Local Art Exhibit, Travis Poelle

In May and June, the Hebrew Tabernacle at Fort Washington and West 185th Street will host an art exhibit featuring the work of local artist Travis Poelle.  The opening will be May 6th from 7 to 8 p.m.  The art includes some local paintings that are worth checking out!

Skraptacular Studios Presents: spring classes!

From Skraptacular:

Skraptacular Studios Presents:  spring classes!

Toddler Eco-Art Hour

ages 2 -4 years old

Thursdays 10:30-11:30 am

K-5th grade Eco-Art Hour

Fridays 4:00-5:00 pm

 

Cost: $180 for 6 sessions

March 7th - April 11th

 

Your child will learn how to.....

• Sculpt with trash items--from non-recyclable plastic packaging to corks and bottle caps
• Reuse familiar items(like buttons and insulation wire) to make fabulous jewelry
• Turn scrap paper, catalogs and magazines into precious hand-made journals, puppets, collages and book marks
• Make magical mobiles out of boxes, broken toys and so much more
• The most important lesson students will learn, however, is to be a part of something larger than themselves: a movement to tend and protect our planet

Trashion Fashion Thursdays

ages 11-14

4:30-6 pm

Cost $180 for 6 week session 

March 7th - April 11th

 

• Design garments, jewelry, hair pieces and purses

• Explore with unconventional materials such as fused plastic, shreaded candy wrapper confetti and tyvek envelopes

• work with guest designers in the business

• Showcase your best work in the Beau Monde Society Fashion Show in SoHo on April 20th

Maximum 8 students per class

e-mail or call to register:

 info@skraptacular.org

917 699 8136

 

Skraptacular Studios new location:

      454 Fort Washington Ave #7( just south of 181st St)

at Growing Minds Therapeutics

Broadway's IN THE HEIGHTS is...in the heights!

Broadway's IN THE HEIGHTS is coming to Washington Heights for a one-day only concert at the United Palace on Monday, February 11.

There are still tickets available from Telecharge: http://www.telecharge.com/Off-Broadway/In-the-Heights-in-Concert/Overview

But you can also see the show by entering a contest to win 2 tickets to the concert.

For details visit the United Palace website at: http://unitedpalace.org/index.php/world-class-theatre/156-win-2-tickets-to-in-the-heights-the-concert-by-subscribing-to-the-upca-e-newsletter.

(Photo via www.unitedpalace.org)

Are you going?  Let us know in the comments section!

Sunday Best Reading Series 11/2

The Sunday Best Reading Series and Sunday Concerts in the Lounge co-present

Crossings: an Evening of Words and Music

Friday, November 2nd, 7:30 p.m.

Rika Lesser, poet, reading from her translation of The Brazen Plagiarist by Greek poet Kiki Dimoula

Composer Aaron Jay Kernis’s “The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine” with texts from Marinetti’s Futurist Cookbook 

In performance by Asta Hansen Nelson, narrator; Evelyne Luest, pianist; Nurit Pacht, violinist: and David Bekamjian, cellist.

The Lounge @ Hudson View Gardens

Pinehurst Avenue and 183^rd Street

$10 suggested admission includes reception with free snacks and cash bar

212-923-7800 X1342

fabulara@earthlink.net

http://sundaybestreadingseries.wordpress.com

Subway: A train to 181st

Cultural Clippings: Sunday Best on 10/14/12

Next Sunday, get in the Halloween spirit with Sunday Best: Readings at Hudson View Gardens.

Depends What You Mean by Haunted

Julia Rust

David Surface

Gay Partington Terry

 

Sunday Best is hosted by Patricia Eakins

The Lounge @ Hudson View Gardens

Pinehurst Avenue and 183^rd Street

Sunday, October 14th, 4:00 p.m

$7 admission includes performances, drinks, snacks, and reception for the poets.

Uptown Arts Stroll 2012

From NoMAA:

Uptown Arts Stroll

Paseo de las Artes

June 2012

Celebrating the Arts in Washington Heights & Inwood

Kick-Off Celebration

Thursday, May 31, 2012

6-8:30pm
United Palace

4140 Broadway (at 175th St.)
RSVP: info@nomaanyc.org

Recognizing effective partnerships between artists & local businesses, the achievements of our local artists, and the contributions of institutions and businesses to community change through the arts 

 

Honoring

Jenay Alejandro, Associate, Multicultural Relations at Moët Hennessy USA • Katori Hall, local award-winning playwright, journalist, and actress • Partnership between Veronica Santiago Liu & the 80 volunteers of Word Up Community Bookshop and Vantage Residential • The Bago Bunch, creative entrepreneurs • Jerry Gottesman, Chairman, Edison Properties

 

Mistress of Ceremonies

Carol Jenkins

Ms. Jenkins is a writer and producer, an Emmy award winning former television anchor and correspondent with WNBC-TV in New York.  She is also a past president of the Women's Media Center, and a current member of NoMAA's Board of Directors.

 

Information: www.artstroll.com | www.nomaanyc.org

 

Produced by

Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance

 

Sponsors & Partners

 

Maestro

Moët Hennessy USA 

El Diario La Prensa

 

Virtuoso

Hon. Robert Jackson, New York City Council, District 7 and the Manhattan Delegation, through the NYC Dept. of Youth and Community Affairs

ATAX

HISPANIC FEDERATION

 

Curator

Columbia University Medical Center Office of Government & Community Affairs

New York Presbyterian Hospital

Edison Properties

 

Aficionado

Vantage Residential

Go North NYC

Remezcla

 

Partners

The Cornerstone Center - Ft. Tryon Park Trust - Hispanic Society of America - Make Music New York - MoMA Community Program - New York Restoration Project  - Office of Assembly Member Guillermo Linares, District 72 - Office of Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, District 10 -

Office of State Senator Adriano Espaillat, 31st Senate District - United Palace - Uptown Collective - Washington Heights Inwood Online

 

Manhattan Times 

Poster Design: Mary Ann Wincorkowski

This Weekend in the Heights!

From neighborhood resident Liz Ritter:

The Cornerstone Chorale will be presenting the epically beautiful and moving Faure Requiem -- with full orchestral accompaniment -- along with his Cantique de Jean Racine and another short piece for 3 female voices.

The concert, at 3:30 THIS SUNDAY, April 29th, will be at the Holyrood Church, at the corner of Fort Washington Avenue and W. 179th Street, across from the George Washington Bridge. (A-train to 175th St or 1-train to 181st Street, or M4 bus). 

Tickets are only $12 ($8 for students/seniors); a reception follows.

Upcoming Local Literary Events

TWO READINGS BY HAROLD JAFFE AND PATRICIA EAKINS

Saturday, March 24 at 7 pm: Crisis--Writing in Wartime. Jaffe and Eakins at Word Up Community Bookshop, Broadway @ 176 Street. Free. http://wordupbooks.wordpress.com/

Tuesday, March 27th from 8–10 pm:  Stories and Anti-Stories. Jaffe and Eakins with guitarist Charles Ramsey at Le Chéile, 181st Street @ Cabrini Boulevard. Host: Erin Lynn. No Cover.

More information on the March 24 and March 27th events at:

http://sundaybestreadingseries.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/other-literary-events-patricia-eakins-to-read-with-harold-jaffe-in-the-heights-in-march/

Or call  212-923-7800 x1342 |

Subway: A train to 181st

Sunday Best Reading Series -March 4

Sunday Best: Readings at Hudson View Gardens

March 4th, 2012

FESTIVAL OF THE WORD IN NORTHERN MANHATTAN: A DOUBLE-HEADER

1:30-3:30 P.M.: Cake Mix: Instant Theatre

A workshop for youngsters 12 and up by Mino Lora and Veronica Liu

4:00 P.M.: Readings by 2012 Literary Grantees of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance

Lola Koundakjian

Veronica Liu

Paquita Suárez Coalla

Sunday Best is hosted by Patricia Eakins

The Lounge @ Hudson View Gardens

116 Pinehurst Avenue @ 183rd Street

$7 admission for adults benefits Voices/Voces, a theatre and writing program for teens co-developed by People’s Theatre Project and Seven Stories Institute

For more information call 212-923-7800 x1342 

Guerilla Theatre in WaHi

Wow - we are quite distraught to have missed this but thanks to the power of the internet, we can watch it in perpetuity!

UP Theater Company staged this fabulous Subway Wedding as a nod to the now-missing token booth.  

You can catch up on UP (sorry, couldn't resist) with their upcoming (again!) play reading series, DEAD OF WINTER, which will be hosted at Le Cheile on Sunday evenings at 7PM (February 12, 19, 26 and March 4)

Cultural Clippings: Sunday Best Reading Series 2/5/12

Sunday Best Reading Series
Performances by fiction writers, poets, dramatists, memoir writers and spoken-word composers

Delicious New Fiction

Sunday, February 5th at 4:00 p.m.

Jonathan Baumbach

“In all of Jonathan Baumbach's fiction, there is a wonderful balance of ease and authority, subtlety and surprise, wisdom and playfulness…one of my favorite writers." —Robert Coover

Janice Eidus

“Nobody writes about Jewish cultural life quite as funnily and piercingly as Janice Eidus"  —Mindy Lewis, editor, Dirt: The Quirks, Habits, and Passions of Keeping House

Douglas Light

“Gems of stories, slyly, skillfully interrelated and captivating in their economy, truth, and acid wisdom” —Frederic Tuten, author of Tintin in the New World

Suggested donation of $7 includes free drinks and snacks

Reception after to meet the writers

The Lounge at Hudson View Gardens -
Pinehurst Avenue and 183rd Street

Jonathan Baumbach is the author of fourteen books of fiction, including Dreams of Molly; YOU; On The Way To My Father’s Funeral: New and Selected Stories; B, a novel; D-Tours; Separate Hours; Chez Charlotte and Emily; The Life and Times of Major Fiction; Reruns; Babble and A Man to Conjure With. His stories have appeared in Esquire, American Review, Tri Quarterly, Partisan Review, Zoetrope, Antaeus, Iowa Review, Open City and Boulevard magazines. His fiction has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Byrnes Book of Great Pool Stories, All Our Secrets Are the Same, O.Henry Prize Stories, Full Court: a Literary Anthology of Basketball, The Best of TriQuarterly, and On The Couch: Great American Stories about Therapy. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. In 1973 (with Peter Spielberg) he invented the Fiction Collective, the first fiction writers cooperative in America, reinvented in 1988 as FC2. He is the author of The Landscape of Nightmare: Studies in Contemporary American Fiction, has been the Film Critic for Partisan Review and is the two time Chairman of the National Society of Film Critics.

Novelist, short story writer, and essayist Janice Eidus has twice won the O. Henry Prize for her short stories, as well as a Pushcart Prize, a Redbook Prize, and numerous other awards. Her 2008 novel, The War of the Rosens, won an Independent Publishers Award in Religion and was nominated for the Sophie Brody Medal, an award for the most distinguished contribution to Jewish Literature for Adults. Janice's other books include the short story collections The Celibacy Club and Vito Loves Geraldine and the novels Urban Bliss and Faithful Rebecca. Her work appears in such magazines as Tikkun and Jewish Currents and such anthologies as Promised Lands: New Jewish American Fiction; On Longing and Belonging; The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories; Neurotica: Jewish Writers on Sex; and Scribblers on the Roof: Contemporary Jewish Fiction. She's the Fiction Editor at Shaking, the print and online journal, and has been a guest speaker and teacher throughout the U.S., Europe, and Central America.

Douglas Light's new story collection, Girls in Trouble, won the 2010 AWP Grace Paley Prize. His first novel, East Fifth Bliss, won the 'Popular Fiction' section of the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award presented by the Independent Book Publishers Association and was made into a film starring Michael C. Hall, Peter Fonda, and Lucy Liu. Light co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Knowles. Light's second novel, Where Night Stops, received a 2010 NoMAA Grant. His fiction has won an O. Henry Prize and has appeared in the 2003 Best American Nonrequired Reading anthology and in Narrative, Guernica, Alaska Quarterly Review, Failbetter, and other magazines. He was a finalist for the 2002 James Jones First Novel Fellowship and for the 2010 Indiana Emerging Author Award.

*********

http://sundaybestreadingseries.wordpress.com/

Sunday Best Curator, Patrizia Eakins, 212-923-7800, x1342

*********

Coming Soon to The Lounge at Hudson View Gardens:

January 29 at 5:00 pm:  The prize-winning Grneta Ensemble, featuring clarinetists Vasko Dukovski and Ismail Lumanovski and pianist Alexandra Joan, will play works from the romantic era, original arrangements of instrumental music from the Balkans and new works.  $12 suggested donation includes post-concert reception with the artists.

Washington Heights 2011 Video Recap by ArtByDjBoy

I love the power of Twitter and the power of community spaces, like Word Up! Bookstore on Broadway between 175th & 176th.

I went there today for a meeting and towards the end, a man came in to set up for a video shoot - an interview was to take place.  His face seemed familiar.  Our conversation went like this:

ME:  Are you @ArtByDjBoy?
HIM: Yah!
ME: I'm @anthropologistsm!
(mutual excitement ensued)

For those who aren't on Twitter, I'm referring to our Twitter handles.  We then exchanged our real names and I got to tell him in person how much I loved his beautiful, inspiring video wrap-up for the year that was 2011 in Washington Heights.

Dj Boy is a photographer, videographer and DJ.  You can check out his work here: http://www.artbydjboy.com

Did you watch the video?  What did you think?

Cultural Clippings: Uptown Artist Opportunity

An opportunity for uptown visual artists via NoMAA:

Yeshiva University and the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) have partnered to present a series of intensive hands-on workshops for artists transitioning to digital formats, interested in digital marketing and promotional tools, or interested in learning how to edit films.  The workshops are bilingual (English/Spanish).  This series is sponsored by Yeshiva University Heights Initiative, NoMAA, and the Office of City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez. 

Workshops Description: The Digital Artist Workshop Series consist of three workshops, four and/or five sessions each.

            Workshop 1: Creating a Portfolio (Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm, Jan. 18 – Feb. 22, 2012)

Four sessions providing an introduction to Adobe Photoshop, digitalization, tools overview; Photoshop layers, collage techniques, cut and paste techniques, sharpening; use of color, hue, saturation, color correction; Acrobat, choosing portfolio images, portfolio layout; producing a portfolio and preparing different types of electronic submissions.

Workshop 2: Creating Digital Art (Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm, March 14 – April 11, 2012)

Requirement: Workshop 1 or the equivalent

Five sessions covering digitalizing images, intermediate Photoshop: layers, drawing tools, pencils, brushes, textures; digital printing, media, commercial and archival printing methods; Photoshop blending modes; introduction to Adobe Illustrator for beginners, vectors and pixels; typography.

Workshop 3: Moving Images (Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm, April 18 – May 16, 2012)

Requirement: Workshop 1 or the equivalent

Five sessions providing an introduction to Adobe After Effects for beginners, computer generated animations, timeline, key frames; video and after effects, integration of recorded video and computer generated video, color manipulation for video, effects and plug-ins; After Effects and video formats, moving texts, text tools and presets; Introduction to Blender 3D animation for beginners; using Vimeo and Youtube, promotion in social media.

Instructor: Anita Pantin and invited guests.  Pantin is a painter and costume / set designer.  Since 1990 she has worked in new media, producing computer-generated videos accompanied with acoustic audio.  Pantin has worked at Do While Studio, Massachusetts, Advanced Communications Technologies Lab (ACTLab) at U. Texas (Austin), Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks and Harry Ransom Center, Humanities Research Library and Museum, also at U. Texas.  She created costumes and sets for contemporary opera at Chants Libres, Montreal and participated in performances at Live Drawings (VJ) at BRIC Rotunda Gallery and with live video for the dance group Jaleo at Monkey Town, Brooklyn.

Location: Yeshiva University, Washington Heights, NYC

                       

Eligibility: Participants must possess basic computer skills and familiarity with graphic software.  Workshops are open to visual artists residing in Upper Manhattan. Artists should have demonstrated professional experience in their fields, with a serious commitment to their careers.

Application deadline:  Friday, January 6, 2012 (Notification by Wednesday, January 11, 2012)

Workshops are FREE for NoMAA Members - $25 for non-members. Bilingual (English/Spanish)

Space is limited to 12 participants per workshop – Participants must commit to attending all sessions within the workshops.  There are no make-up sessions.

To Apply, Visit: http://www.nomaanyc.org/node/9

Art Exhibit: Northern Manhattan As Muse

On Thursday, Jan. 5 from 6-8 pm, "Northern Manhattan as Muse" opens at the NoMAA Gallery at the Cornerstone Center, 178 Bennett Ave near W. 189th Street, 1 block west of Broadway.

This remarkable exhibit features photographs and essays by Mike Fitelson and takes a look at 17 local artists who have been inspired by Washington Heights and Inwood.  

According to Fitelson, the settings for the portraits include "some of Northern Manhattan's most iconic - and inspirational - locations: under the George Washington Bridge, at Malecon Restaurant, in the parks, at the Cloisters, in a bodega."

The full roster of artists includes:

Audubon

Natasha Beshenkovsky

Hector Canonge

Edgar Cortes

Andrea Cukier

Michael Diaz

Elissa Gore

Jon Michaud

Lin-Manuel Miranda

NYC SALT

Frankie P

Sky Pape

People’s Theatre Project

M. Tony Peralta

Dister Rondon

Tony Serio

Jonathan Ullman

The exhibit also features other forms of visual arts like paintings, a site-specific mural and video. Also included is an exhibit of photographs about Washington Heights taken by teenagers in the NYC SALT program. Local artist Andrea Arroyo is the curator.

Don't miss the opening reception at NoMAA on Thursday January 5, 6-8PM!

Chanukah Happenings in the Heights

Celebrate Chanukah on Sunday 12/25 with Beth Am, The People's Temple, hosted at the Hebrew Tabernacle (551 Ft. Washington @ W 185th).  The event starts at 3:30PM. Tickets are $18 for adults and $10 for kids & students.  Hot Pstromi is a klezmer band and it's bound to be a fun-filled afternoon!

You can learn more about the artists here.

Art Opening at Le Cheile's Artspace

On Saturday night (12/10), Le Cheile's newly opened Artspace hosted the opening reception for Water Under The Bridge: Oil Paintings by Navahjo Stoller.

Many of the pieces are large scale and all are defined by their use of three-dimensionality.  As we were looking at some of the pieces, a young girl came over to point out details that might have been lost to a wandering eye.  For example, when the artist finishes a tube of paint, it doesn't go into the trash - it becomes part of the piece, adding texture and depth.  She also revealed that she had donated some of her jewelry collection to a 3D collage piece.  Sure enough, upon closer examination we could see the beads and a ring transformed into a foreign landscape.

Our guide turned out to be the artist's young daughter, who is also a frequent subject of his work.

Navahjo Stoller - also known as Navi - is a local resident and also owns and operates Navi Times, a real estate firm specializing in Northern Manhattan.  At the opening, many local residents and families attended.  Navi noted that this was the ideal way to open his exhibit - in the community that he lives in and works for.

The artist, Navahjo Stoller, with his daughter Sienna in front of her portrait.

The art will be on exhibit until the end of the year. Don't miss it!

Do you have other ideas for local artists who should be shown at the Artspace?  Leave your suggestions in the comments!

Cultural Clippings: Cornerstone Chorale Concert 12/4

 The Cornerstone Chorale presents:

"Choral Music from Folk Traditions"
December 4th, 2011 @ 3:30 PM

The Cornerstone Chorale has been performing in Washington Heights since 1990.  Though their repertoire typically focuses on classical music, the upcoming concert embraces an eclectic selection of folk music. Conducted by Richard Stout, the concert features "some of the best loved arrangements from folk traditions of the United States, the British Isles, and around the world." 

 

Performed at the Holyrood Church it's an opportunity to literally be surrounded by beautiful music.

 

Holyrood Church
715 West 179th St. (at Ft. Washington Avenue, across from the
George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, New York City)

Tickets: $12 (seniors & students - $8)

Subway: 'A' train to 181st St. (take escalator to 181st St. and Ft. Washington)

Bus: Bx7, Bx11, Bx13, M100, M5

Cultural Clippings: Greek Food Festival & Bazaar

Having just returned from a trip that included a stop in Athens and the island of Crete, I'm particularly interested in this weekend's unique cultural offerings:

Greek Food Festival and Bazaar
November 11, 12 & 13th

Dine in or Take out.
Homemade Moussaka, Souvlakia in Pita, Pastichio, Spanakopita, as well as other foods and fabulous Greek Desserts!

Shop for yourself, family and friends at Boutique, Fleamarket and other household items.

HOURS:
Friday: 10AM-4PM
Saturday: 11AM-5PM
Sunday: 12:30-3PM

LOCATION:
Ladies Philoptochos Society
Saint Spyridon Church
124 Wadsworth Ave (btwn 179th & 180th)

The blogger enjoying a traditional gyro in Athens.

Cultural Clippings: MOSA's 10th Season Opens Sunday 10/23

FREE EVENT
Open End: Modern Works and In-the-Now Improvisations
Sunday, October 23, 2011 / 5 PM DIRECTIONS

178 Bennett Avenue

at 189th Street

Washington Heights, NYC

1 Train to 191st St

A Train to 190th St

M100 & Bx 7 bus to 189th

The "unusually adept contemporary music specialists" (The New Yorker) of Open End return to MOSA to perform new works, brand-new works, and works as-yet uncomposed. The program features the world premiere of Four Bagatelles for Piano Quintet by Jesse Benjamin Jones, along with music by Elliott Carter, Olivier Messiaen, Charles Ives, and several free improvisations, made in the moment by the group itself.

​PROGRAM:
Olivier Messiaen -- Pièce pour piano et quatuor à cordes (1991)
Improvisation #1
Charles Ives -- “Thoreau” from Piano Sonata no. 2, Concord Mass. (1840-1860)
Elliott Carter -- Duettino, for violin and cello (2008)
Improvisation #2
Improvisation #3
Andrew Waggoner -- Catenary, for cello and piano (2007)
Shulamit Ran -- Perfect Storm, for viola solo (2010)
Improvisation #4
Jesse Benjamin Jones -- Four Bagatelles, for piano quintet (2011 - World Premiere / Open End commission)
About the ensemble:
Open End was formed in 2004, the brainchild of several interconnected musical friendships. Equally committed to new chamber music, particularly by composers with no easily-pegged stylistic affiliations, and to free improvisation, the ensemble is made up of players well-known in other group contexts whose collective experience spans the whole of Western instrumental literature, from the oldest to the newest. Essential to the Open End mission is the reclaiming of improvisation as the birthright of all musicians. Audiences at Open End concerts come to think of spontaneous creation as being part of a natural, ongoing dialogue between performers, composing in the moment, and a written body of work that continues to expand, to transform. At home in venues from galleries and living rooms to concert halls, Open End seeks nothing less than to engage audiences in an experience that is wonderful, intimate, challenging and beautiful. Open End gave its premiere concerts in New York City in 2005 and has since performed in New York, Syracuse, New Orleans, Florence and Strasbourg. More on Open End can be found at www.openendensemble.com.

Cultural Clippings: The Chalkboard Trilogy

Live theatre is coming to Washington Heights!

Catch a performance of The Chalkboard Trilogy by Nancy Nevares from October 28-November 13. The play, directed by Mino Lora, is being produced by UP Theater Company in association with People's Theatre Project.

The Chalkboard Trilogy follows three teachers across three provocative landscapes as they struggle with their students and their environments to pass on the gift of literacy:
~
In South Carolina, on the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement, when literacy meant freedom, an old man and his niece sign up for a forbidden voter's registration class.
~
In present-day Washington Heights, a tutor's six-year attempt to teach reading to a boy who neither desires nor appreciates the gift – until he is thrust suddenly into manhood.
~
In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where girls are forbidden to learn to read, a teacher and her student meet under extraordinary and dangerous circumstances to light the light.

Performances are Thurs-Sat @ 8PM and Sundays @ 3PM and will be held at the Broadway Temple (4111 Broadway @ W 173rd). Tickets are $18 (students/seniors $10) and can be purchased online.