MOMA, Ananse and Tim Burton! Oh My!

Courtesy of pulpfashion.com

On December 12th both BAC (Bronx Art Collective ) and BAE (Bronx Acting Ensemble ) went on a field trip to MOMA! We had a wonderful time. Our main purpose was to see the Tim Burton Exhibit.



BAC participant Kevin, commented that while Tim Burton's artwork is "interesting, twisted and abstract", he thought "it was unusual to see this work at the MOMA." Edwin, the BAC intern thought that the Tim Burton exhibit was "humorous, even though a bit cruel."

While at MOMA we were looking for inspiration and ideas to help us with our current project. We are working alongside BAE to produce a play for children about Ananse the spider. During this trip we picked up a lot of ideas for costumes, scenery and props.

After viewing the Burton exhibit we walked through MOMA's many galleries for inspiration.

We had a wonderful day! Our next post will detail the behind the scenes making of Ananse, until next time!

Ananse Theater Production

This week B.A.C. is working on costumes and masks for the B.A.E. theater production of Ananse the Spider.

Ananse is a character in West African folklore. He is always portrayed as a trickster who uses others to do menial tasks for him. Unfortunately the trickster is usually tricked in the end by his own trick!

Ananse will debut at the DreamYard Art Center the end of January.

Costumes are currently being designed for the different animal characters in this play. These characters include: a Spider, Wart-hog, Lion, Bird and Monkey.

2009-2010 BAC Program Launches with a Trip to The New Museum to see Emory Douglas

Screengrab courtesy of Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

BAC is back in session and on October 17th we went to see the Emory Douglas show at the New Museum. Emory Douglas was a member of the Black Panther Party and he was known as "the "revolutionary artist of the movement."

His artwork was first published in the Black Panther newspaper, which advocated programs they initiated, while discussing politics and police brutality. Douglas uses a combination of printmaking, collage and drawing techniques to create simple yet powerful statements about the events of the times. The Black Panther Party started in the 1960's during the Civil Rights Movement in response to discrimination against African Americans, Hispanics, Immigrants and Gays and Lesbians.

Some things we noticed and learned from the exhibition are:

"What caught my attention was how many Black Panther's are still incarcerated to this day, for being activists and speaking there minds. Also Douglas' images are just, BAM! There's no censorship, they're very direct." - Edwin

"It was a big surprise to learn about all the public initiatives and services the Black Panthers provided for the community. They had free transportation for the elderly and a free breakfast program for kids." - Naralyn

"A map detailing the number of Black Panther Community Centers in the United States showed the divisions within our country. The south had fewer community centers, while the west and east coasts had many." - Carlos

"The Black Panthers rallied to free B.P. prisoners and provided lawyers, who fought to make them innocent and absolve them of crimes charged against them." - Karina

"I always thought the Black Panthers were violent. I never knew they had lawyers in their group, and that they knew it was legal to carry unloaded guns to protect themselves from police brutality." - Kevin

To learn more about Emory Douglas and the Black Panthers click here: http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/415

Highlights from The World: As We See It, Know It and Envision It

Naralyn Camacho's Red World viewed by BAC participants

In May DreamYard's BAC participants created their final show of the year titled The World: As We See It, Know It and Envision It, held at the Pregonis in the South Bronx in conjunction with BAE's play titled Is Anybody Listening? The event was proof that the Bronx is alive with talented young artists ready to express themselves and be heard. Celebrating a successful opening night with a packed house, over a hundred people came out to support BAC and BAE.

Here's are highlights of the event in case you missed it....

BAC members Edwin Velazquez and Diana Perea install Diana's series of photographs, the diagram for the installation is below.

Edwin Velazquez: Utopian School Model


BAE performs Is Anybody Listening?

2009 DreamYard Benefit and Silent Auction

On May 4, 2009 DreamYard's annual benefit was held at 538 Park Avenue in New York City. Over 400 people attended the dinner event, with a silent auction of artwork created by DreamYard students held during the cocktail hour. BAC members Diana Perea and Naralyn Camacho worked the auction that evening. The money raised will help support DreamYard's art programs next year.

BAC members would like to send out a huge thank you to all the artists that donated work and to everyone that attended the event!!

A view of the silent auction

Auction highlights

Start bidding!!

In The BAC Studio

BAC is currently preparing for their upcoming exhibit titled The World: As We See It, Know It and Envision It. The exhibit will be on view at Pregones on Saturday, May 16 & Sunday, May 17.

Opening reception for the artists will be held on May 16 from 5:30PM- 6:30PM. Following the art opening DreamYard's BAE will present their play Is Anyone Listening? at 6:30PM. The event is free and open to the public, so spread the word!! Pregones is located at 575 Walton Avenue in the Bronx.

Here's a behind the scenes look at some of BAC's very own preparing for the show:

BAC Visit to Gage/Clemenceau Architects

Screenshots courtesy of Gage/Clemenceau

I'll be visiting Mark Gage at Gage/Clemenceau Architects later today. I am building a model of a utopian school and am going to get some helpful tips from Mr. Gage on how to do this. I'll report back later on how the trip goes! You can learn more at gageclemenceau.com

- Edwin Velasquez

DreamYard Student Art Exhibition at Sothebys, March 24, 2009

Dreamyard's Annual Student Art Exhibition at Sotheby's was a day of excitement. From curating the show to enjoying it. It was a busy day for us Bronx Art Collective participants.

How did we curate the show?

Photo's of the installation

We first ended up putting the artwork into categories: Place, Self, and Message. Then we decided which categories should go onto what sections of the empty space provided in the gallery. Since we had to look at how the visitors (and the young artists whose artwork was included in the show) would see the work, we thought to hang the art in a way that would flow to the other sections and themes, etc. Therefore we looked at the different art pieces and put them together like pieces in a puzzle. At first curating wasn't an easy puzzle to accomplish in the beginning, in fact it was actually quite nerve- wracking! But then once we got the idea of it, then it was easy. We weren't alone in curating the exhibition we were joined by Susanna Leval a professional curator and artist. She was giving us advice and very supportive on what a good job we were doing.

The day was very long for all of us putting up the artwork but then it was well worth it seeing the show being enjoyed by the young artists and they're families. Which was over 200 people !

BAC Participants and Curators: Christopher Aracena, Naralyn Camacho, Diana Perea, Eddie Paulino and Edwin Velasquez

Upcoming: 2009 DreamYard Art Exhibition

Hey Everyone,

For the past few weeks we have been jurying the work as we prepare to kick off DreamYard's annual art exhibition at Sotheby's. This year we will also be showcasing our work at the Bronx Museum as part of a traveling exhibition.



The jurying of the work is based on a judging criteria which was developed by BAC students. For a piece of artwork to make the cut, it had to meet at least one of the main themes. These themes included:

-The Self (Home, Cultural Heritage, Self Portrait, Symbollism, etc.)
-Place (Living Environment, Habitat, Community, Society, etc.)
-Message (Socio-Political Issues, Social Issues, Words, Story, Statement, etc.)

Along with this, we also judged the artwork based on technical aspects such as color, texture, shading, proportion, tone, etc. depending on the nature of the work and the medium used. We asked ourselves "Is the work age appropriate in terms of child development?" and "Was time put into the work?" "What do we see in this picture?"



The process of jurying took about two days total. This is just one step in the road to Sotheby's. The next steps include framing the selected artwork and curating the actual show. These steps will be discussed in future posts so stay tuned! We hope to see you at the show on Tuesday March 24, 2009...

Visit to Robert A.M Architects

Two BAC participants, Eddie Paulino and Edwin Velasquez, have a great interest in pursuing a career in architecture. We are both students at In-Tech Academy 368 and are taking part in the Dreamyard BAC program. For one of our trips, our instructor decided to take us on a visit to Robert A.M Stern Architects, LLP. There we met Peter Morris Dixon, the Director of External Communications, or basically, the head of the marketing department. Dixon guided us around the firm where we saw architects working on current models. The architectural models impressed us tremendously, because of all the art and patience involved in the process. We were also able to talk with some of the architects, and they explained to us how they loved their jobs and that they had planned to work in an architecture firm since their childhood. This trip changed the way I thought about architects and architecture. Everyone always told me that architecture was all math, and thanks to technology and programming, it's still math. However, architecture isn't just math, so they were proven wrong. At Robert AM Sterns, I was able to experience that architecture is about the art of building structures, creating realities, and making an idea come to life.

BAC Participant Highlights

My name is Evelyn Pazmino and this is my artist statement about my sculpture titled “Do You Live On The Right Side?”

My concept was to create a dollhouse that speaks about the issue of domestic violence because this is what people in the Bronx go through. By dividing a dollhouse in half, I juxtaposed two realities (What Do You See And What Is Really Happening?)

I made the right side of the dollhouse depict a family suffering from domestic violence. The left side is inhabited by the “ideal family”, (the TV or Hollywood family), where everything is always wonderful and perfect. The whole point of my piece was to put the audience in a difficult position, where they were forced to pick which side of the house they are closer to. This could either relieve them or fright them, and I think that made my piece very powerful.



The BAC Program taught me that I could place my audience in difficult positions or situations through my work and make change. Art is everywhere and people should give more credit to artists that help make our world a better place. I learned to connect with issues and concepts by looking at artists work and seeing how curators at NYC museums brought forth their work within a context; for example, I visited the Whitney Museum of American Art and experienced the Kara Walker Exhibition. It enlightened me on how African American people, and women more specifically, have been demeaned throughout the years in this country. It also helped me to see the entire world in a new light.

Evelyn Pazmino, BAC Participant 2007 - 2008

Frida Kahlo

This is Frida Kahlo!!!! A Mexican Artist.

One artist that has grabbed my attention is Frida Kahlo. Born on July 16,1907, in Mexico. After an accident on a bus on September 17,1925, which caused her ribs, back, pelvis and collarbone to break, she began to paint self-portraits. She did this while in bed, in order to help pay for all of her medical bills. Although she was in bed for most of her lifetime, recovering from surgeries in a plaster body-cast, she continued with her life as an artist. Later on she started to walk again after a year of rest. She met her husband Diego Rivera and went to New York for sometime. Frida Kahlo didn't like New York at all because it was so different from Mexico. She was living in an apartment which usually caused her to see many things, which she painted eventually.

I like this piece because it shows how the United States of America is different from Mexico. And I also like the fact that she saw this when she was taking a bath, and ended up painting something she saw in her head.

This is also another piece showing New York, and in the middle you can see Frida Kahlo's dress. The buildings in the back cover the entire background, which made me understand that New York City has many people living there.


This painting has Frida and her husband being held by a lady, half light green (good) and the other half dark brown (bad). I think this painting shows the child Frida always wanted, and how that baby was going to have both Frida and Diego's DNA. But for some reason that baby was never going to be born and there was something, someone holding the baby back from being born. That someone, I think, is the face behind Frida.

Silent Auction

In May, 2008, DreamYard hosted their annual benefit at Roseland Ballroom in Times Square. BAC participants helped coordinate the silent auction at the event, and shmoozed the crowd. Forty art works created by DreamYard students were sold, and the proceeds went to fund DreamYard's future art programs.

The crowd admiring all the beautiful art works up for auction

Do I hear $100, $200, $300?!

Charlene Dubin's Animal drawing!!!

BAC Silent Auction Coordinators: Edwin Velasquez, Amber Ade, Charlene Dubin, Evelyn Pazmino and That Guy