Travesía Artística (Artistic Voyage): Hotter Than July!

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Hotter Than July!

Me in front of some of my paintings at the New York Art Collective, group exhibit at the Living Gallery. Photo by Steve Booth.

We're in the midst of a heatwave in NYC. I absolutely love the summer, so I won't complain - but suffice to say, there's a reason why Stevie Wonder said it's, "Hotter than July"! What's wonderful about NYC in the summer is that there are multitudes of outdoor events - concerts, performances and parties - at all sorts of venues. And I try to go to as many as I can. Instead of writing about the artful events I've been to recently, I'm just going to post some photos and let the images speak for themselves (to see more photos, go to my Instagram: @Whippedhoney).

Additionally, a couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being included in a group art exhibition called, the New York Art Collective. Martell Oliver is an artist and organizer who's been putting together his Philly Art Collective events for some time now, and decided to bring it up to NYC. There were over 20 of us involved in the exhibition at the Living Gallery in Brooklyn; it was jam-packed with art (and yes, you guessed it, very hot!). We had a great time.

Lastly, there were a series of events that I attended in May, which I neglected to post about, but want to make mention of before any more time passes. The Queens Museum Open A.I.R. Artists Services Program got together with M.A.K.U. Soundsystem to create a series meetings: "Gathering Spaces: Who Has a Right to This Space?" There were four meetings (of which I attended two) where anyone who was interested was invited to participate in group discussions (not panels, but real open conversations) about the state of the arts/community specifically in Queens. The event locations/themes were as follows: May 5th at Flushing Town Hall, "How do we make institutional spaces more open and accessible to artists?"; May 12th at IMI Corona, "How do we share a space to build a movement?; May 19th at Terraza 7, How can businesses be accountable to communities and the culture of the neighborhood?" and; May 25th at Local Project, "How do we create and sustain artist-run spaces?" Being a Queens-based artist myself, these discussions were definitely food for thought. Also, being a part of the newly-forming group, Queens Creative Solidarity (of which many of us were represented at the meetings), it was a great opportunity to hear community concerns that we can incorporate into our work, moving forward.