BAC EXHIBITION AT THE DY ART CENTER

Hey everyone! Last week DreamYard's OSP groups - BAC, BAE and the Hip Hop Rhyme Factory celebrated an evening of art, theater and music. Our current exhibition titled The Who, The What, The How features over fifty pieces of artwork, transforming the DY Art Center into a teen gallery.

Diana's oil paintings pay homage to family, while Sol and Jose's remind us of what is home. Justin's larger than life self portrait asks the viewer- who is in control of your life? Lorena's twist on the Chutes and Ladders game questions what brings you up and what takes you down? While Jay's powerful shadow installation made of paper guns states "no one can censor art." Rounding out the show are Raheem's playful installation's and video's reminding us what's underneath the music, and Christopher's humorous up-and-coming (almost launched!) website: www.WhoTheBookAmI.com.

Over seventy people were in attendance and it was a great evening. Here's a glimpse of the show, which is going to be up for a little while so come on out to the DY Art Center if you haven't had a chance yet!

DreamYard OSP Festival

EMPOWER! CREATE! CONNECT!

DreamYard's OSP family will be sharing their work all week with events at the Art Center. Join us in celebrating the 2010-2011 work by our participants!!

May 4 - OSP Mini-Sharing at 5:30PM

May 5 - BPP/Rhyme Factory Open Mic 5:30PM

BAE Opening Night Performance is at 7PM

May 6 BAC Gallery Opening Reception will be from 6 - 6:45PM

Followed by another performance by BAE

May 7 Action performs at 4PM

For more info contact Evelyn Bojorquez at 718-588-8007 ext 206

or email evelyn@dreamyard.com

We hope to see you all there!

Opening Night of miniMAX

On a beautiful and sunny Thursday evening, the proud parents and young DreamYard artists gathered at the Bronx Museum of the Arts for the official opening of miniMAX.

This year, BAC participants curated a variety of art from all over the Bronx. Some of the curated themes for the show included: Dark and Stormy, Geometric, Faces and Animation. On opening night, the energy was amazing! As people walked around the exhibit, you could see that they were lost in thought, examining and interpreting all the pieces.

After an hour into the night, we had speeches giving thanks to all that had come out and participated. We also heard statements given by some of the young artists and handed out awards. One of the most memorable moments of the evening was seeing our guest artist, Skowman Hastanan receive a gift from Narelyn Camacho, a BAC member. All in all, the miniMAX show was a success!

(Photo's of opening night coming soon)

Family Workshops at The Bronx Museum of the Arts

As part of the miniMAX show the BAC participants led a family art making workshop. It was a big hit, and also a great opportunity for parents and children alike to get creative and see the show. But I have to say, the children were the real stars of the day. They made many beautiful pieces out of their imagination. It's a great joy to know that people so young could be so interested in art. I feel that BAC is truly bringing out the Da Vinci in everyone!

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

Curtain Call

Ananse
All screengrabs courtesy of David Flores

This week, the Bronx Acting Ensemble premiered their children's theater production of Ananse, at the DreamYard Art Center. Bronx Art Collective participants made the masks, costumes and set design for the production. Here are highlights of characters in costume.

BAE performed the piece five times to children ages five to eight. Families and friends also attended. BAC participants led a pre-show workshop for neighboring school groups. Children participated in face painting, storytelling, and the creation of noise-makers, as part of the "rain and thunder." The audience was given signals when it was time to use the noisemakers by the actors.

The actors wore handmade costumes and masks designed by BAC participants. Both BAC and BAE shared ideas and collaborated as to how the characters should be portrayed. BAC made masks using plaster and created a mold of each actors face, then designed it to the actor's character. With the costumes, BAC used different types of cloth and chose ones most appropriate for each character.

As for the set, it was made up of a series of projections and silhouettes. Creating a theater in the round, the actors also used 2D painted props cut from cardboard.

All in all, the play was a huge success! Everyone that attended enjoyed it and laughed hard. And we all learned a very valuable lesson - to treat your friends as you would like to be treated.

The end!

On to our next project!!

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?

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:

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