a community center. Here’s a first look. The complex will be designed by Aufgang Architects, who redeveloped the historic Victoria Theatre, on the other end of 125th Street in Harlem.
