Author Archives: Christina

Gloria Miguel: Misdemeanor Dream and NEWS12 Interview

GLORIA MIGUEL INTERVIEW ON NEWS 12 MARCH 22,2022

Photo: Jonathan Staff

The Native American Bohemia in Brownstone Brooklyn

Ms.Muriel Miguel and her two older sisters, Gloria (95) and Lisa Mayo (who died in 2013 at 89), have often been described as the matriarchs of Indigenous theater in North America.

“They made a space for so many people and companies,” Penny Couchie, an actor and choreographer of Ojibwe and Mohawk ancestry, said. “They made no apologies for the way that we tell stories.”

In recent weeks, Ms. Miguel has been scrambling to finish preparing for the debut of her latest production, “Misdemeanor Dream,” a collaboration between her company, Spiderwoman Theater, and Aanmitaagzi, an arts group led by Ms. Couchie and her husband, Sid Bobb, on Nipissing First Nation territory in Ontario. The show, which will open on March 10 at La MaMa, the experimental theater in the East Village, represents the culmination of her life’s work so far, she said.

– Saki Knafo, NY Times March 4, 2022 (excerpt)
Read entire article HERE

La MaMa ETC presents the world premiere of Misdemeanor Dream

March 10 – 27, 2022

Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 East 4th Street, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: https://www.lamama.org/shows/misdemeanor-dream-2022

“Misdemeanor Dream” features Ms. Miguel’s sister Gloria, in the role of The Elder.Credit…Adrienne Grunwald for The New York Times

It is the latest large-scale production of Spiderwoman Theater, the legendary Downtown feminist-Indigenous theater ensemble. Created by a multi-generational performing ensemble with members drawn from Indigenous communities across North America and internationally, this unique production across inter-woven disciplines explores the realms of Indigenous story, magic, interrupted dreams and lost languages, while including all who experience it in a vital continuum of Native spirit and worldview.

In Misdemeanor Dream, old spirits long-ago silenced reveal themselves to the current inhabitants of Turtle Island through their stories and experiences of daily, contemporary life (“Turtle Island” is the name given to Earth by Indigenous peoples in North America).

We are, in the words of Spiderwoman co-founder and artistic director Muriel Miguel, “exploring what we, as Indigenous people, have lost, how we reclaim it and our path to move into a future where we can hold on to our dreams, heal ourselves and be hopeful.”

Greenwich House opens Westbeth Older Adult Center

We are open to anyone in the neighborhood 60 and older. We are hoping we get neighbors from all over the West Village. I am very excited coming to Westbeth to help open a new Center, I grew up around the corner at W 11th St and I feel like life is coming full circle for me. I look forward to meeting you and introducing myself. We are there every day from 11-1 to register members.

-Donna Coles
Assistant Director
Phone: 212-989-3620
www.greenwichhouse.org
dcoles@greenwichhouse.org

About Greenwich House Older Adult Centers

Partially funded by the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA), Greenwich House’s older adult centers are a vital resource for many in the community. Our centers offer social, educational, physical and cultural programs to engage members, build community and promote healthy and active lifestyles. Every weekday, each center serves a hot lunch that meets DFTA’s nutritional requirements.

Along with regularly scheduled weekly programming, each center fills their monthly calendars with special events. Thanks to partnerships with cultural institutions, local politicians and private foundations, this includes access to exciting arts programming and opportunities. Free courses are taught by professional artists, and chances to see performances are provided throughout the year. Other activities include visits to cultural institutions or shopping trips, services like free haircuts or tax assistance, or cooking demonstrations by guest teachers.

More info: Greenwich House

Peter Bernstein Trio at Village Vanguard

Few guitarists put as much care, sensitivity and subtle strength into every single note as Bernstein does. Among the finest melodists in jazz, he has a full-breadth command of his instrument, but his biggest assets are his knack for crisp understatement and simplicity.
— New York Times

Tickets: March 8 – March 13, 2022
Two shows 8:00PM and 10:00PM

Jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein has been a part of the jazz scene in New York and abroad since 1989. During that time he has participated in numerous recordings and performances with musicians from all generations. As a leader, Peter has released nine albums and a DVD. As a sideman Peter has appeared in groups led by Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, George Coleman, Lou Donaldson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Fathead Newman, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Diana Krall, Lee Konitz, Jimmy Cobb and many more. Current projects include his album, Monk, with Doug Weiss and Bill Stewart, a recently released solo record, Solo Guitar – Live at Smalls, and the highly acclaimed organ trio with organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart.

More info at: PeterBernsteinMusic.com

Peter Washington bass A founding member of the collective hard bop sextet One for All and is a visiting artist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His extensive discography numbers more than 400 recordings.

Joe Farnsworth drummer Has worked with David Hazeltine and Jim Rotondi, Benny Golson, Steve Davis, and Eric Alexander . He has also played with Alex Graham (1995), Michael Weiss the Three Baritone Saxophone Band and Diana Krall. He is now a member of Pharoah Sanders’ band.

Stories Around the Table: Elegies and Confessions by 7 Women

Wednesday April 6, 2022 at 7PM

An innovative evening of true and almost true stories…

Westbeth Community Room

155 Bank St
New York, NY 10014
enter through courtyard

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED:
Karen Ludwig: karenludwig1@gmail.com

Karen Ludwig
KAREN LUDWIG performs, directs and teaches in New York and L.A.
Her B’way credits include Prelude to a Kiss with Steve Guttenberg and John Randolph, Broadway Bound with Joan Rivers, The Devils with Anne Bancroft, The Bacchae with Irene Pappas and many plays at the Public Theater. She was a member of Andre Gregory’s Manhattan Project for two years and performed The Seagull and Wallace Shawn’s Our Late Night with the Company throughout the United States and Europe.
Her first film was Woody Allen’s Manhattan, (Meryl Streep’s lover) and her most recent is That Awkward Moment with Zach Efron. She teaches at The New School for Drama and the HB Studio in NYC.

Dawn D’Arcy
Dawn is an actor, writer, bass player and thrilled to be a new grandma to Etta. She is in love with each of the women in this group and plans to marry them all in the very near future.

Joyce Aaron
Oboe winner for Acting in a play Acrobatics co written by Luna Tarlo. Original member of The Open Theater, directed by Joseph Chaikin. Premiered America Hurrah by Jean Claude Van Itallie in New York and at The Royal Court Theater in London. Lived and worked with Sam Shepard on many of his early plays.

Nancy Gabor
Theater Director, Acting Teacher:
Open Theater, Director – The War in Heaven with Joseph Chaikin,
Master Teacher – Princeton University, and the Amsterdam Theater School, Holland.
Director – On-site production Lost and Found, by Paul Binnerts at Westbeth.
Offering the popular You’re Never Too Old to Play story telling and improvisation workshop for seniors that recently played to great acclaim at Little Island, New York in July 2021

Joan Hall
Joan Hall who won the Miriam Chaikin Writing Foundation Award in 2018, is a pioneer in the field of collage and assemblage illustration. Her work has appeared on covers of Time magazine, and in The New York Times. Hall’s collages and assemblages have been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City.

Christina Maile
Her work reflecting her West Indian and Dayak heritage, she has received grants from Pollock-Krasner and Joan Mitchell Foundation, as well as two Miriam Chaikin Foundation Writing Awards. Her landscape architectural work was featured in Garden Design Magazine. She was the co-founder playwright of the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective. She accepts Dawn’s marriage proposal but only if its an open marriage.

Diane Spodarek
Diane Spodarek is a Canadian-American artist and writer with a background in the visual and performing arts. She is the recipient of artist’s fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Creative New Zealand, and the Michigan Council for the Arts.

Dale Soules
is an American actress known for starring in The Messenger, Sesame Street, and for portraying Frieda Berlin in Orange Is the New Black from 2014 to 2019. She appeared in the original production of Hair in the role of Jeannie.

Westbeth Celebrates Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month at Westbeth reflects on the extraordinary contributions that Westbeth’s women artists have made to history, art and culture.
Those featured on the poster represents a fraction of our resident emerging and established women artists, past and present. We have also included on this page, other Westbeth women artists whose work has been featured on the website as Westbeth Icons, Profiles in Arts, and Westbeth Boldface.

Pele Bauch dancer

Pele grew up at Westbeth and later returned with her husband and children as fully accomplished dancer and choreographer exploring indigenous Pacific Islander movement. Her work has been presented at the Brooklyn Museum, Chocolate Factory, Danspace Project, HERE’s American Living Room and Best of the American Living Room, Joyce SoHo, Dixon Place, BAX, and other venues. Pele has received funding from LMCC, Harkness Foundation, and BAC.
Dance NYC Town Hall Discussion
New Dance Alliance

Melika Dave visual artist and musician

Melika grew up in Westbeth with her father, a visual artist. She is a multi-media artist working in the realms of music, poetry, painting and design. Melika is a 2021 Still Standing Artist in Residence and the founder of the emerging artist community Public Fruit.
Music
Art on the Avenue
Website

Gwen Fabricant visual artist

Once the costume designer for the Open Theater, Gwen’s visual work preserves and investigates the changeability and fragility of natural forms, for which she has been awarded Joan Mitchell, Pollack Krasner, MacDowell Colony grants. She is a 2018 Westbeth Icon honoree.
Westbeth artist page
Website
Westbeth Icon film

Nancy Gabor theater director and teacher

A long-time collaborator with Joseph Chaikin as an actor in The Serpent and directing him in The War with Heaven , Nancy was a Master Acting teacher with the New Amsterdam Theater Conservatory for 25 years. She co-founded the senior acting storytelling workshop, You’re Never Too Old to Play, whose most recent performance was at Little Island NYC in 2021.
Westbeth artist page
Little Island Performance

Arlene Gottfried photographer and singer

A dedicated gospel singer, Arlene was one of the finest NYC street photographers of her generation, receiving belated recognition for her candid photographs of people in under-represented neighborhoods. Her books include Mommie, “Midnight, and Sometimes Overwhelming, and is currently on exhibit at the Daniel Cooley Fine Art Gallery, NYC.
Wikipedia
Daniel Cooley Fine Art
Website

Penny Jones puppeteer

Penny and her company since the 1970’s specializes in puppet shows for the very young, and puppet ballets. Her company has performed at the Henson International Puppet Festival and at Avery Fischer Hall, Currently her work is included in Puppets of New York, at the Museum of the City of New York. She is a 2017 Westbeth Icon honoree.
Website
Puppets of New York
Westbeth Icon film

Christina Maile visual artist and writer

Christina co-founded the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective. Her Garden for Children with Aids was published in Landscape Architecture Magazine. She won two Chaikin Writing Awards, and a Pollack Krasner Foundation Grant for her printmaking which explores her Dayak and West Indian heritage. She is a member of Stories Around the Table which will perform in April 2022, and of the Westbeth Board of Directors.
Website
Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective
Chaikin Writing Award

Gloria Miguel actor and playwright

Gloria is Kuna/Rappahannock and co-founder of Spiderwoman Theater Company, the first Native American theater group. Touring extensively in Spiderwoman productions, as well in her own one woman shows, she also taught drama workshops at Navaho Nation Reservations. In Spring 2022, she will perform Spiderwoman Theater’s Misdemeanor Dreams at La Mama ETC, NYC. Gloria is a 2018 Westbeth Icon honoree.
Spiderwoman Theater
Wikipedia
Westbeth Icon film

Madeleine ‘Yayodele’ Nelson musician

Yayodele, composer, and crafter of the group’s instruments, was the founder of the “Women of the Calabash”, whose music drew on the roots of Caribbean, and African music to underscore issues of liberation and civil rights. As a solo artist, Yayodele was featured by Paul Simon on The Rhythm of the Saints, and taught master classes at Julliard and at the Fresh Air Fund Camp in Fishkill NY.
Women of the Calabash performance
Westbeth Artist in Profile
The Globe and Mail

Carol Nolte dancer and choreographer

co-founded WESTFEST Dance – a curated dance festival that supports cutting edge performances by emerging and established movement artists which take place in unusual and traditional locations at Westbeth. Carol also created over 50 dances for her company Dance Collective, a collaborative and a diverse community based program.
Westbeth artist page
WESTFEST Dance
Dance Collective

WESTBETH ICONS

is a project that celebrates the life and work of senior Westbeth artists who continue to work passionately in their artistic field. It is produced by the Westbeth Artists Residents Council.

Black Eyed Susan Obie award winning actor and winner of the 2018 Contemporary Arts award

https://westbeth.org/westbeth-icons/black-eyed-susan/

Scheila Scheid painter, in a recent show at Carter Burden featuring her 14th Street series

https://westbeth.org/westbeth-icons/sheila-schwid/

Edith Stephen dancer, choreographer and filmmaker devoting over 85 years of her life to art

https://westbeth.org/westbeth-icons/westbeth-icons-edith-stevens/

Vija Vetra dancer and choreographer whose work celebrates world dance, and at 99 years old, is a national treasure of Latvia

https://westbeth.org/westbeth-icons/westbeth-icons-vija-vetra/

PROFILES IN ART

interviews by Terry Stoller celebrating Westbeth artists.

Pat Lasch sculptor

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/pat-lasch-sculptor/

Huguette Martel writer and painter

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/huguette-martel-painter-writer/

Leni Schwendinger urbanist designer

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/leni-schwendinger-urbanist-designer-artist/

Brenda Buffalino tap dancer and choreographer

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/brenda-bufalino-dancer-choreographer-author-ceramicist/

Ann Hamilton designer and textile artist

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/ann-hamilton-designer-and-textile-artist/

Joan Hall collage and assemblage artist

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/joan-hall-collage-and-assemblage-artist/

Jayne Holsingerpainter

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/jayne-holsinger-painter/

Shelley Seccombe photographer

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/shelley-seccombe-photographer/

Francia Tobacman Smith artist and activist

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/francia-tobacman-smith-painter-printmaker-arts-activist/

Ze’Eva Cohen dancer and choreographer

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/zeeva-cohen-dancer-choreographer-educator/

Valerie Ghent singer songwriter and producer

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/valerie-ghent-musician-singer-songwriter-producer/

Joyce Aaron actor director teacher

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/joyce-aaron-actordirectorteacher/

Kate Walter writer

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/kate-walter-writer/

Sherry Lane cartoonist

https://westbeth.org/profiles-in-art/sherry-lane-caricaturistcartoonist/

Eve Zanni vocalist and composer

https://westbeth.org/artist-page/eve-zanni/

WESTBETH BOLDFACE

Patti Bown pianist and composer

https://westbeth.org/westbeth-boldface/patti-bown/

Robert Bunkin: Artist Talk – Gwen John

Gwen John Self Portrait 1902 oil on canvas

Tuesday March 22, 2022 at 5:30PM

Hudson Park Library
66 Leroy Street
New York, NY

Gwen John Painting in a Minor Key Art Talk

Gwen John (1876-1939) lived most of her life as a recluse outside of Paris, in the shadows of two men: her lover, the sculptor Rodin and her brother, the flamboyant wunderkind Augustus John, whom, in recent years (as he predicted), she eclipsed as an artist. During her lifetime her main patron was a New York lawyer, John Quinn. Although a small cir-cle of admirers knew her work, she was aloof from engaging with “the art world,” becoming increas-ingly isolated from colleagues, friends, relatives, choosing instead to retreat to Catholic piety and her pet cats.

Her paintings and drawings are modest in scale, and like her younger contemporary, Giorgio Moran-di, she focused on simple subjects: her room, por-traits of friends and the nuns in a local convent, table-top still lives, often painting variants on a theme. Her close-toned, exquisitely brushed sub-jects reverberate with tenderness, offering a unique personality.

Robert Bunkin is a painter, curator, art historian and educator, with a BS from CUNY and an MFA from Ma-son Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He has taught art history and studio art in several NYC art schools, universities, colleges and museums.

*Space is limited. Walkups will be permitted as space accommodates. Face mask required.

Gwen John, Self-Portrait, 1902. Oil on canvas. Tate Britain

Olive Ayhens and Ezra Johnson: Impinging Environments

Feb 12, 2022 – March 12, 2022

Platform Project Space
20 Jay Street #314
Brooklyn, NY

platformprojectspace.com

Platform Project Space is pleased to present Impinging Environments, a two person show of paintings and animations by Olive Ayhens and Ezra Johnson. This is the first show to pair the work of the artists, who are mother and son. Both are interested in the collision of man and nature and in capturing the often toxic beauty that results.

Olive Ayhens transforms environments in her own quirky ways. She works from memory and uses exaggerated imagination to catch the deep essence of a place. She researches, sketches, and dreams to spontaneously amplify and add nuance to her vision. She remains inventive all along. Color is her first language and she is especially drawn to spatial incongruities and surprises. Represented in the show is older work from different times and places, yet it is all connected. Olive is very excited to show with her
son, Ezra Johnson.

Ezra Johnson is known for expanding his painting practice into animation and sculpture. Interested in experimentation with color, form and surface, his work takes a playful and energetic approach to serious subject matter. For Impinging Environments, Johnson will exhibit three still life paintings depicting objects found along the banks of the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida. The show also includes Johnson’s stop-frame animation, Stranded in a House, made with oil painting on top of interior design
advertisements gathered from found catalogues.

Olive Ayhens has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Joan Mitchell Grant, a Pollack-Krasner Grant (twice,) and the Adolph & Easter Gottlieb Individual Support Grant.She has been in residence at Ucross,MacDowell, Yaddo, VCCA, Blue Mountain, Djerassi, LMCC among others and she will be attending the Joan Mitchell residency in New Orleans this coming spring.

Ezra Ayhens Johnson was born in 1975 in Wenatchee, Washington. He received an MFA from Hunter College in New York in 2006 and a BFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2000. Johnson’s work has been exhibited widely at museums and galleries such as the Nerman Museum of Art in Kansas, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Site Santa Fe Biennial, among others. Johnson is currently residing in Tampa and teaches painting at The University of South Florida.