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!!

Ananse Mask-Making

Greetings! BAC has been busy making masks, costumes and props for BAE's production of Ananse the spider. Here are some pictures of us at work casting actors faces. Curtain call will draw soon!

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?