 |
| Getting ready for the 2017 Open Studios program |
Open Studios, 2017
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council was formed in 1973. I don’t know exactly when it began presenting its now annual Open Studios arts program, or their other major summer festival, the annual River to River music series, but both events provide much needed exposure to dozens of up-and-coming artists, dancers, writer’s and performers. While the River to River festival line-up is yet to be announced, the Open Studios season is begins this coming weekend (April 28-29, 2017), with Workspace Artists-in-Residence.
This free, two-day event shines a spotlight on the work of over 30 artists who are working across all disciplines and genres from painting and sculpture, to poetry and fiction, to dance and theater. The artists have been working in their studios at 28 Liberty Street since last September. They will open their studio doors to the public for two days only, offering a unique, behind-the-scenes window into their creative practices in the visual, literary, and performing arts.
The opportunity to meet them and see their work is not to be missed. But this is just the beginning. LMCC will host Open Studios events from April through September—click here to see the full calendar of Open Studios this year—all of which are free and open to the public.
If You Go: Open Studios with Workspace Artists-in-Residence
WHERE: In The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Studios at 28 Liberty, 24th Floor.
WHEN: Friday, April 28, 2017 from 6:00–9:00pm
WHEN: Saturday, April 29, 2017 from 1:00–8:00pm
 |
| "The Silence of High Noon — Midsummer," 1907–08. By Marsden Hartley |
Marsden Harley at The Met Breuer
The Met Breuer presents Marsden Hartley’s paintings of his home state, Maine
Marsden Hartley (1877-1943), was an icon of American modernism, He was born in Lewiston, Maine, and died in Ellsworth. In the early 1900s, he painted the state’s western mountains in a Post-Impressionist style. In his later years, he aimed to do for Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park what Cézanne did for Mont Sainte-Victoire in Aix-en-Provence. For this exhibition, seven painted views, showing seasonal change, close the show and represent the culmination of a lifelong fascination.
In the 1930s, Hartley became increasingly aware of his legacy and strove to not just paint Maine but to “be recognized as Maine’s greatest modern interpreter,” the show’s co-curator, Randall Griffey, writes in the catalog.
The show at The Met Breuer is a hyper-local collection of rivers, hills, churches, logs and lobster traps. The mountainscapes — and logscapes — are characteristically devoid of people, unlike the Fuji views of Hartley’s heroes Hokusai and Hiroshige, which are sometimes peppered with small figures (eight gorgeous prints are on display).
If You Go
WHAT: “Marsden Hartley’s Maine”
WHERE: The Met Breuer, 945 Madison Ave., at 75th Street
WHEN: Through June 18, 2017
ONLINE: The Metropolitan Museum...
 |
| Is Chinatown the next Chelsea? |
Is Chinatown the New Arts District?
Lily Haight, posed the above question this week while writing for Chelsea News.
Chelsea's gallery district has reigned as the heart of the city's contemporary art movement since the late 1990s. But could skyrocketing rents, coupled to the availability of cheaper options in other parts of the city, mean the district is losing some of its cachet with gallerists?
An August 2016 report by StreetEasy found that real estate prices near the High Line had increased by nearly 50 percent since the park's opening in 2011. Longtime Chelsea gallerists have recently made the move to the Lower East Side, and new galleries are skipping over Chelsea altogether and setting up shop downtown.
However, not everyone is happy with the prospect of Chinatown become the new Chelsea.
According to the Chinatown Art Brigade's ManSee Kong, residents of Chinatown and the Lower East Side are concerned that the influx of galleries will gentrify the neighborhood and raise residential rents.
“Chinatown is a working-class, ethnic immigrant community. Folks depend on these kinds of immigrant enclaves as a social network of cultural and ethnic resources,” said Melanie Wang, who works as an organizer with the Chinatown Tenants Union. “When galleries come in and are displacing businesses that provide those services and those employment opportunities, it represents a significant threat to the fabric of Chinatown's social community.”
 |
| Untitled. c.1968, by Alma Woodsey Thomas. In MoMA's current exhibition, Making Space. |
Not Only — But Also in April
- NYCGO’s recommendations…
- The Village Voice recommendations…
- From the New York Times, and Art and Museums in NYC This Week
- And finally, The New Yorker magazine round-up of Art, Music, and Broadway Events in New York City…
