We departed around 11:05am from Penn Station. To get to the Eastside, we took the Times Square Shuttle [the S train] over to Grand Central Station and then we took the #6 train uptown to East Harlem.
Where our first stop was a self guided tour and saw a collection at the Museo Del Barrio, which means the museum of the neighborhood in spanish. This museum celebrates New York Latin-American art and culture. El Museo consists of Puerto Rican, Carribean, and Latin American Art. Was founded in 1969 by community activists, teachers, and artists, that mainly were Puerto Ricans (Blue Guide, 376). The Museo Del Barrio is New York’s leading Latino cultural institution, is located in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, United States, also known as El Barrio (Blue Guide, 376). The museum started in a public school classroom and then moved to a variety of store fronts until finding a permanent location at the edge of Spanish Harlem. It had originally only focused on the neighborhood and Puerto Rican culture, however with an increase in diversity within the city, the museum expanded its program as well as collection allowing for multiple cultural backgrounds to be displayed (Blue Guide, 377). We walked around and took a look at their collection of art. As I walked around one piece of contemporary art made out of plaster that caught my eye. It was by Yoan Capote (Cuba 1977) a collection of Ben Rodriguez Cubenas. It was of the lower portion of a man's body and where his privates would have been, a brain was sculpted. The sculpture was called Rational and was just very humorous and the sculptor was very talented for the brain as well as body looked very real. Just didn't like the fact that we weren't able to take any pictures to put up on my blog :( .
After viewing the collection we had a one hour guided walking tour of "Spanish" Harlem. Our tour guide which was a Puerto Rican man took us through Spanish Harlem and pointed out important features such as: the murals, the storefronts, & gave us a history of Spanish Harlem. The murals were beautiful and they really gave a sense of what Spanish Harlem is all about. It gave a look into the lives of people throughout the years in Spanish Harlem. We then stopped at a public school who devoted a wall to some of the most talented and profound graffiti artists in the area and with Latin American backgrounds. The wall is known as the Graffiti Hall of Fame and was created by a man known as Stingray in the 1980's. The Graffiti is contracted and is mainly near the school. Then I began to think how do I explain this to my daughter as an art work and not graffiti? I guess I had a good point there, but thank God my daughter wasn't with me then.
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| The Grafitti Hall of Fame started in the 1980's |
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| La Parroquia Santa Cecilia |
Durning the walking tour we also learned about Pedro Pietri, which is painted on a wall in the area. Pedro Pietri was a poet and an activist in the are and was a founder of the Nuyorican poetry movement in the 1980s.
We then went to multiple sites where Manny Vega has left his mark. Manny is an American painter, illustrator, printmaker, muralist, mosaicist, and set and costume designer.
His work portrays the history and traditions of the African Diaspora that exist in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Among Vega's public art projects are a mosaic mural at the Pregones Theater in the Bronx, a mosaic mural portrait of Julia De Burgos in East Harlem, a series of mosaic panels for the 110 street train station, also in East Harlem, as well as a series of painted murals throughout New York City.
We were able to see his painting of Julia De Burgos, a very talented Spanish poet whose work went unappreciated until her death. The painting was beautiful and was a significant piece of art in the neighborhood. We also stopped at the cultural center in the neighborhood where artwork in the form of photography was displayed. We also were lucky enough to have our tour guide, who was beautiful, and a poet, tell us a poem he wrote. The cultural center was a great experience because it showed pictures of how the people in the area actually live. It wasn't a painting of something completely irrelevant, it was actual photos of real life in Spanish Harlem. We visited a little garden in the community that had a beautiful mural and a little fountain that was actually a fountain in the shape of fallopian tubes...very interesting.
After this exciting and hot day we were all exhausted and ready to go home and rest. Had a great day filled with a lot of new knowledge that I didn't know until today. Looking forward to the next two classes. Just hope that it won't be as hot as it was today.
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| By Manny Vega |
His work portrays the history and traditions of the African Diaspora that exist in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Among Vega's public art projects are a mosaic mural at the Pregones Theater in the Bronx, a mosaic mural portrait of Julia De Burgos in East Harlem, a series of mosaic panels for the 110 street train station, also in East Harlem, as well as a series of painted murals throughout New York City. 
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| By Manny Vega |
We were able to see his painting of Julia De Burgos, a very talented Spanish poet whose work went unappreciated until her death. The painting was beautiful and was a significant piece of art in the neighborhood. We also stopped at the cultural center in the neighborhood where artwork in the form of photography was displayed. We also were lucky enough to have our tour guide, who was beautiful, and a poet, tell us a poem he wrote. The cultural center was a great experience because it showed pictures of how the people in the area actually live. It wasn't a painting of something completely irrelevant, it was actual photos of real life in Spanish Harlem. We visited a little garden in the community that had a beautiful mural and a little fountain that was actually a fountain in the shape of fallopian tubes...very interesting.
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Remembering Julia Burgos
Following the garden our tour then ended in a botanical store who plays a significant role in the community. The owner has been there his whole life and knows the community better than anyone. He told us a little about the area and about his life and it was very interesting. His store offered a lot of incense and herbal remedies as well as religious tokens. Overall the walking tour was great and such a good way to learn about the communities culture and how much they appreciate public artwork that displays their heritage. From there we took our lunch break where we choose a Dominican Restaurant where the food was just delicious. I got chicken, rice, tostones and avocado with a mango shake that was just amazing. Lunch was a total success!!!!
 
Even Liz got a little cool down :)
After this we were even able to cool off in the sprinklers of a public park in the area as well as interact with some of the local people, this included 2 little girls who kept squirting water at us and a homeless man who I gave my left overs that I had from lunch. Felt good that I made someone happy. However, running through the sprinklers never felt so good in this heat. 
Next stop was Museum of The City of New York. Was famous for displaying how New York City is a grid. "The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the foundational document that established Manhattan’s famous street grid.
   
Featuring an original hand-drawn map of New York's planned streets and avenues prepared by the Commission in 1811, as well as other rare historic maps, photographs and prints of the evolution of the city's streets, and original manuscripts and publications that document the city’s physical growth, the exhibition examines the grid’s initial design, implementation, and evolution. The Greatest Grid traces the enduring influence of the 1811 plan as the grid has become a defining feature of the city, shaping its institutions and public life" (Museum of The City Of New York).
We then saw a video on how New York City was created over the years, how it changed and how it became a city. The video was pretty interesting considering New York had to undergo such a make over to become what it is today. It was an appropriate neighbor to Timescapes because they both show a little of the history and change that New York has gone through. Timescapes is a multimedia journey into the past of New York from 1609- today. Under the 8 headings: The Colonial City 1609-1783, The Merchant City 1783-1825, The City of Strangers 1825-1865, The Metropolis 1865-1990, The Modern City 1900-1920, The Cosmopolitan City 1920-1945, The Regional City 1945-1975, The Renaissance 1975-2001, it showed the various phases New York has been through using photos, journals and magazines entries read out loud and during the later years video clips. Hearing the voices of people who actually lived during some of the stages was an interesting experience because it felt more like someone telling you a story then just hearing yet another school lecture.
We then walked through Central Park's Conservatory Garden. This garden is one of Central Park's only actual gardens and it named for a greenhouse that was torn down in the 1930's during the Depression (Blue Guide, 297). The current garden formerly a Works Progress Administration project providing employment during the Depression, had fallen into disrepair but was saved in the 80's by Lynden B. Miller, a painter and garden designer (Blue Guide, 297). Today the garden is beautiful, well kept, with gorgeous fountains.
We took a stop on the bedrock to recap and talk about our experience thus far. While in the park we passed the reservoir that was decommissioned in 1993, deemed obsolete because of the Third Water Tunnel. The reservoir is 40 feet deep and holds a billion gallons of water. Was built in the 1860s as a temporary water supply for New York City, while the Croton Water system was shut down for repairs two weeks each year. We then walked out of the park and passed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, that is supposed to be the face of modern architecture but is actually really ugly and does not fit into New York City's scenery at all. However, the museum offers artwork from the Impressionist period to the present. Its modern and contemporary artwork is the largest collection of any museum in the world and it's offered in one of the world's most remarkable Modernist buildings (Blue Guide, 367).
From here we had the option if we were exhausted from the heat to return back to Penn Station or to go to Long Island City, yet another area of Queens that is undergoing rapid gentrification. First stop was 5Pointz: The Institute of Higher Burnin', which was an outdoor exhibit space devoted to graffiti. The future of this pagent to pageant to graffiti art, however, it has become uncertain, as the owner of the property upon which it is located is seeking to develop it. Saw a lot of very nice drawings.
        
Then we tried to go and see the exhibition of wild contemporary art at MOMA P.S. 1 but unfortunately it was closed on Thursdays so we continued walking to Gantry Plaza State Park [map] where we saw a beautiful waterfront that is being integrated into the life of New York City, and saw the enormous gantries that have been preserved from the city's former days. Best of this walk I enjoyed a cold water fountain that was there and took advantage of it and soaked my face and head in it. As well as a good drink of much needed water.
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