Category Archives: Events

Westbeth Movie Night
Crip Camp

Friday December 17, 2021 at 7PM
Westbeth Community Room
FREE Screening

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is a 2020 American documentary film directed, written and co-produced by Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht. Barack and Michelle Obama serve as executive producers.

Crip Camp starts in 1971 at Camp Jened, a summer camp in New York described as a “loose, free-spirited camp designed for teens with disabilities”. With disability activists, Larry Allison, Judith Heumann, James LeBrecht, Denise Sherer Jacobson, and Stephen Hofmann, the film focuses on those campers who turned themselves into activists for the disability rights movement and follows their fight for accessibility legislation.

Crip Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020, where it won the Audience Award. It has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 99 reviews.

Westbeth Winter Show 2021 Group Exhibition

Westbeth Gallery celebrates Winter with a block buster show of over 75 artists.

Exhibition Dates: November 20– December 17, 2021

Exhibiton Location: Westbeth Gallery 155 Bank Street, New York, NY
Exhibition Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 1PM – 6PM

Belatedly coinciding with Westbeth Artists Housing 50th anniversary, Westbeth Gallery ‘s Winter Show, presents a selection of remarkable new work created by over 75 emerging and established Westbeth artists.

Working within the parameters of self-quarantine and the unsettled times, the exhibit explores both implicity and explicitly the eloquent response of visiual artists’ through a range of their artistic practice, including painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, photography, mixed media, multi media, textile art, and installation.

For so long, places of art were silent and the art of the residents artists isolated. With this show, Westbeth Gallery has created not only place of beauty and vitality, but an environment that captures the essence of artistic dialogue and inspiration. And, in the tradition of art as the questioner of the status quo, the show also explores issues of racisim, identity and environmental degradation.

The Winter Show is the result of the achievement of art to transform lives.

The exhibit also introduces the changes in the gallery during the past two years when it was closed . Working in close collaboration with Ellen Salpeter, Westbeth CEO, and the Visual Arts team of the Westbeth Artists Residents Council chaired by Mourrice Papi, the Gallery has been updated with new lighting, funded by Westbeth Beautification Committee, and new branding designed by Topos Graphics.

For further info: westbethgallery@gmail.com

Benny Andrews
Rested
Group Show

Photo: Macdowell.org

November 10 — January 8 2022

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm

Nicola Vassal Gallery
138 10th Ave. New York, NY 10011

Nicola Vassell Gallery is pleased to present Rested, a group exhibition exploring the body in varying degrees of ease, rest or inactivity. On view Nov 10 – Jan 8, Rested brings together work by Benny Andrews, Marlene Dumas, Chase Hall, Wangari Mathenge, Kayode Ojo, Frida Orupabo, George Rouy, Ming Smith, Henry Taylor, Bob Thompson and Charles White.

Through painting, photography, collage and sculpture, each artist considers the remove of the body from exertion and toil, while acknowledging the lineage of resting forms that have populated art history: repose, contrapposto and the odalisque.
The show acts as a meditation on the slowing of our physical occupations since the global pandemic and the implications for individual and collective motion. By exploring the ways in which humans assert themselves within time and space, these exciting works present a sense of bodies lain dormant.

Benny Andrews emerged as a pioneering creative and political presence during the Black Art Movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. His technical mastery and visually engaging figuration addresses social injustice and racism.

Marlene Dumas creates provocative paintings that reference pop culture, sexuality, current events and art history. Her emotionally-charged, psychologically complex figurations draw viewers in through her interpretations of love, life and pain.

Charles White, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, imbued his depictions of the Black community with powerful dignity. David Hammons and Kerry James Marshall were among his many students. “I have no use for artists who try to divorce themselves from the struggle,” was a cornerstone of his celebrated creative practice.

Chase Hall utilizes his painting, sculptural and photographic practice to dissect racial and cultural dynamics. His paintings on raw cotton canvas offer a distinctive palette and gestural technique. They reflect the complexity of his biracial heritage and the problematic history of cotton.

Wangari Mathenge depicts domestic scenes and everyday moments in vivid, colorful detail, while alluding to the tension between home, displacement, the contemporary woman and tradition.

Kayode Ojo develops installations that tackle the history of an object or happening using a theatrical lens. He strikes a balance between stage direction & sculpture to establish proof of an experience past.

Frida Orupabo, a former sociologist, lives and works in Norway. Using archival and historical imagery, her collaged, photographic portraits and video works explore race, gender and familial identities.

George Rouy engages the body so that amorphous shapes reveal abstract human forms. With a nod towards the romantic, Rouy charts a course of translucent strokes and declarations of ambiguity in gender, race and technology.

Ming Smith has captured Black life in its entirety over the course of five decades. From mundanity to epic portrayals of love, loss and celebration.

More information at: Nicola Vassal Gallery
For press inquiries Hannah Gottlieb-Graham, ALMA Communications — hannah@almacommunications.co

Olive Ayhens Transformation of Place

West Village by Night
2021
Watercolor and ink on paper
16 x 24 inches

November 9, 2021– January 7, 2022

Artist’s Reception: Thursday, November 11th from 12:00 – 6:00 pm

Bookstein Projects is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Olive Ayhens. This is the artist’s fifth solo show with the gallery.

Executed over the last two years, the works in this exhibition were predominantly started and executed during the COVID-19 quarantine in New York City. Having recently moved from Brooklyn to the West Village, the artist found herself in a new neighborhood that was completely deserted and ripe for exploration. Having no one around allowed the artist to connect more immediately with the architecture and buildings in her new neighborhood, which would have normally been quite busy. Like many artists, Ayhens found a renewed passion for painting during the pandemic because it allowed her to concentrate on something productive, in an almost meditative way.

Overpop Jamboree
2021
Oil on canvas
51 x 63 inches

In Overpop Jamboree, the masterstroke of the exhibition, the artist has invented an urban landscape replete with a myriad of vibrantly colored buildings. While the painting does not represent a specific city, there are many skyscrapers that are reminiscent of actual buildings including Cass Gilbert’s Woolworth Building, New York (1913), Frank Gehry’s New York by Gehry, New York (2011), Foster and Partners’ Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, Astana, Kazakhstan (2010), and Spanish architecture by Antoni Gaudí. In the lower right corner of the painting, a large crowd scene spills out of the picture plane. While Ayhens was initially interested in visually representing overpopulation, she resigned herself to the notion that it could not be done effectively and resorted to a crowd scene instead. Contrasting against the vivid colors of the city, the crowd scene is executed in a grisaille palette inspired by an ­­Old Master painting. In Waves are Coming, inspired by DUMBO, a modern glass building is raised on stilts to protect it from the rising waters of the East River crashing at its base. Higher up on the building’s glass façade, reflections of the East River blur the lines between what is inside and what it outside.

Olive Ayhens (b. Oakland, CA) received her BFA and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. In addition to her extensive exhibition history, Ayhens has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Joan Mitchell Grant, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award and Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant. Artist residencies include The Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Space Program, MacDowell Colony, Fundacion Valparaiso, the Salzburg Kunsterhaus, Yaddo Artist Residency, Djerassi Artist Residency, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Roswell Artist Residency, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and a residency at the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program in 2017. The artist lives and works in New York City.

Bookstein Projects
60 East 66 th Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10065

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

For additional information and/or visual materials, please contact the gallery at (212) 750-0949 or
email at info@booksteinprojects.com.

West Village Community Blood Drive Sweepstakes

Tuesday November 9, 2021
1pm – 7pm
Westbeth Community Room
155 Bank Street
New York, NY
Enter through courtyard

All Registered Donors at the blood drive will be automatically entered into New York Blood Center’s November 2021 Sweepstakes with a chance to win one of three Target or Walmart Gift Vouchers1st prize – $1,500 gift voucher, 2nd prize – $1,000 gift voucher, 3rd prize – $750

Appointments are preferred however walk-ins will be welcomed if space permits.
Please remember to eat, drink, and bring your donor ID card or ID with name and photo.
Masks are required for all donors regardless of vaccination status.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT: New York Blood Drive at Westbeth

Sponsored by Westbeth Artists Residents Council

RALPH LEE’S
HALLOWEEN PARADE
A 1970’s LOOK BACK

Ralph Lee skeleton puppet, operated by volunteers, hangs over the parade at the premiere of the first Halloween Parade in 1974.Photo Jill Lynne copyright 2024

One awakened to the sound of sopranos practicing scales, the scent of incense, and as now, birds chirping “good morning.” At the western end of Bank Street was Westbeth, the former home of Bell Labs, which had just been revolutionized into the largest subsidized home for Artists in the world. All seemed rather idyllic and filled with dynamic possibility.

It was within this marvelous milieu that I was introduced to renowned mask maker and theatrical set designer, artist Ralph Lee.

Ralph whispered his ideas to me about creating a true Halloween Parade. The West Village of 1974 was a very different place than it is now — it was a tight-knit creative community of visual artists, musicians and literary figures.”

– Jill Lynne “Memories of Ralph Lee’s first Halloween Parade.
Read entire article in New York Social Diary

Westbeth puppeteers, Ralph Lee’s and Penny Jones’ puppets are currently on view at the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibit, Puppets of New York.
See more about the show here. Ralph Lee and Penny Jones

Westbeth Courtyard 1974 Photo: Jill Lynne copyright 2024

“Greed,” another fantastic creature by Ralph Lee at the first parade, 1974. Photo Jill Lynne copyright 2024

A fantasy camel, made by Ralph Lee, rides high above the crowd, 1974. Photo: Jill Lynne copyright 2024

Whimsical costumes — and humor — have always been a signature of the parade. “People Feed,” early 1980s. Photo: Jill Lynne copyright 2024

Along the parade route, it was customary for costumed celebrants to gather for viewing parties on fire escapes, balconies, and roofs. Pictured here are a group of masked marauders on Bleecker Street party in 1975. Photo: Jill Lynne copyright 2024

One of the features of the original Halloween Parade were live vignettes set up at strategic landmarks. Here, a witch entertains at the Jefferson Market Library, 1975. The Library continues the tradition to this day … Photo: Jill Lynne copyright 2024

Hooded Skeletons, 1976. Photo: Jill Lynne

A masked participant (mask by Ralph Lee) interacts with a real horse, 1970s.

Drag rock group Hibiscus prepping for the parade on Christopher Street, 1975.Photo: Jill Lynne copyright 2024

“Man in White,” 1980s. Photo: Jill Lynne copyright 2024