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An online exhibit of Stephen Hall’s recent work presented in Stride Arts’ virtual gallery.

EARTH MATTERS deals with the the irreparable damage we are inflicting on our world.

Stephen Hall, born in Scotland, is an artist who takes a traditional approach to a modern subject. Now living in New York, his work is indicative of a surging talent which has been refined over many years. Each of his paintings is a composition of numerous layers, executed without any modern trickery such as digital assistance or an airbrush and the resulting lush density of color and variation of light owns the viewer’s attention.

Through his work, Stephen explores the relationships we have with not just each other, but times, places and surroundings – couple this with a desire to portray the underlying order in our in-creasingly chaotic lives and you end up with vivid, yet somewhat intoxicating imagery, finished with a slick style and intense precision. Over the past several years has become more interested in the threat posed by man on our environment and the wildlife living in it.

Stephen has not only been exhibiting worldwide since the early 80’s, but his work also resides in corporate and private collections and has been featured in movies, music videos and magazines. On top of this he has also illustrated book covers for A.A. Milne, J.G. Ballard and Russell Greenan amongst others.

More information about Stephen Hall and Stride Arts HERE

Stephen Hall ‘s FAT FREE OCEAN featured in the EARTH MATTERS exhibit has been sold – July 2020.

Each year, Village Preservation honors the invaluable people, businesses, and organizations that make a special contribution to our neighborhoods at our Annual Meeting and Village Awards. On June 17th, 2020 we will be celebrating nine outstanding awardees.

George Cominskie is a beloved longtime West Village and Westbeth community activist, having lived in the latter since 1983. George was President of the Westbeth Artist Residents Council (WARC) from 1989 to 1992, from 2002 to 2010, and again from 2012 to 2018. Working with WARC and Village Preservation, George helped lead the charge for expanded landmark protections in the Far West Village, including of Westbeth, and to stop inappropriate development in the surrounding neighborhood. George has been a tireless advocate for the residents and artists of Westbeth, and for keeping Westbeth a an affordable and well-functioning community. Especially as Westbeth, which opened on May 19, 1970, celebrates its 50th anniversary, we are proud to honor George as a Village Awardee this year.

During the COVID-19 crisis, George is running the Emergency Response Committee at Westbeth. They have organized floor captains and food and pharmacy runs for residents who can’t get out themselves. This isn’t George’s first crisis, as he also helped lead Westbeth and its residents through the incredibly difficult recovery from Sandy, when the lower floors of the complex where residents’ artworks were stored were flooded and many apartments had to be evacuated for long periods of time.

– Sam Moskowitz
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Off the Grid Blog
May 19, 2020

Read the full article HERE

Olive Ayhens “Comelid in the City” oil on canvas

“Ancient Critters was originally curated as a small exhibit at Russell Janis together with some of Olive’s drawings and paintings from Ur-Beasts. It had been scheduled for April 2020 but due to COVID-19, we moved the exhibit online, including audio of Olive speaking about how the series came to be.”

-Russell Janis Project Space

“Olive Ayhens virtuoso paintings in watercolor and oil could not be more embedded in our present moment of climate crisis. Yet, the theme of the collision of nature and humans, of the beauty of nature and our power to extinguish it, has been the main focus of Ayhens’ work for many decades.”

-Susan Platt (excerpt from Olive Ayhens 2019 catalog published by Brookstein Projects, New York)

To see the work and more information, click HERE

Olive Ayhens “Ancient Critters” Linocut print

In 2019, painter Olive Ayhens began conversations with printmaker Janis Stemmermann to make a print. This resulted in a single color linoleum block print, printed in March 2020 in an edition of twelve. Olive had been working on a group of drawings and paintings called Ur-Beasts, and this print, entitled Ancient Critters came from that series of works. Feeling extremely fed up with humans and their seemingly constant violent actions, Olive went deep into time to investigate the mammals that came before us, and no longer exist. We feel the immense weight of this project today.

We are excited to announce that 20% of the proceeds of each numbered print will be given to Project EATS, a Brooklyn based non-profit program founded by artist and activist Linda Goode Bryant. Using art, urban agriculture, partnerships and social enterprise, Project EATS works with Black and Brown communities to sustainably produce and equitably distribute fresh food and produce. It is time we usher in fundamental changes.

For more info on buying the print, click HERE

After I came out in 1975, I escaped from my conservative Catholic upbringing in New Jersey and moved to the East Village to be a dyke. Continue reading →

Waiting for the Parade on 7th Avenue 2019 Photo: Mary McKenna Ridge

The Pride March Is Coming!

. Art of Our Century is thrilled to announce its reopening on Friday, June 26, with a group photo show, “Pride Marches On: Celebrating 50 Years.” The exhibit runs through July 19.

The gallery is located at 137 West 14th St. in Greenwich Village,
midway between Union Square and the Meatpacking District.
We are open Thursday thru Sunday, 12 noon to 6 pm, and by appointment.

Photographers in the exhibit are Barbara Alper, Fred W. McDarrah, Meryl Meisler, Suzanne Poli, Mary McKenna Ridge, Darleen Rubin, and Allan Tannenbaum. . Sixty photos, some dating to the first year of the March, will be exhibited, many never before publicly seen.

Opening and Gallery Guidelines
In order to minimize crowds, the opening reception will stretch over three days. It will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 26, 27 and 28, from 12 noon to 6 pm each day.

NO ONE WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE GALLERY WITHOUT A MASK OR FACE COVERING!
The facilities are cleaned daily. No more than 10 individuals will be permitted in the gallery at any one one time. If people are waiting, guests will be asked to limit the length of their visits. Thanks in advance for your cooperation!
Wine, and hand sanitizer, will be available to gallery guests at all times.

For more information, please click http://ArtofOurCentury.com and follow us on Instagram at @artofourcentury and on Facebook.

The first organized Pride parade, then known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, took place on June 28, 1970, a year after the Stonewall uprising.

The March, from Christopher Street up to Central Park, took less than half the scheduled time, partly due to excitement, but also due to fear from the participants about openly walking through the city with gay-positive banners and signs.

This year, most events marking the Golden Jubilee, including the March scheduled for Sunday, June 28, have been postponed due to the global pandemic.

But Art of Our Century felt it important to not let the occasion pass without being recognized. In these turbulent times, it is important to look back and salute previous generations of those fighting for change.

With a wink toward Peggy Guggenheim’s iconic 1942-1947 gallery of a similar name, Art of Our Century showcases, as Guggenheim did, both young and unknown artists working in all mediums, mixed in with more established names.

The legendary gallerist Patti Astor – whose iconic Fun Gallery put Graffiti and the East Village art scene on the map in the 1980s – is a consultant to the young venture.

Madeleine Yayodele Nelson

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Off the Grid Blog
Lannyl Stephens
June 8, 2020

It was a project like no other before. The first subsidized housing for artists in the United States, offering affordable housing and work space in New York City, Westbeth is a large scale adaptive reuse of an industrial building for both artistic and residential purposes. And it celebrates 50 years of life this year.

We are proud to highlight the remarkable history of Westbeth throughout this year on its golden anniversary. Today’s post is in memoriam of all the African American artists who lived and worked at this place of great diversity and creativity. We honor and salute them for the contributions they made to our society and hope that our post will encourage you to take a further look at their work and their lives.

Article includes:
Benny Andrews
George Barrow
Patti Bown
Carole Byard
Carol Cole
Moses Gunn
Hugh Hurd
Gilbert Moses
Madeleine Yayodele Nelson
Cordell Reagon
Freddie Waits
Dudley Williams

Read the entire article HERE

Edith Stephens, J Taylor Basker, and Salvador Peter Tomas. Photo: J Taylor Basker

Westview News
June 3, 2020
J Taylor Basker

On June 22, 1920, Salvador Pius Thomas, aka Tomas, was born in the county of Harrison in Mississippi. On June 22nd he will turn 100 years old. Peter, as we know him in the Westbeth artists community, is a delightful and talented gentleman with a wicked sense of humor that is still sharp. He is an African-American whose achievements have been awesome. He was an opera singer and actor, and has graced our hallways with dignity and pride. He always celebrated his birthday on Gay Pride Day so we could view the fireworks after his party in his close friend Edith Stephen’s river view apartment. Edith, 101 years young, describes Peter as full of joy and jokes, always looking to help his neighbors. After 9/11, when he witnessed the collapse of the towers downtown, he cooked meals for the 6th Precinct for months. His ascent in the professional classical music world was difficult as an African-American, but he persisted and developed a vast and impressive repertoire and reputation.

Read the entire article HERE

Shelley Seccombe Pier 50 in flames, c. 1971. Taken from a window in Westbeth facing Bethune Street.

Westbeth Photographer Shelley Seccombe Documents the Greenwich Village Waterfront Since 1970
When the Westbeth complex was converted to the first subsidized housing for artists in the United States fifty years ago, the great photographer Shelley Seccombe was one of the first tenants to move in. Over the course of her career, Seccombe has documented the people and landscape of the surrounding neighborhood, marking the events that have defined it and the changes that have reshaped it across five decades, since 1970. The photos she has generously shared with Village Preservation are just a small portion of her work, providing an invaluable portrait of Village history, waterfront history, Westbeth history, and so much more.

Seccombe’s focus on photography was in many ways inspired by her move to Westbeth. When she first arrived, the entrance to the building was on West Street, facing the waterfront. Coming in and out of this entrance defined her daily attention to, and documentation of, the since-demolished West Side Miller Elevated Highway and the piers just beyond it. Seccombe remembers:

“In 1970 I moved with my husband and daughter to the West Village. We were among the first tenants in Westbeth, a conversion of the Bell Labs building on the Hudson River for artists housing/studio space. My husband is a sculptor; at that time I was teaching music, the career path for which I had prepared. Photography was nowhere on my resume.”

-Louisa Winchell
June 2, 2020
The Greenwich village Society for Historic Preservation Blog

Read the entire article HERE

Valerie Ghent plays live for NYC Hospitals, doctors, nurses and patients on June 8, 2020 with new concert series, “MUSIC FOR THE SOUL OF NYC: Health and Hospital Heroes”
“Music heals! Our hospital workers are on the front lines saving lives. I’m honored to be part of this wonderful concert initiative bringing music and love where its needed most, and hope that my voice and songs will serve to inspire and uplift our doctors, nurses and their patients. Love will keep us strong, music will keep us together!”

Valerie Ghent sings

Livestream on
facebook.com/ValerieGhentMusic
and
facebook.com/NYHealthSystem

This is a true live concert and will only be available during the livestream.

The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, NYC Health + Hospitals and AFM Local 802 have launched Music for the Soul of NYC’s Health + Hospitals Heroes, a new series in support of the 43,000 staff at NYC’s 11 public hospitals and their patients. The series is funded by the Laurie M Tisch Illumination Fund.

Music for the Soul is designed to inspire our heroic medical community, connect isolated patients to the outside world, and provide paid work for musicians, who may be struggling financially. The series will feature a variety of professional NYC musicians performing songs requested by health workers and patients at NYC public hospitals, as well as some of the musicians’ personal favorites. The musicians – who’ll be playing from home – will also be performing songs that local hospitals have used to celebrate patients successfully coming off ventilators.

Starting this week and running through July 3, Music for the Soul will be livestreamed on NYC Health + Hospital’s Facebook page every day from 12-1pm ET.

Special guest Tony Bennett will kick off the Music for the Soul hour today by paying tribute to hospital workers with a special message and performance of the classic “Fly Me to The Moon” followed by Local 802 musician Rachel Z Hakim; while Rosanne Cash and her husband John Leventhal will appear at the top of the hour tomorrow to perform a couple of songs followed by Local 802 musician Richard Frank. A variety of talented NYC musicians will be performing over the next several weeks, with guest appearances from musicians such as Questlove, who will present a special DJ set, and indie pop band AJR.

“This program celebrates the best of New York City: our local musicians sharing their talents to heal our dedicated healers on the frontlines,” said Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner, Anne del Castillo. “As the daughter of a nurse, I could not be more proud to be part of this special effort.”

The program offers NYC musicians, many of whom have been financially affected by the current COVID-19 crisis, fair wages and benefits in accordance with guidelines from AFM Local 802.

More information HERE

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