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

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.

Saturday March 7, 2022
1 PM – 7PM Schedule an appointment.
Westbeth Community room
155 Bank Street
Through Courtyard
New York, NY

New York Blood Center relies upon 1500 volunteer blood donors per day.

There has been a chronic gap in blood donations since the start of the pandemic. Remote and blended learning has resulted in a 75% reduction in youth donations from high schools and colleges and remote work has also resulted in hundreds of organizations no longer able to host blood drives. At the same time, the need for blood from patients in our local hospitals has increased by 10-15% from pre-pandemic levels, from pent up demand for treatment and surgeries postponed during the pandemic.

We’re encouraging folks to give blood and/or help amplify the message on the need for blood in our community. Saving a life takes just an hour of your time. You can click on this link to schedule an appointment

https://donate.nybc.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/301825

Food Banks

As you will see on the flyer, we are working with local food banks throughout the month of March. Donors must register for their donations to qualify by going to:

https://www.nybc.org/donate-blood/save-1-feed-1/

The Miriam Chaikin Endowment Fund

The Fund for the writing award was established in 2016 in memory of Miriam Chaikin, a longtime Westbeth resident, former Westbeth Artists Residents Council Literary Arts Chair, and prolific writer.

For Miriam, the written word and the book were essential to her life and well-being. It is in her memory that we seek to honor a member of the writing community, especially those writers who live in Westbeth.

Cassandra Long, poetry

Cassandra Long is a writer, painter, and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York. Many of her stories are inspired by working with kids as a schoolteacher in both Boston and New York City. She is currently at work on a children’s book about her time as a teacher, as well as a book of illustrated stories titled Me Imagining Holding a Baby While Imagining Dropping the Imaginary Baby While Still Holding It.

Jeffrey Solomon, prose

Jeffrey Solomon’s coming out and coming of age memoir, The Tourist, is his first work of long-form prose. He is currently finishing up his MFA in creative writing at Goddard College. He is the founder of Houses on the Moon Theater Company (HOTM); the playwright and director of Houses’ productions of Building Houses on the Moon and De Novo (59E59 Theaters and Next Door at NYTW); and the playwright of Tara’s Crossing (Tenement Theatre).

He has taught HOTM’s storytelling workshops with underserved communities, co-curating and directing the story-based theater projects. His one-man show The Santa Closet (originally titled Santa Clause Is Coming Out) won the Best of the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival (2002), had its off-Broadway debut at the Kirk Theatre on Theatre Row (2009), and was revived in 2019 by Houses on the Moon at Teatro Circulo. His other solo play, MotherSON, has had acclaimed runs at HERE (New York City), the Oval House (UK), and Theatre Works (Melbourne, Australia), and has been presented as an educational and support tool around LGBTQ+ and human rights issues in India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Solomon wrote the pilot episode for Jim Henson/ABC-TV program CityKids, which was Emmy-nominated for Best Children’s Special.

More Information About the Fund

Miriam Chaikin Writing Award

In December 2021, WestBeth, Westbeth Artists Residents Council and the WestBeth Gallery celebrated Winter 2021 and the 50th Anniversary of Westbeth with a blockbuster show of over 100 artists.

The virtual video tour, featuring work by the artists in the exhibit, was produced and filmed by Mourrice Papi, Westbeth Visual Arts chair, with music by Madonna and Child by Alvin Curran, live at the West German Radio in Cologne. Recorded and included by Beth Griffith.

The Exhibit

Working within the parameters of self-quarantine and the unsettled times, the exhibit explores both implicitly and explicitly the eloquent response of visual artists’ through a range of artistic practices including painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, photography, mixed media, multi-media, textile art and installation. In a tradition of art questioning the status quo, artists explore issues of racism, identity and environmental degradation.

At WestBeth, the COVID-19 pandemic quieted our public art spaces & isolated resident artists. With the WestBeth Winter Show 21’, the Westbeth Gallery is fortified as a place of beauty and vitality, capturing the essence of artistic dialogue and inspiration at WestBeth.

The WestBeth Winter Show 21’ is testament to WestBeth’s achievements in supporting its vibrant community of artists & empowering artists with a connection to a local and global art community.

Featured Artists

Credits:

The Westbeth Winter Show 2021
Designed by Westbeth Artists Residents Council, Visual Arts Chair Mourrice Papi & the WestBeth Community

Music:
Madonna and Child by Alvin Curran, live at the West German Radio in Cologne. Recorded and included by Beth Griffith

Thank You

Westbeth Artists Residents Council
Ellen Salpeter WestBeth CEO
Roy Rub @Topos Graphics
DaSign

Contact:

westbethgallery@gmail.com
Info: Westbeth.org
@WestBethGallery
@Westbeth_Artists_Housing

Original Dates of Show

November 20 – December 17, 2021
Opening Reception: Nov 20, 2021 4pm – 7pm

Red Hook Star Review

Walter recorded what was happening in real time (many of the essays were originally published in the Manhattan newspaper The Village Sun) so they have a fantastic immediacy. She writes in a clear way with an eye for interesting details. Her observations poke awake our own dormant memories and make us realize things we’d noticed, but had forgotten, busy as we were absorbing so much change.
Walter lives alone in a 600-square-foot apartment in Westbeth Artists Housing, a naturally occurring retirement community in the West Village. Finding herself alone after a decades-long relationship goes belly up, she never gives up hope for a chance to have one more great romance.