NYC ROADTRIP

A Clearing in the Streets
Collect Pond Park; Leonard & Centre St

Julie Farris and Sarah Wayland-Smith, both with backgrounds in landscape design, were commissioned by the Public Art Fund to design and build this temporary public installation in downtown New York’s Collect Pond Park. A Clearing in the Streets is a living urban meadow partially enclosed by a series of plywood panels, measuring 15 feet in diameter. It’s an attempt to “re-insert” nature into the concrete jungle while allowing people on the street an opportunity to re-evaluate how they relate to their urban surroundings.

On view through October, 2009.

New York Central Art Supply
62 3rd Avenue, btwn 10th and 11th; 8:30-6:15 pm, Mon-Sat; 212 473 7705 

Serving the city’s artists since 1905 or so, this historic art store offers a world-class inventory of art supplies, including old standards, new technologies, the rare and exotic.  Their selection of paper, both handmade & manufactured, for instance, is said to be one of the best in the world. Every material artist’s wet dream-come-true.

Obscura Antiques & Oddities
280 East 10th St.; 212 505 9251

Obscura is a neat little shop of horrors brimming with taxidermied creatures, victorian clothing, old medical illustrations, coffin plates, old dolls, glass eyes, mourning wreaths, vintage photographs and… well, the list goes on and on.  This is a must-do for anyone in need of a bizarre gift for a friend with unusual or just plain morbid sensibilities, collage artists, junk junkies, or if you just love rummaging for weird, unique stuff.

 

 

Crew member Alex. Photo by Karol Orzechowski. 2009.

One of our most popular and fun activities is our Chelsea Gallery Hop. On our second night in town, armed with a list of gallery openings, a big bunch of us meet at a pre-determined street corner in the Chelsea Art District – and away we go into the art-fueled night! This is a great opportunity to let loose with your fellow Roadtrippers and mix it up with local gallery goers!

For NYC Roadtrippers: Join us at Project 165 for our traditional Halloween workshops. These casual yet productive workshops happen over two days prior to leaving for New York City, for three to four hours each day. We show you various mask-making  methods, help you build props and overall provide a creative space to brainstorm, workshop costume ideas and get excited about Halloween in the Big Pumpkin. If you don’t need schooling and you just want to drop in to work with us, that’s okay. If you’re serious about making a mask or building a prop or a crazy costume, and you want help, we will aid you in getting it done, or at least near completion, by the end of the allotted two days.

22-25 Jackson Ave., at the intersection of 46th Ave.; Long Island City; 718.784.2084; 12pm – 6pm, Thurs – Mon; $2.00 for students; E/V Train: Get off at the 23rd St./Ely Ave. stop.  Exit onto 21st St., turn left, walk 3 blocks to 46th Ave. and turn left again.  At the corner of the building, turn right and you’ll get to the entrance. 

P.S. 1, an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art, is housed in a former elementary school (P.S. stands for Public School).  It is the oldest and second largest non-profit centre in the US solely dedicated to contemporary art.  They have all manner of programs, events and resources, and are well known for recognizing emergent artists and their work.  If you’re into hot contemporary art and alternative space in a museum-like context, you must check out P.S. 1.

Installation detail. 2009

Detail of NYC-inspired postcard by Robb Mirsky. 2008

NYC Roadtrip is social art on the move. Ever evolving at the confluence of relational aesthetics, psychogeography and DIY culture, it’s an opportunity for fun-lovin’ adventure-seekers to network, get inspired, conduct creative field research and experience everyday urban life in unusual ways; explore  the non-touristy, local nuances of New York City; and plug into a vibrant travel community unlike any other. 

After each NYC Roadtrip, passengers and crew are invited to participate in NYC Retro Show: a multimedia exhibition of individual and group perspectives on various New York City-inspired subjects, such as the mapping of moments; organized chaos; the artist as wanderer; “street art, street life”; the urban playground; and collective myth-making.  

No matter what your background or passion – photography, architecture, painting, scrapbooking, film, performance; student, professional, hobbyist, novice – this is a chance to make the most of your New York City experience. Don’t just go on vacation. Go on a creative mission.

brooklyn museum

200 Eastern Parkway; 718 638 5000; 10am-5pm Wed-Fri; Subway 2, 3 to Easter Parkway/Brooklyn Museum; About $6 for students, $11 adults

The Brooklyn Museum, housed in a 650,000 square-foot Beaux-Arts building and only a 30-minute subway ride from Midtown Manhattan, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the U.S., showcasing everything from Egyptian masterpieces to amazing contemporary work. Part of a complex of 19th-century parks and gardens – including Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Prospect Park Zoo – it’s a must-see for Museum-goers.

Of note: Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, an important feminist artwork of the 1970s and a milestone in twentieth-century art, is at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.  The Dinner Party comprises a massive triangular banquet table with each of its thirty-nine place-settings commemorating an important woman of history. This is prime fodder for all you contemporary art history students, for sure.