Many New Yorkers have been stepping out of the city during this time of COVID, in search of space ~ more than six-feet of space. Today, we’re taking a leap back in time to 1853, when Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones (1810-1876), a New York Socialite, built a weekend and summer residence in a small town named Rhinebeck. Below, our pictorial visit to what’s left of Rhinecliff (now known as Wyndclyffe).
One of the most enchanting streets in Harlem is a row of 28 houses on the south side of West 130th Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues known as Astor Row. Let’s take a stroll back in time.
Continue reading “A Summertime Visit to Harlem’s Historic Astor Row”
NYC DOT Art Community Commission and The Marcus Garvey Park Alliance partnered to install a timely and pertinent new art installation in Harlem. Kenseth Armstead: Boulevard of African Monarchs arrived on 116th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard on August 13, 2020.
New York-based Magician, David Blaine, will turn our attention from our current serious state of affairs to wondrous, def defying and maybe a little silly. Blaine will float across the Hudson River from New York to New Jersey holding a cluster of helium-filled balloons.
Continue reading “‘David Blaine: Ascension’ Flying High on August 31st ~ Live”
Have you been dreaming more frequently over this past few months? Intense, life like, scary dreams? Whimsical or wonderful dreams? According to several studies, COVID-19, and its affect on our life in general, has increased the trend.
This past June, I visited the Living with Art Salon, who had a most unusual piece in a small side-room, entitled ‘Big Dream‘ by artist Capucine Bourcart. This large-format artwork, hung from the ceiling, gracing the floor. It held a dream in a code known only to the artist, and it was printed ~ line by line ~ with sand collected from all over the world. Oh yes, we wanted to see more. Below is a visit to the artists’ studio to see her entire collection of the Dream Series.
Continue reading “Exploring Capucine Bourcart’s ‘Dream Series’ during this time of COVID”
Oh, how we love the sculptures of Gillie and Marc, who have been delighting and entertaining New Yorkers for years with their whimsical bronze wonders, and timely and thoughtful messages. Now, with King Nyani coming to Hudson Yards, we thought it a great time to look back in our archives for a few more Gillie and Marc creations.
Continue reading “Just a Few of Gillie and Marc’s Whimsical Wonders ~ From the Archives”
To raise awareness and funds for the critically endangered gorilla species, public artists Gillie and Marc have created a massive sculpture of the animal that will be unveiled later this month in Hudson Yards’ Bella Abzug Park. Titled King Nyani, Swahili for gorilla, it’s the world’s largest bronze gorilla sculpture.
Continue reading “Gillie and Marc bring King Nyani to Bella Abzug Park in Hudson Yards”
HARLEM WEEK is an annual festival that celebrates one of the world’s most culturally rich neighborhoods with conferences, seminars, music, food, and more. This year’s digital HARLEM WEEK, from Sunday, August 16 to Saturday, August 23, brings the culture, history, resilience, and strength of Harlem to the world.
Continue reading “Harlem Week 2020, a Virtual Celebration ~ Let’s Celebrate!”
Each year on August 26th we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, commemorating the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States. But this year, 2020, we will also be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Here are a few suggestion on how to celebrate Monday, August 26th.
Continue reading “Women’s Equality Day, August 26, 2020 ~ Here’s How to Celebrate!”
Pier A in Battery Park City is New York City’s last remaining historic pier. Extending 300-feet into New York Harbor, the Pier underwent a massive renovation, which was completed in 2014. Here we take a walk around and above this historic site.
Continue reading “A Look Back at the Renovation of Historic Pier A in Battery Park City”
Rockefeller Center is celebrating New York with a temporary art installation of 193 flag images created by artists surrounding the Rink. The images conger up ways we celebrate the diverse culture, vibrant energy and strength of our City.
Continue reading “Celebrating New York ~ The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center”
Each summer, The Fund for Park Avenue commissions large-scale works by major artists for the medium running from 52nd to 65th Streets. While we wait for the next installation, George Rickey, now postponed until Fall of 2021, let us take a look back to the seven Santiago Calatrava pieces, commissioned for the summer of 2015.
Continue reading “A Look-Back to 2015 and the Seven Santiago Calatrava Sculptures on Park Avenue”
Fremin Gallery will reopen its doors on August 6th with a new summer exhibition aptly titled ‘Long Weekend.’
Continue reading “Fremin Gallery re-opens with ‘Long Weekend’ on August 6th”
Now in Phase 4, our City continues to open its doors, navigating cautiously, keeping social distance and wearing masks. The green light has been given to low-risk venues like zoos and botanical gardens. Several galleries are now open with timed registration or limited capacity. Outdoor dining puts us one-step closer to ‘almost back to normal’, while indoor dining and bars remain off-limits for now. Here are a few suggestions for outdoor art installations, new indoor exhibits, and online viewing rooms to look forward to in August, 2020.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen its doors on August 29th with three new exhibitions, including The Roof Garden Commission, Héctor Zamora: Lattice Detour.
Continue reading “The Metropolitan Museum of Art Reopens August 29th”
Liberty Bell is an animated, monumental, and richly sonorous augmented reality (AR) drawing in 360 degrees. The public artwork will be geolocated at a series of sites and experienced on smartphones and tablets through Baker Cahill’s free 4th Wall app. This project, which is two years in the making, lives at the vibrant intersection of public art, social consciousness, and tech. It is being presented simultaneously in six cities in the United States: Boston, MA, Charleston, SC, Philadelphia, PA, Rockaway, NY, Selma, AL, and Washington, DC.
Continue reading “Nancy Baker Cahill: Liberty Bell through 4th Wall App”
Contemporary artist Kris Perry’s monumental sculpture Mother Earth will be installed at Rockaway Beach (Queens) as part of the NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program, which brings both experimental and traditional art to the public in locations throughout the five boroughs. Continue reading “35-Foot-Tall ‘Mother Earth’ Sculpture, New Installation at Rockaway Beach”
Davina Semo: Reverberation will unveil five new painted bronze bells by Davina Semo In Brooklyn Bridge Park this August. The installation will explore our relationship to industrial materials and the built environment that we encounter every day.
Continue reading “Public Art Fund will unveil ‘Davina Semo: Reverberation’ in Brooklyn Bridge Park”
NYCEDC issued this request for proposals on behalf of the City of New York. They are seeking qualified proposals from community organizations, consultants, agencies or companies with experience in event planning and execution, marketing, branding, public relations, food and beverage sales and marketing, and/or community outreach to serve as a Community Partner for La Marqueta Public Market (“La Marqueta”).
Continue reading “La Marqueta in El Barrio seeks Community Partner”
Located across 125th Street from the famed Apollo Theater, Harlem Mart 125 was once a vibrant market for over two-hundred local vendors, with the feel of an indoor, open-air market. Owned by the City of New York, it was developed by government agencies in the mid-1980s to give street vendors an opportunity to have an indoor stall. For many reasons, the Mart closed its doors in 2002 and has remained vacant.
Continue reading “Harlem’s Mart 125: The American Dream ~ a Documentary & Discussion on July 26th”
Stepping out of Manhattan, let’s take a day trip to Hudson, New York for the new Ornamentum Gallery exhibition, Jaydan Moore: Gain, Gather, Grow.
Continue reading “Jaydan Moore exhibits Gain, Gather, Grow at Ornamentum in Hudson, NY”
Join Design Trust for Public Space for a virtual panel discussion on Wednesday, July 29th, exploring the future of public space in America.
What happens when unwanted pets are released into City parks? It’s the New York City Parks’ Rangers to the rescue.
New York City Parks Department wants to remind all New Yorker’s that a drowning can happen in just seconds.
Oh, how we love when friends come to visit. It’s our chance to act like a tourist and see the sites through fresh eyes. At the top of our list ~ Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where the show never stops ~ until now.
Closed due to COVID-19, this popular institution owes over $600,000 in back rent, and if not paid by August 7th, the stardust will fall & the curtain will close for good. Come along inside during our visits over the years.
Continue reading “The Curtain May Fall on Ellen’s Stardust Diner NYC”
As part of Rock Center’s ongoing Art in Focus series, produced in partnership with Art Production Fund, the work of Ryan Flores will be showcased all summer long in an exhibition entitled Low Lifes: An Upside Down Love Letter.
With a globally renowned collection of nearly 4,000 objects spanning more than 1,500 years from the Himalayan region, the Rubin Museum of Art launches a new and improved online collection database today. A total of 381 objects from the Rubin Museum’s permanent collection are now available at collection.rubinmuseum.org. This marks the first phase of an initiative to make the Rubin Museum collection accessible to visitors, students, teachers, and scholars alike around the world. More objects will be added continually, with the goal of eventually publishing the entire collection.
Continue reading “The Rubin Museum of Art Launches New Online Collection Database”
Jean Shin: Floating Maize is a stunning new installation floating high above the grand stairway in the Winter Garden area of Brookfield Place. On the ground level, Jean Shin: The Last Straw. Let’s step inside.
Continue reading “Brookfield Place NYC unveils Jean Shin: Floating Maize”
Did you know that East 82nd Street is home to The American Hungarian Library and Historical Society? Founded in 1955 in Yorkville, the Hungarian House continues to serve as the hub of literary, cultural and social life for the Tri-State Hungarian-American community, and is looking forward to a well-needed face-lift.
After the financial crisis of the 1970’s decimated New York City’s public programs and infrastructure, the subway in particular was arguably at its nadir in terms of maintenance, upkeep, and crime as the decade came to a close. It was precisely at this moment, however, that Bruce Davidson began photographing it in a sustained and systematic way. The subway he traversed then, from the Bronx down to Coney Island and Rockaway Beach, seems a distant image from the one we ride today. Howard Greenberg and Bruce Davidson sat down recently over Zoom to discuss Davidson’s now-classic project “Subway”. The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Continue reading “Howard Greenberg & Bruce Davidson ~ Subway: A Conversation”
Fotografiska New York will postpone its July 29th reopening, with the Shop and Lobby opening on August 5th.
Continue reading “Fotografiska New York Postpones July 2020 Re-Opening”
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held a public hearing on the proposed designation of The Harriet and Thomas Truesdall House located at 227 Duffield Street in Brooklyn on July 14, 2020. The home is a rare surviving 19th Century abolitionists’ home, and a stop on the historic underground railroad. Don’t miss the fabulous Youtube video below with ‘Mama Joy’ Chatel.
Socrates Sculpture Garden opens its gates to the very controversial topic surrounding monuments. The new installation, Monuments Now, addresses the role of monuments in society and commemorates underrepresented narratives with a focus on diasporas, indigenous, and queer histories. The Garden and its new installations offer New Yorkers a very welcomed safe way to venture out. Monuments Now will roll out in three parts, with the first part on view now.
Continue reading “Socrates Sculpture Garden presents Monuments Now for Summer 2020”
Governors Island will be open to the public for passive recreation activities beginning July 15, 2020. Starting that day, the Island will be open from 10AM to 6PM on weekdays and 10AM to 7PM on weekends.
Join the 2020 Seneca Falls Revisted Virtual Conference, July 23-25, 2020 ~ a virtual online festival experience celebrating women’s accomplishments for the last 100 years, addressing issues facing women today ranging from ERA to voting, and tackling the future challenges while pondering on solution propositions.
What does an aircraft carrier do when it retires? The Baylander IX-514 on the West 125th Street Harlem Pier, has opened its hatch in a new life as a restaurant on the West Harlem Pier at 125th Street.
Continue reading “The Baylander on West Harlem Pier is Harlem’s Newest Eatery”
As we slowly begin to reopen, New York City now has an interactive Map showing all open restaurants on Roadways, Sidewalks, Open Streets ~ with and without Alcohol, and easily found byBorough, Zip Code or Search by the name of the restaurant.
Continue reading “Outdoor Dining + Staying Cool. It’s Summer 2020 in NYC”
Continue reading “Cool It! NYC ~ Where to Stay Cool this Summer”
Howard Greenberg Gallery opened its Online Viewing Room to Pieter Henkel’s Congo Tales, which explores cultural mythologies of the local inhabitants of the Congo Basin, containing some of the largest tropical rainforests in the world. The 2017 series has rarely been exhibited, and this is the first time the work is on view through a U.S. gallery.
Living with Art, the uptown salon-style gallery, re-opened with the installation Pattern Migration ~ works by artists Capucine Bourcart and Beatrice Lebreton.
Continue reading “Living with Art Salon Reopens with Pattern Migration”
Now, with New York City in Phase 3, Hauser & Wirth has opened the doors to its new building located at 542 West 22nd Street in Chelsea. The 36,000 square-foot, Selldorf Architects designed building includes a bookshop, crafted cafe and bar, and large flexible-configuration gallery spaces with site-specific artist interventions in such areas as stairways and elevators.
Continue reading “Hauser & Wirth Opened its New Selldorf Architects Designed Building in Chelsea”
Moving into the month of July, artists reflect in their artwork the very sentiment in our featured image entitled, Besieged, by artist Jerome Lagarrigue in the current exhibition Young Artists: One at Fridman Gallery. Best said by the gallery, here they “hope to not only create space for the voices of artists, but also to directly address the issues of systemic racism…..” Art institutions, museums and galleries are doing just that.
As we move forward toward Phase 3 on July 6th, navigating through this difficult time, online viewing rooms continue to entertain and educate, taking us beyond our front doors, day or night. Below are just a few art installations, events and online viewing rooms to add to your list + installations still on view.
On June 29, 2020 Public Art Fund launched Art on the Grid, a multi-platform exhibition of new work by a group of 50 New York-based, emerging artists. The exhibition was conceived in the spring of 2020 in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As it developed, the parallel epidemic of systemic racism came into sharp and painful focus. Both crises now set the backdrop for the exhibition. The city, country, and world will emerge changed by these events, and the exhibition’s focus on reconnection and renewal have become even more urgent. Works in the exhibition are united around a number of themes including healing and loss; community and isolation; intimacy and solitude; and the creation of a future that is more just, inclusive, and equitable.
On July 27th, Public Art Fund unveiled the second installment of artworks as part of Art on the Grid. This includes 40 newly commissioned artworks by ten artists. All on bus shelters and across the LinkNYC network.
Continue reading “The Public Art Fund Launches Art on the Grid”
On June 30, 2020, artist Simone Leigh will debut a new bronze sculpture, Sentinel IV (2020), created to benefit the non-profit organization Color of Change in its efforts to combat racial injustice in the United States. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the work, which has been produced in an edition of 25, will be donated to the progressive civil rights advocacy group.
Update ~ SOLD OUT!
Continue reading “Simone Leigh Debuts ‘Sentinel IV’ to Benefit ‘Color of Change’”
Many of our beloved Museum’s, which have been closed for several months due to COVID-19, have risen to difficult challenges with free online viewing rooms, artist talks, workshops and educational experiences. The New York Historical Society will open its rear courtyard this summer to a COVID-19-related installation entitled, Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine.
NYC Parks today unveiled the completion of a $4.7 million transformation at Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem. This is the second showcase project completed through the Parks Without Borders Initiative, funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Continue reading “NYC Parks Without Borders Celebrates a Transformation at Jackie Robinson Park”
As we await a new monument dedicated to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth coming to Central Park’s Literary Walk in late 2020, we are reminded of a monument in our nation’s Capital portraying two of those three women plus a third, so active in women’s rights that we take this time to reflect on her life ~ the extraordinary life of Lucretia (Lucy) Mott.
Located in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building, is a 14,000-pound sculpture of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott. During this centennial year, celebrating the 19th Amendment and women’s right to vote, let’s take a look at the life of Lucy Mott, an early feminist, activist and strong advocate for ending slavery.
Hyundai Motor Group and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) announced a research collaboration to examine relationships among natural and built environments in order to propose new directions for the future of mobility.
Continue reading “Hyundai Motor Group + RISD Collaborate on Mobility Inspired by Nature”
Harlem’s historic National Black Theatre (NBT) is hosting an annual salute to its founder and CEO emerita, the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, with NBT’s Founder’s Month, a month-long celebration of Teer, Black theater and community. Running through July 18, the celebration will feature the launch of NBT@Home: A Letter to the Future, a new series of online conversations on theater, current events and Black history with guests including Toshi Reagon, Ebony Noelle Golden, adrienne maree brown, Jonathan McCrory, Sade Lythcott, members of the theater’s original company of “Liberators,” and more, and the launch of NBT’s VISION Forward Fund Campaign, a fundraising drive to support and advance the theater well into the future.
Continue reading “National Black Theatre ‘Founder’s Month’ with a Letter to the Future”
