Located at 155th Street and Eighth Avenue in Harlem, the Polo Grounds is a multi-tower affordable housing facility. At the base of one of the towers in an unassuming community center, the Children’s Village provides a supportive and vibrant safe space where passionate mentors and volunteers coordinate family game nights, summer camps, after school teen programs and community celebrations. The Polo Grounds is situated in Central Harlem, where according to the Census, 28 percent of families fall below the federal poverty line, a number much higher than New York City’s average. This number climbs to almost thirty five percent when focusing on children under the age of eighteen. Home to several LitWorld Boys and Girls LitClubs, the center is a haven for families and children who hope to pave a better life for their future.

As you walk into the center, past blooming trees and the laughing sounds of children playing on the playground that sign the thawing of winter and beginning of spring, you pass a beautiful mural. All of this past summer and fall, artist Tova Snyder worked with children and teens from the center, as well as volunteers from CITYarts, to create a mural that captures the great hope in this community, despite the odds. Since its founding in 1968, CITYarts has organized more than 284 projects — among them murals, playgrounds, mosaics, sculptures, and gardens — that have empowered youth through collaboration with professional artists on public works of art that revitalize and beautify local neighborhoods. Says Tsipi Ben-Haim, executive and artistic director, “When kids create, they do not destroy.”

Within the mural, amongst images of Peace and Kindness, is a poem crafted by teens from our LitWorld Girls LitClub at the Polo Grounds. These girls, despite the innumerable challenges and hardships they have faced through their lives, created a work that captures the incredible love and spirit of the families that reside within the surrounding towers, and which the community center fosters:

When we unite
We remember we are equal
We unite through our dreams
Unity is the key to our success
Changing worlds, changing people.

The girls who wrote this poem are now preparing for college, and giving back to the community that nourished them. Why? Because of this spirit of collaboration, because of the idea that if we come together to achieve our dreams, our chances for success only grow. This is a powerful message for all of us in the 21st century — to look to our commonalities instead of focusing on our differences.

All children around the world deserve to be afforded the same opportunities and to have the chance to learn and grow. Unfortunately, that is not the reality. Yet, organizations such as Children’s Village and CITYarts who so value the dignity of children and cultivate young people into empowered leaders in their communities, are changing this reality for many who society has overlooked.

Despite all the odds, there is hope. Just as winter always ends and spring always blooms, so too are challenges faced and bridges of strength built to usher children to their dreams. Their organizations may not be able to remove every challenge our children will face, but they are there to stand with them as they face their obstacles. They are proud of the incredible children and families they work with at the Polo Grounds. They are proud of their voices and their determination and their love. And they are proud to be part of such an incredible project that empowers youth to transform their community.

(view original source here)

Artist Biography: Sham Idrees

Sham describes his family as travel freaks. He moved with his family to London, England at a young age. From there he travelled to Canada a little over a decade ago, finally settling down in the heart of Hamilton, Ontario at 16.

As a former grad of Orchard Park Secondary School in Stoney Creek, and a proud holder of a Bachelors of Commerce degree from the University of Ontario, Sham always had high hopes and dreams. Having worked for various organizations and companies he eventually decided to start his own business and became an entrepreneur.

His determination for living life to the fullest was renewed as his life flashed before him in a serious car accident in January of 2011. Moving to Ottawa soon after, he says his love of music and special emphasis on bitter/sad songs during this tragic time lead him to want to write. Starting off as a hobby, his passion slowly became reality and You are the Fool was written. Since then, he has written various other songs that are scheduled to be releasing sometime in the future.

Sham describes his passion and love for not only music but life in his favorite saying,

It was the uncomfortable situations in life. The mistakes, regrets, the good and the bad that became the drive and heart for my songs.”

Checkout Sham Idrees’s new album at

http://www.shamidrees.com/

Those who have never been to the show, or an Armory-style international arts fair, should expect a convention-style event with international galleries exhibiting a cross-platform of artists and their works for public viewing and purchase. Entrance is $30 per person, with discounts for students and seniors. Those looking to delve deeper into the arts world find Open Forum, a series of hosted interviews and open conversations led by the art industry’s top collectors, curators and museum directors.

As more art fairs debut and thrive on the world stage, from Art Basel Miami Beach to the newer Art Platform in Los Angeles, The Armory Show tries to stand out and add an authentic New York feel. More experienced visitors will notice the changes, including a more “boutique layout” and a new destination restaurant and cafe. There’s also now Armory Performance, highlighting musical artists from the Nordic region as well as the United States from a stage inside The Wall Street Journal Media Lounge on Pier 94.

The coming of gallery owners and art dealers from around the world means a boom for select New York City hotels. The Surrey has long been a proud sponsor of The Armory Show (as well as The Whitney Biennial). Although its Upper East Side address isn’t as close to the action as a room at the Mandarin Oriental, its boutique luxury spirit and private art collection with works by Chuck Close, Richard Serra and Jenny Holzer provide an arty fix when away from the fair. The in-house Cafe Boulud leaves little reason to leave the hotel, especially with its Bar Pleiades coming to perky life during fair nights thanks to an ingenious cocktail menu by star bartender Maura McGuigan.

Those looking for a bit more of an edge can check in to Hotel Americano in Chelsea, the first U.S. property by Mexico City’s top boutique hoteliers Grupo Habita. The hotel makes quite a first impression with its metal sarcophagus facade by award-winning Mexican architect Enrique Norten and impressive interior design by Arnaud Montigny — designer of Paris’s ever-cool Colette boutique. Rooms are sexy and spare, with affordable entry-level spaces fit for starving artists and grander “uptown studios” with wooden platform beds and fireplaces fit for fancier patrons. With an equally hip but slightly less-tattooed crowd than the Ace Hotel, its rooftop pool and Lido eatery is also well-stocked with worthy artist muses, especially in warmer weather.

In terms of dining, look for a flurry of activity around recent James Beard nominees such as Tertulia, the uber-hip West Village gastropub recently nominated America’s Best New Restaurant. One of the toughest reservations in the city, it has emerged as a popular celebrity dining scene for the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and her numerous GOOP followers. For less paparazzi glare, Recette is where you’ll find Jesse Schenker cooking away at his nightly five- and seven-course tasting menus following his own Beard nomination as Rising Star Chef of the Year.

As for nightlife, there is only one nightclub where you will likely need to swap a Schnabel to get through the door, and that’s Le Baron in Chinatown. Now in its second month, it’s become the hottest nightclub to hit New York in the past decade — and it’s only getting hotter through The Armory Show, given it and its owner’s popularity with the art elite. Should you be unable to crack the guest list, there’s always Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar for a more grown-up lounge scene. Its cocktail list and pedigree crowd are ideal for a night on the town during Armory Arts Week.

(view original post here)

International stylist, Melbourne-born Alex Zabotto-Bentley, also unveiled five collaborative installations by artists, fashion designers and visual merchandisers, set up within five of the store’s windows on both sides of Bourke Street Mall.

The artworks are part of a city-wide ”Windows by Design” project, one of 80 events in the festival’s cultural program of exhibitions, seminars, workshops and alternative fashion shows expected to attract 200,000 visitors.

”It’s been an intense, creative process to connect fashion to the consumer in these ephemeral spaces,” curator Zabotto-Bentley said.

One window features an arc of tumbling timber chairs and cascade of cobalt blue rope macrame by artist Sarah Parkes.

”It’s a study of perfect symmetry, a sculptural environment with the garments nestled in,” Zabotto-Bentley said. The window’s centrepiece is a mannequin wearing cobalt blue silk by Willow, a ring of expensive designer shoes at her feet.

Another window features plaster-dipped peony blossoms bursting from dozens of trumpets arranged around mannequins wearing Bianca Spender and Easton Pearson designs.

”This is an incredible initiative,” said festival CEO Graeme Lewsey. ”These windows are going to captivate all the visitors we’re expecting next week, including interstate and international visitors.”

A map of the 16 Windows by Design, in stores around the city, encourages visitors to walk, explore, shop, and think about fashion in new ways.

The L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival runs from next Thursday, March 8 – 15

www.lmff.com.au

(original article here)

The artist plans to have the rock placed over a 456-foot-long trench in such a way that when museum visitors walk underneath it will appear to be floating in the air above them. But first it has to get to LA from Riverside’s rural Jurupa Valley, where Heizer came across it six years ago and, as the story goes, said, “That’s the one.”

Museum officials say the reclusive artist, who has spent much of the past 40 years building “City,” a Mount Rushmore-sized project near his home in the central Nevada desert, envisioned “Levitated Mass” even before that. But he couldn’t really proceed until he found the right rock. What he found was two stories high, teardrop-shaped and so heavy and bulky it took a specially built flatbed trailer the length of three football fields to transport it.

The trailer, equipped with 44 axels, built to hold at least a million pounds and powered by 550- to 650-horsepower engines in the front and back, will be accompanied by as many as 60 people who will clear a path for the rock and make sure it doesn’t smash into anything going around turns. It will travel no faster than 5 to 8 miles per hour and only late at night and in the early morning.

The trip is expected to take 11 days, with the rock scheduled to roll up to the museum’s back door sometime before dawn on March 10. The curious can follow the rock’s progress on Twitter or through the museum’s website and blog. “We’re going to keep everybody updated as to where it’s parked each day,” said museum spokeswoman Miranda Carroll.

It is a journey that has been delayed repeatedly over the past six months as 22 cities, from Riverside to Long Beach, have had to agree to let it roll through their communities. Many were wary, especially given that officials say it is likely the largest rock to be moved from Point A to Point B since the days when the ancient Egyptians were building the pyramids. The museum finally worked out a route that went around freeway overpasses, stayed away from bridges and avoided narrow streets to enough of a degree that everybody was satisfied. The total project is costing $5 million to $10 million.

“It’s funny, the Egyptians didn’t have rubber wheels and diesel trucks to move things. But they also didn’t have 22 cities through which they had to move their stones,” museum director Michael Govan noted recently.

“And in California,” he added, “everybody has a say.”

Online: http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/levitated-mass

Megalith slated to become part of Michael Heizer’s Levitated Mass

Levitated Mass by artist Michael Heizer is composed of a 456-foot-long slot constructed on LACMA’s campus, over which is placed a 340-ton granite megalith. As with other works by the artist, such as Double Negative (1969), the monumental negative form is key to the experience of the artwork. Heizer conceived of the artwork in 1968, but discovered an appropriate boulder only decades later, in Riverside County, California. At 340 tons, the boulder is one of the largest megaliths moved since ancient times. Taken whole, Levitated Mass speaks to the expanse of art history, from ancient traditions of creating artworks from megalithic stone, to modern forms of abstract geometries and cutting-edge feats of engineering.

(view original article source here)

Classes began just this week at The Hamptons Studio of Fine Art which is located on Bridge Street in the building many will remember as Spots, a favorite local eatery a number of years back. The space has been totally renovated and reconfigured, and today, it’s filled with easels and long stretches of wall space that allow for specific lighting set ups and shelving for source material.

“It’s controlled lighting for observational drawing and painting,” explains Albinson who notes that light consistency is very important for students. “North facing natural light is great, but here, we turn on the light and the light never changes. It helps students understand the nuances.”

When it comes to art, Albinson knows what he’s talking about. He’s taught and developed course methodology for a number of different art schools (including his own which, until recently, he operated in Riverhead). Albinson’s paintings have also been featured in several shows at the Grenning Gallery and he can often be spotted painting outdoors as he captures the view of Main Street and other views in the area. Albinson is also a long time resident, having lived and worked in Sag Harbor for more than 20 years. Albinson owns Jimmy Jim’s Deli on Noyac Road (part of which now houses a gallery space) and his two children attend Sag Harbor Elementary.

While HSFA is, in fact, Albinson’s painting studio, it is primarily a serious school where aspiring artists of all ages will be encouraged to learn the basics, improve their skills or perfect their work on their way to becoming a professional. Albinson notes how his approach to teaching differs from that of many art schools in the U.S.

“In most schools here, the students work to create paintings and come in at the end and get a critique,” explains Albinson. “But the limitation is the student is done with the work and though the critique may be valuable, the student has reached the end of their ability. They put the piece up, get critiqued, and don’t work on it again. Or if they do, the teacher comes back and says it’s better here.”

“We don’t take that approach,” explains Albinson whose goal is to redirect students in the midst of creating, before they go too far astray. “I constantly walk around and spend 20 minutes with each student. If they’re doing fine, I don’t say anything. But as soon as I see them making a mistake, I sit down with them and give them the lesson they need to do it correctly and they continue.”

“When the drawing is done, they’ll come up and say ‘I think I’m finished.’ This is the time when they can start learning,” he adds. “As an instructor, my job at that point is to push them further and expand their ability. And then when they think they’re done again, I’ll push them again.”

“That’s why we have a 10 year old who can paint an apple and orange like that,” says Albinson pointing to a still life in progress. “I get them to a point and push them beyond.”

Though Albinson’s students are typically age 12 and up, helping him to run HSFA is Cindy Neuendorf, herself an artist, who will teach art to younger children in preparation for Albinson’s classes. Albinson has found that keeping kids focused and progressing in their ability is key to having them stick with art. While HSFA holds after school workshops specifically for middle and high school students, there are several other sessions, including open life drawing, where teens and adults will work alongside one another.

“With some of the kids, about eighth or ninth grade, the parents will say they can draw well, but then the kids just stop,” says Albinson. “The problem is they’re not getting better where they thought they were really talented. This thing in their head doesn’t come out right on paper. It gets frustrating and then they think, ‘Maybe I’m not good at it’ and they give it up.”

“But if a drawing has something wrong with it, I give them the tools to analyze it,” he says.

While the fundamentals class at HSFA focuses on accuracy in capturing the real world through drawing and painting, Albinson stresses that he doesn’t expect his students to be slaves to realism in their work. After mastering technique through observational skills, he encourages his students to push the boundaries of artistic expression.

“I think its important to combine the contemporary world with this,” he says. “I know [local artists like] Dan Rizzie, Paton Miller and Eric Ernst, I want to bring them in and have them talk with my students. I give them this wonderful toolbox of turning images into art, now what are they going to do with it? Are they going to challenge themselves and society to come up with something creative?”

Preparing middle and high school students for college is a major part of Albinson’s focus. He notes that developing and perfecting portfolios, teaching students to handle their work professionally and helping them learn to speak about their art in insightful and intelligent ways are all key to getting into art school.

“They have to treat their drawings with respect if they want to be treated with respect as artists. As long as they take a class here, they’re considered a portfolio student and my goal is to get them into college,” says Albinson who is meticulous in working with a student on his or her portfolio.

“They bring in all their work and we look at it numerous times over the year and look at where the holes are,” he says. “I have a good relationship with a lot of colleges. I know what they’re looking for and specifically design the portfolios for each college. Even the order the work appears in has to change depending on the college.”

Albinson notes that the hard work pays off and 95 percent of his students have received scholarships to study art at the college level.

“Even if they minor in art, they can still get a merit scholarship which is $6,000 to $8,000 a year,” he says. “That means a little investment here can save $24,000 in college.”

Albinson knows first hand how important good instruction is for students and believes that learning correctly from the beginning can save years of frustration.

“I got a scholarship at SVA, but my parents knew nothing of art school or where to send me,” recalls Albinson. “I wanted to paint like the old masters, but no one taught that.”

“There was always that tug of war between being too tight and realistic, and not loose enough. That’s where I walked out of SVA in the beginning of my third year,” says Albinson. “I’d go to class, the teacher would not be there, so I’d go to the Met and look at the Sergeants and Rembrandts.”

“I didn’t understand how to get that stroke,” he recalls. “Nobody was teaching me that. I walked away from the school and started another business.”

That business was the Noyac Deli which Albinson ran for many years. Then when he was in his early 30s, Albinson met artists from the Florence Academy (several of whom show at the Grenning Gallery) and finally found the style he had been searching for. He began studying with Attila Hejja in Oyster Bay. Hejja had apprenticed under Harold Stevenson who, in turn, had been Norman Rockwell’s protégé.

“After Attila had taught me for three months, I went to the Met again, and this time, it was everything he’d been talking about,” says Albinson. “Shadow, pattern, everything he was telling me was there.”

“It was the first time I felt I understood,” he adds. “Driving back that day I decided to sell the business.”

In many ways, Albinson has since come full circle, having recently repurchased the Noyac Deli (he renamed it Jimmy Jim’s and installed the small art gallery), and relocated his art school from Riverhead to Sag Harbor.

“I want to have my studio in my hometown so I can paint,” he says. “I want to be able to pick my kids up at school and just teach local kids.”

And hopefully, along the way, Albinson will be able to save some of those young artists years of frustration.

“I’m a good teacher because I spent my life looking for it,” he says, “taking life drawing for a year and not getting any better — searching and searching. To finally get the answer, now I know the struggle. I know what’s it like to go through and not know if it’s the right instructor and the right information.”

“The best I can to is teach the absolutes. From that they get the toolbox where expression comes,” he adds. “Color, harmony, the use of the brush — as these more advanced things come through that’s more in the toolbox. They go on to express themselves, and will hopefully have a better understanding of visual language and the tools available to them.”

For more information about the classes at The Hamptons Studio of Fine Art (23 Bridge Street, Sag Harbor), call 603-5514. On view through March 2012 at the Noyac Community Gallery (3348 Noyac Road) is a show featuring the work of Albinson’s teenage students from his Riverhead school.

Isamu Noguchi with Tsuneko-san, mid 1960’s. Photograph by Jun Miki. Courtesy The Noguchi Museum, New York.

LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum (The Noguchi Museum) today—the 107th anniversary of the artist’s birth—launched The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné, posting the first installment on the museum’s website: http://catalogue.noguchi.org.

An ongoing digital publication, the catalogue raisonné presents comprehensive information on all categories of Noguchi’s practice, encompassing sculptures, drawings, models, architectural spaces, stage sets, and manufactured designs, as well as a chronology, bibliography, and list of exhibitions. Access to the publication—one of the first catalogues raisonnés to be published digitally—is free of charge.

Noguchi Museum Director Jenny Dixon states, “The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné, a longtime project, is an enormous achievement, bringing together traditional scholarship with contemporary technology to create a rich, flexible publication that will serve scholars, curators, collectors, and the interested public for years to come.”

Digital publication of the catalogue will not only make it more accessible to the public than a traditional book would be, but will also enable the museum to post partial entries on artworks, exhibitions, and literature, identifying them as “research pending,” thereby providing scholars and the public with available information while research continues. In addition to the many other benefits of digital technology, such as searching, linking, zooming in on images, and so on, users of the catalogue raisonné will be able to make use of such personalized tools as bookmarking and, ultimately, creating slide shows and saving searches.

The first installment of The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné includes complete entries for more than 300 artworks and partial entries on more than 1,000 others for which research is in progress. In addition to making ongoing structural improvements to the site and enhancing content over the next several months, the museum will post new “chapters” on November 17 of every year through 2018.

Upon its completion, the publication will comprise complete entries on over 4,000 artworks, in addition to exhibitions and publications, and will be the first comprehensive record of the life and work of Noguchi, updating and considerably expanding upon the 1980 catalogue of sculpture by Nancy Grove and Diane Botnick (Garland). It will be an indispensable resource for scholars, arts professionals, and collectors of Noguchi’s work.

Shaina D. Larrivee is the project manager for The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné.

From December 1 through 4, Miami Beach, Florida, will host the 10th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, one of the most prestigious art shows in the Americas. More than 260 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa will take part, showcasing works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

To mark its 10th edition, Art Basel Miami Beach will inaugurate a new collaboration with the Bass Museum of Art on the Art Public sector, which will transform Collins Park with unique artworks and performances by renowned artists and emerging talents. For the first time, Art Video will be presented in SoundScape Park on the large-scale outdoor projection wall of the New World Center, designed by Frank Gehry. The free public viewings will be part of a number of special events and performances taking place across Miami Beach for the duration of the show to celebrate the 10th edition.

The exhibiting galleries are among the world’s most respected art dealers, offering exceptional pieces by both renowned artists and cutting-edge newcomers. Special exhibition sections feature young galleries, performance art, public art projects and video art. The show will be a vital source for art lovers, allowing them to both discover new developments in contemporary art and experience rare museum-caliber artworks.

Top-quality exhibitions in the museums of South Florida and special programs for art collectors and curators also help make the event a special time for encountering art. And every year, a greater number of art collectors, artists, dealers, curators, critics and art enthusiasts from around the world participate in Art Basel Miami Beach – the favorite winter meeting place for the international art world.

For more information, visit http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/

The festival is a two-day celebration of music and optimisim, with three stages of artists, games, interactive art activies, and the “Good Kids” zone.

100% of Life is good’s profits from the Festival will go towards The Life is Good Playmakers, helping kids overcome life-threatening challenges such as violence, illness and extreme poverty.

Get more info at lifeisgood.com/festivals. Hope to see you there!

SHOP ALL ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY DEBRA LA LOMIA – CLICK HERE

This NY artist says be yourself and find your bliss. Debra La Lomia has found hers “being surrounded by vibrant colors combined with the tactile process of painting.  It is both quietly mindful and an excitement of expression all at the same time”.  Using acrylics and mixed media, she prefers to create abstracts to circumvent linguistic interpretations and shift toward a more visceral appreciation of her work.

one drop at a time

8×10 acrylic/mixed media

framed

$44.00 donation to Akron foodbank*

To put a spin on a wise old saying:
How do you fill an ocean with love?

one drop at a time

An act of kindness actually creates a physiological reaction in our bodies,
for both the receiver and the giver.
How magical is that?

————————-

*Cups of Kindness: A Benefit

A show and sale of small-scale work in Peninsula, Ohio, to benefit the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. Donated artists interpretations of a cup of kindness will be for sale on-line at http://www.cupsofkindness.net. The show and sale premieres November 27, 2009 and continues thru January 10, 2010 Thursday thru Sunday from 11- 5.

This NY artist says be yourself and find your bliss. Debra La Lomia has found hers “being surrounded by vibrant colors combined with the tactile process of painting.  It is both quietly mindful and an excitement of expression all at the same time”.

Using acrylics and mixed media, she prefers to create abstracts to circumvent linguistic interpretations and shift toward a more visceral appreciation of her work.

SHOP ALL DEBRA LALOMIA ARTWORK HERE

Quantum Cafe -

Original piece: 24 x 24 acrylic, stretched canvas/painted sides – can hang “as is”.

See The Original Post:
[James Joyce], 1926