Virtual Arts for Covid-19 Stay Ins

By JAN GARDEN CASTRO, April 2020

It feels more surreal to be sheltering-in-place than I felt being mirrored inside Burkenau, Gerhard Richter’s dark art inspired by a prisoner’s blurry photos of the Nazi death camp, on the mid-March afternoon before the Met Breuer and all Museums in New York went dark.  NOW is a good time to find your besties online using Zoom or What’s App. I hope you are safe and actually or virtually with those you love.  

READING, writing, and making art is more important than ever. I’m reading Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips, which begins with an 11-year-old telling a story about a village that disappears to her 8-year-old sister before they are abducted. I’d love to hear what you’re reading and making!  

Try the links below for a few of my favorite free cultural offerings. Now is also a perfect time to read my past posts, including Sophie Calle at Greenwood Cemetery, Picasso, and Doomocracy, a Creative Time performance that foreshadowed Trump’s election. Also historic Greenwood Cemetery is OPEN for strolls if Prospect Park is too crowded! Be selective!  

Help for artists and musicians: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9337908/coronavirus-resource-guide-music-professionals-help

Inspiring Instagram:  

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-r_oTeFoxE/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet  AK Jansen’s heart masks and his ceramic solo show (cut short by Covid-19) add heart to our face protectors.

https://www.instagram.com/sarabenninga_painting/  Sara’s people blow my mind; they’re open, complicated, taken apart on the page.

https://www.instagram.com/claudiaalvarezart/   and https://www.instagram.com/claudiaalvarezart/   Claudia has an extraordinary body of work in ceramics, watercolors, oils, drawing. Her children say things that may be hard to hear.

https://www.instagram.com/TheKitchen_NYC/ live programs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6.

https://www.instagram.com/cesarcornejostudio/  and  https://cesarcornejo.com/   International projects from Puno, Peru to Engand to Vermont. Catch him online as his art addresses lost & dying human civilizations. 

https://www.instagram.com/cartoonfricassee/  : Katie’s cartoons capture our angst and spunk.

NYU book club: Join us for a virtual happy hour and casual conversation about Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.  TO JOIN the event on Zoom, send  your email address to skirball.center.info@nyu.edu by 3pm on Friday, April 10 and ask to receive the link to join the Vuong book discussion. 

MoMA free Films and programs: Private Lives Public Spaces went online today

with interesting conversation with curators Virtual Views: Home Movies | Magazine | MoMA

https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/276?preview=true&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MKT - Virtual Views Home 

Free library & museum archives include:

New York Public Library: https://www.nypl.org/about/remote-resources 

Brooklyn Public Library: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/borrow/ebooks-audiobooks 

Yale U. British Museum collections: https://britishart.yale.edu/collections/search?utm_source=National%2FInternational+Press+List+%28NYC-London%29&utm_campaign=2aedf7c30b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_31_07_35&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b0c9dba56f-2aedf7c30b-420691973

websites:  https://www.aprilgornik.com/  and   https://www.judypfaffstudio.com/ 

U-Tube:   Tom Wudl: the Flowerbank World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la9w3O9cXxE&utm_source=LA+Louver+email+list+10162019&utm_campaign=573b720d18-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_20_09_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_eadd44a3ce-573b720d18-53799557&mc_cid=573b720d18&mc_eid=343a2de4b1

Finally, exercises from 1982 to stay fit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ENt7oyZLo. WM