Making miniMAX

Hi everyone! This is a behind the scenes look at miniMAX in the making (before and after). Here the BAC crew is hard at work framing and shipping the art.

Putting up the exhibit was a whole other challenge. After unpacking, we laid all the artwork on to the floor and decided how to arrange and hang the pieces. This was a much harder job than seemed. Here's a video during installation -

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/aee8d03f43fa2485740194b51683ad1e/video/11638952

BAC participant Kevin Boadu stated: " This program has given us many skills that weren't in the fine print, so to speak. The framed artwork couldn't just be placed onto the wall, this would create an uneven, unattractive exhibition. The length and width of the frames were taken into account, as were the dimensions of the wall. Then the height of each frame had to be marked where it would be on the wall. If the measurements were not constant, the exhibit might not have been as enticing and balanced."

Here's a look at the final installation:

BAC Curates "miniMAX" at The Bronx Museum of Art

Hi Everyone! It's been some busy times for the BAC crew here at the art center. We're in the process of curating and planning the upcoming annual DreamYard art exhibition. This year the show will be titled miniMAX! It will be a show for all ages. Be sure to check it out at the Bronx Museum of the Arts from March 17- 20. We're going to have some fun stuff in store for you, including a family workshop!

Speaking of workshops, we had a great curatorial workshop a couple weeks ago with Susana Leval. She gave us helpful pointers on the process of curating, and provided us with useful knowledge on the subject. We discussed how the job of a curator involves being a caretaker for the artwork, and it is our priority to ensure that the work makes it to the Bronx Museum safely. And that each piece is shown in their strongest light once it is installed in the space. She led the workshop asking each of us to bring in an object we valued and thought was beautiful. We all spoke about why our object was important to us, and then we began to find threads in all of our stories, and grouped them into categories.

After the curatorial workshop, we juried the show and discussed the curatorial themes emerging from the artwork. We have seven curated themes for the miniMAX show, these are: Animation, Geometric, Dark & Stormy, The Personal, Faces, Cultural Symbolic, and Food & Nature.

Here's a sneak peak of some of the artworks you will see in miniMAX:




miniMAX will be open to the public March 17 - 20, 2010

March 17 - 19 hours are: 11am - 6pm
An Opening celebrating the artists will be held on the 18th from 5:30 - 7:30PM
March 20 the show will be open from 11:00am - 3:00 with family workshops being given during those hours

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is located at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street.

Directions

Train
D OR B TRAINS to the 167 STREET/GRAND CONCOURSE STATION. Exit at rear of station,
walk south along Grand Concourse two blocks.

PLEASE NOTE: D Train stops all times except
rush hours peak direction (6:15 am - 9 am to
Manhattan, 4 pm - 6:45 pm from Manhattan). Take
B Train at 145 St. to 167th St. / Grand Concourse.

4 TRAIN to the 161 STREET/YANKEE STADIUM
STATION. Walk east three blocks to the Grand
Concourse, then, walk north four blocks along
Grand Concourse to 165th St.

Bus
Bx1 or Bx2
to 165th St. and Grand Concourse

BxM4A / BxM4B
Express bus to and from Manhattan

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?

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...