Category Archives: Past Events

You’re Never Too Old to Play
Workshop Performance

You’re Invited!

Thursday, May 20th
11:30AM-12:30PM
Register here: http://bit.ly/RegistrationMay20

You’re Never Too Old to Play, an improvisational theater workshop for seniors sponsored by the Westbeth Artists Residents Council and supported by Little Island (the new public park opening at 14th Street in Hudson River Park), presents a work-in-progress workshops on Zoom. PigPen Theatre Co., Artists-in-Residence of Little Island, will help us facilitate.

If you’d like to join us, here’s what you need to do:

1. Register here: http://bit.ly/RegistrationMay20
2. Once you’re registered, you will receive an email with instructions from the host of the
webinar with the link to the Presentation. (Be aware that this email might land in your junk mail as spam, because it comes from an unknown sender)

Nancy Gabor initiated ‘You’re Never Too Old to Play’ in 2018, a weekly workshop in the Westbeth Community Room for a diverse group of 17 players from 65 to 95 years old. Paul Binnerts joined Nancy to help develop stories a short time later.

COVID 19 stopped the in-person classes, so the workshop continued on Zoom. The focus was on breathing, playful improvisations, and story development based on our experiences and memories stimulated by the global pandemic.

We are excited to share this work with you and show a sampling of amazing stories.

Jonathan Bauch
Visual Rhythms

Jonathan Bauch
‘TheSteel”
Featured in Carter Burden Gallery show opening May 27, 2021
Painted steel. 64 x 37 x 18 inches

VISUAL RHYTHMS


May 27 – June 23, 2021

Carter Burden Gallery
548 West 28th Street 5th Fl
New York, NY

An exhibition of abstract contemporary art that features color -used in both two and three dimensions,

Jonathan Bauch – works in steel sculpture
Greg Brown – paints dancing intertwining forms

Melika Dave
Art on the Ave NYC

Art on Avenue NYC

A public arts initiative dedicated to community regeneration and the elevation of local artists.

Current Exhibition: Live the Village
April 15th – July 8th, 2021
Link: https://www.artontheavenyc.com

Melika Dave

“Joseph”
Mixed Media on Paper

Located in storefront at east side of Hudson St between Perry and Charles Its in West Village

“I use my expressionistic approach to painting to tell the story of the New Yorkers I love and appreciate. It is important for me to capture my neighbors, to capture the strength, solidarity and resilience of my community and to speak to the pulse and movement of the city. I have spent recent years building community with empathetic, affirming artists and cultural workers in New York City and this work is an ode to the multiplicity and nuance of that community.”

Melika Dave Links
Melika Dave at ArtonAveNYC.com

Melika Dave website

WESTFEST 2021
ON-SITE & ONLINE
Dance Festival

WESTFEST 2021 PROGRAM A

WESTFEST 2021 PROGRAM B

Videos and Artist Bios are available at westfestdance.com

WestFest is a cutting edge, curated dance festival presenting established and emerging movement artists. This year’s online festival includes two different one-hour programs hosted via a zoom link found at www.westfestdance.com. Following our site-specific format, each choreographer will present their work in a site they have chosen. Join us as we tour the world, from Arizona to Switzerland, in the comfort and safety of your own home.

More information at www.westfestdance.com

Join us May 1st and 2nd for this year’s live-streamed productions with the wonderful TruDee as our EMCEE.

Program A – Saturday, May 1st – 4PM EST
BOiNK! Dance & Film
Martha Graham II
Zachary Frazee
Rachael Lieblein-Jurbala
Madison wada
Emily Laird

Program B – Sunday, May 2nd – 4PM EST
Carol Nolte/Dance Collective
Rush Johnston Kaleid Dance Collective
Dual Rivet
Anne Goldberg-Baldwin
Pauline Gervais
Mira Göksel
Catherine Gallant

Registration: FREE

Viewing Link: www.westfestdance.com
Time: 4PM EST
Running Time: 1 hour

CONTACT: production@westfestdance.com

WestFest 2021 is produced under the auspices of the Westbeth Artists’ Residents Council. westbeth.org

Check Out WestFest Dance Festival 2020

NANCY GOLDRING
THE CLUMSY ARK

LIVE ZOOM READING
The Clumsy Ark
Written and Read by Nancy Goldring
with projected visuals

May 12, 2021 at 6:30PM

Link Info:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81903784305

Meeting ID: 819 0378 4305
Dial by your location
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York) Meeting ID: 819 0378 4305

For Link email: westbethgallery@gmail.com

The little book began as an article for an Italian cultural magazine, Le Cose e Le Parole. I was asked to write about life under the pandemic here Westbeth, and in the city in general. Gradually it grew into a project about the diving boat parked along the river’s edge.

Artist Bio

Based in New York, artist and writer Nancy Goldring has been exhibiting her drawings with foto-projections for 50 years. She was one of the founding members of SITE, Inc. an experimental architectural group in the Seventies. Her previous books and catalogs include: Distillations published by the Southeast Museum of Photography, Palinsesto: The Photographs of Nancy Goldring (Mazzotta) for the city of Parma with essays by David Levi Strauss and Paolo Barbaro, Vanishing Points, Galleria Martini Ronchetti, Genoa, and the Casa dell’Architettura of Rome with an essay by Michael Taussig. Her work can be found in many public collections including: The Bibliotheque Nationale, Eastman House Museum, the International Center of Photography (NYC), the International Centre of Photography in Mumbai. the St. Louis Art Museum, the Smith College Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the Herzlyia Museum, Polaroid Collection, WestLicht Schauplatz für Fotografie.

Gayle Kirschenbaum Photo Exhibit

SUNSHINE STATE & PORTRAITS

Live Virtual Walkthrough Photo Event
May 12, 2021 6PM – 7PM

LINK HERE: https://www.gaylekirschenbaum.com/photography

” An invigorating collection that seeped with visceral humanity, even if the majority did not actually feature people.”
-Riley McGraw Hart- Honeysuckle Magazine

As I found myself unexpectedly in Florida last July in the midst of the pandemic, I was pulled to the ocean to enjoy and capture the sunrises. Feeling lucky to be free to do so when so many others were locked down in their apartments with not much to enjoy outside in the cold weather.
As I explored my new surroundings of the sunshine state my eye saw beauty in many places. SUNSHINE STATE is my exhibit of these photos captured since summer.
PORTRAITS are images of humanity and my connection to each of my subjects.

Bio
Gayle Kirschenbaum is a creator who expresses herself in many forms. She began life as a visual artist and started taking photos where she loved spending hours in her darkroom. She found herself shooting stories with her photographs and painting them in an impressionist way. Her desire to use words and sound led her to moving images. She became an Emmy award-winning filmmaker whose films and programs have premiered on Netflix, HBO, and Discovery. They include Look At Us Now, Mother!, A Dog’s Life: A Dogamentary, My Nose and Little Parents. Her last film led to an invitation to give a TEDx talk called No More Drama With Mama about forgiveness. She speaks and teaches on this topic. Gayle has found herself returning to her first love, photography. Her photographs were exhibited in Spain at the Barcelona Foto Biennale in October 2018, she received an honorable mention under landscape for the Pollux Awards 2019, have been in Westbeth group shows and a solo show.

She has been featured widely in the media including New York Times, NBC Today Show, Jerusalem Post and Psychology Today. She is a member of Producers Guild of America (PGA) and a judge for the Emmys and PGA.

DAVID GREENSPAN
One Night Stand

FOUR PERFORMANCES ONLY: (Currently Sold Out)

Check out for availability of tickets at: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35658/production/1046063

Saturday May 15th 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Sunday May 16th 1:30 p.m.
Sunday May 23rd 6:30 p.m.

I’m a cheap date: It’s FREE.

Conceived and sung by David Greenspan
Music Direction and piano by Jamie Lawrence
Downtown icon David Greenspan’s latest performance piece includes singing songs associated with iconic women singers – Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Betty Hutton (yeah, her.)

Performances will take place at 85 Broad St in lower Manhattan.

This performance is presented as part of Downtown Live, presented by En Garde Arts and The Tank in association with The Downtown Alliance.

Patrons are required to arrive at their performance site for check-in at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time or else they risk forfeiting their reservations. Patrons are welcome to check in as early as 30 minutes prior to the performance.

Seating will be general admission and capacity is limited. If you reserve a minimum of three performances through the three-show package option, you will have reserved seats. All Downtown Live patrons are expected to observe social distancing guidelines and wear a mask covering their mouth and nose at all times.

Joan Hall at National Arts Club

Collage and Assemblage: Past and Present
How Artists Recycle Everyday Items into Artwork.
Monday May 24, 2021 at 6PM – 7PM EST

Register for Zoom Event

About this Event

This talk covers art ranging from 12th century Japan to contemporary photo illustration, and how artists recycle everyday items into artwork. Presenter, Joan Hall, is a pioneer in the field of collage and assemblage illustration. Her work has appeared on many covers including Time magazine and The New York Times and been shown in galleries and museums worldwide including Le Centre Pompidou. Per Milton Glaser’s invitation, she created a Collage for Illustration class which she has taught at The School of Visual Arts.

Please help the NAC support artists. By making a donation with your registration, you contribute directly to the NAC Artist Fellows program, helping to further the careers of up-and-coming artists.
This program will be hosted via Zoom. You will receive additional details upon registration.
Photograph by Michael O’Neill.

NY1 News Feature on Westbeth’s 50th Anniversary
April 13, 2021

Haven for artists celebrates 50 years with a look back at its history

PUBLISHED 6:00 AM ET Apr. 13, 2021
By Roger Clark Manhattan

Playwright, visual artist and landscape architect Christina Maile has lived in the same three-bedroom duplex apartment since 1970, when she first moved in with her then husband who is a painter. Their son was there, too, and another one on the way.
The apartment is within the Westbeth Artists’ Housing complex, developed in the late 1960s as affordable housing and studio units for artists and their families.

What You Need To Know

Westbeth Artists’ Housing was conceived in the 1960s to provide affordable housing and studios for artists and their families

It officially welcomed the first residents in 1970

It is named for the corner of West and Bethune Streets where it is located in the West Village

There is a waiting list to live in Westbeth, but the list is currently closed

It was named for West and Bethune Streets, which is just one corner of the complex that takes up a whole city block, originally made up of 13 buildings dating back to the 1860s and once home to Bell Laboratories. Maile says the neighborhood then was much different than the trendy area is has become today.
“No one knew where Westbeth was. We would have to explain to people exactly where this was located: it was dark, it was dirty, it was a lot of unconventional people and it was, in a way, kind of the perfect place to have artists’ housing,” said Maile.
Westbeth is looking back on its history in an exhibition called “Westbeth at 50,” which includes some of its notable residents and those who have shown or performed there. Among the highlights is a poster from a show of Artist Keith Haring’s work in 1981. There are also photos in the courtyard area by Frankie Alduino giving folks a glimpse of what it’s like to live and work here.
“People can come through and say, ‘I always wondered what it would be like to live at Westbeth, what does it look like?’” said Ellen Salpeter, president and CEO of Westbeth.
New residents do move into Westbeth, though the waiting list is long and currently closed. Christina Maile says it wasn’t always perfect harmony. All of these artists, musicians, and writers had to learn to live together. Looking back on her time here, she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
“Living in a community that’s vibrant and has creative people and even some of them can be maddening and can cause you a lot of irritation, but this kind of society of artists is really wonderful for someone who is an artist,” said Maile.
Westbeth says their goal is to continue this concept into the next half-century, and ensure that there remains a home for artists to create in an everchanging city.