Tag: Exploring New York City by Foot

Bard Graduate Center Gallery 18 West 86th Street New York, NY 10024

Bard Graduate Center Gallery

18 West 86th Street

New York, NY 10024

(212) 501-3023

gallery@bgc.bard.edu

https://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/27/exhibitions

https://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/

Open: Tuesday, Friday-Sunday: 11:00am-5:00pm/Wednesday-Thursday: 11:00am-8:00pm/Closed on major holidays

Fee: Free Admission Hours on all Wednesdays and Thursday evenings from 5:00pm-8:00pm.

December 26th (Boxing Day) : Free

General Admission: $7.00 and Students & Seniors (65+): $5.00

Subway: B, C, and 1 to West 86th Street

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d309306-Reviews-The_Bard_Graduate_Center-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Bard Gallery at 18 West 86th Street

I took some time out from “MywalkinManhattan” project to visit the Bard Gallery for the afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by this little ‘gem’ located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This Graduate Center focuses on small exhibitions with interesting themes and not so over-whelming shows that tax your brain like some of the bigger museums in New York City.

The embellishments at the entrance to the Bard Art Galley

Their exhibitions are compact and detailed on the subject matter and the objects they have on display are interesting. They also have lectures and gallery talks for more detail on their displays. The Bard Graduate Center Gallery, founded in 1993, occupies a six story townhouse near Central Park West and houses not just the gallery but the academic programs, lecture hall and library.

The center has pioneering exhibitions on decorative arts, design history and material culture. The research driven exhibitions are organized with leading scholars, curators and institutions worldwide and showcase a rich array of objects comprised of loans from public and private collections, many never before on view in New York City.

Walking the permanent collection

With a commitment to investigating under-recognized topics in the history of design, the exhibitions provide a critical framework for understanding the context in which historical and contemporary objects were made, used, collected and displayed. These lead to a fuller understanding of the present through the lens of the past (Bard College website).

Displays in the permanent galleries

A full slate of public and research programs, public tours and opportunities for school groups and educators compliment each exhibition. Video and new media interactives enrich the visitor experience in educators compliment each exhibition (Museum website).

Items in the permanent collections

The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate research institute and gallery located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It is affiliated with Bard College, located in Annadale-on-Hudson, NY. The gallery occupies a six story townhouse at the 18 West 86th Street location while the academic building and library are located at 38 West 86th Street.

Students at Bard Graduate Center focus on the study of the cultural history of the material world. The institution is committed to the encyclopedic study of things, drawing on methodologies and approaches from art and design history, economic and cultural history and history of technology, philosophy, anthropology and archaeology.

Students enrolled in the M.A. and PhD. programs work closely with a distinguished faculty of active scholars in exploring the interrelationships between works of art and craft, design, places, ideas and social and cultural practice in courses ranging from antiquity to the 21st century (Wiki Bard College site).

Lighthouse Park Roosevelt Island 900 Main Street New York, NY 10044

Lighthouse Park

Roosevelt Island

900 Main Street

New York, NY 10044

(212) 832-4540

Lighthouse Park

https://rioc.ny.gov/179/The-Lighthouse

https://www.nycgo.com/venues/roosevelt-island-lighthouse-park

Open: Sunday-Saturday 7:00am-9:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d565031-Reviews-Roosevelt_Island-New_York_City_New_York.html

Lighthouse Park on Roosevelt Island

The Roosevelt Island Lighthouse is a stone lighthouse built by New York City in 1872. It is at the northeast tip of Roosevelt Island in the East River in Lighthouse Park. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on March 16th, 1972, and was designated a New York City Landmark on March 23rd, 1976 (Wiki).

Blackwell Island, which was called Welfare Island from 1921 to 1973 and is now known as Roosevelt Island was purchased by New York City in 1828. Various facilities on the island were built including a penitentiary, almshouse, city hospital, the New York Lunatic Asylum and the Smallpox Hospital (some of these buildings still exist).

In 1872, the City of New York built a lighthouse. The supervising architect was James Renwick Jr., who also designed several other buildings on the island for the Charities and Correction Board as well as more famous works such has St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (Wiki)

Legends abound about the construction of the lighthouse. Two names, John McCarthy and Thomas Maxey, are associated with the various legends. The 1870 report of the warden of the lunatic asylum that an industrious patient had built a seawall near the asylum that had reclaimed the land. The legends indicate that he had incorporated Civil War cannons.

The park in the distance on Roosevelt Island

The legend indicates that the builder was bribed with bogus money to demolish the fort for the construction of the lighthouse. For many years, a saying was inscribed on a stone near the lighthouse:

This is the work

Was done by

John McCarthy

Who built the Light

House from the bottom to the

Top All ye who do pass by may

Pray for his soul when he dies.

Lighthouse Park from Carl Schulz Park on Manhattan Island

The lighthouse was operated by the City instead of the U.S. Lighthouse Board. In its 1893 annual report, the Lighthouse Board generally praised the operations of Blackwell Island Lighthouse but indicated that the Board has unfairly criticized because of the City’s occasional failure to keep the light in operation. The Board advocated banning private lights. The 1917 U.S. Coast Pilot indicated that there was a private light at the north end of the island. (Wiki)

The light was operated until about 1940. In the 1970’s, the lighthouse was partially restored. The restoration was completed in 1998. (Wiki)

The lighthouse is approximately 50 feet (15m) tall. It is constructed of gray gneiss, rough ashlar that was quarried on the island by inmates from the penitentiary. It has an octagonal base and an octagonal shaft. There is an entrance on the south side under a projecting gable and a pointed Gothic arch. Two south-facing slit windows in the shaft light the interior. At the top of the shaft there is a band of ornamented corbels below the gallery, which is surrounded by an iron railing. The lantern is octagonal with a shallow conical roof. An 1893 photograph and a 1903 movie show that it probably had a much taller, steeper conical cap when it was built. The optics were provided by the U.S. Lighthouse Board (Wiki).

Lighthouse Park in the winter months

Lighthouse Park is located on the northernmost section of Roosevelt Island and can be seen from Carl Schurz Park. On a beautiful sunny day, it is a very picturesque view from the park.

Lighthouse Park from Carl Schulz Park

The sculpture “The Girl Puzzle”:

Next to the lighthouse is a monument of faces dedicated to Nellie Bly and to women who have faced hardship entitled “The Girl Puzzle”. The sculpture was dedicated to journalist Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, pen name Nellie Bly, who wrote about the abuses in the mental asylum on what was known as Mental Island at the time. She wrote the full report “Ten Days in the Mad House” on the abuses of patients.

“Girl Puzzle” by artist Amanda Matthews (Artist Bio)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Puzzle

https://www.thegirlpuzzle.com/

Artist Amanda Matthews (Artist Bio)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Matthews

https://www.prometheusart.com/

The piece was created by American born artist Amanda Matthews. Ms. Matthews graduated with a BA in Studio Art from the University of Louisville and had studied abroad in Europe. She is known for her work that honors women and celebrates diversity and inclusion (Wiki).

The history sign on Nellie Bly

Each sculpture is a interpretation on Nellie Bly. It really is an interesting sculpture.

The Girl Puzzle One:

The Girl Puzzle Two:

The Girl Puzzle Three:

The Girl Puzzle Four:

The Girl Puzzle Five:

Disclaimer: this information was taken from Wikipedia site and the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. This little ‘gem’ of a park can be seen by walking to the most northern part of Roosevelt Island by way of the Main Street which runs through the island.

Cleopatra’s Needle Central Park @ East 81st Street New York, NY 10028

Cleopatra’s Needle

Central Park at East 81st Street (behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

New York, NY 10028

https://www.centralparknyc.org/attractions/obelisk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra%27s_Needle_(New_York_City)

Open: When Central Park is open from dawn to dusk depending on the season

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d1959031-Reviews-Cleopatra_s_Needle-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=1990

Cleopatra's Needle III

Cleopatra’s Needle

https://www.centralparknyc.org/locations/obelisk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra%27s_Needle_(New_York_City)

I always admire Cleopatra’s Needle whenever I am touring Central Park West after an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The obelisk sits in back of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue and the pathways behind the museum lead to the site.

It is one of the few place where you can see hieroglyphics up close unless you are in Egypt and the sad part is that the natural surroundings are wearing them out. Still it is one of the most interesting outside artifacts that Manhattan and New York City has on display. Take time to observe all four sides of the obelisk and observe the writings.

Sometimes I think the tourists miss this interesting artifact and how it got here from Egypt.

The History of Cleopatra’s Needle:

(From Wiki)

Cleopatra’s Needle (obelisk) was erected in Central Park, just west of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on February 22, 1881. It was secured in May 1877 by Judge Elbert E. Farnam, the then United State Consul General of Cairo as a gift from the Khedive for the United States remaining friendly neutral as the European powers, France and Britain, maneuvered to secure political control of the Egyptian government.

The obelisk is a twin of the obelisk given to London at the same time and come from the ancient city of Alexandria. The name is a misnomer as they have no relationship with the Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and were already over a thousand years old in her lifetime (please see the Wiki link attached to the blog for more information on the obelisk).

Cleopatra's Needle II

The obelisk is free to the public and can be seen by taking the path behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is open all day.

The Studio Art Museum in Harlem 144 West 125th Street New York, NY 10027

The Studio Art Museum in Harlem

144 West 125th Street

New York, NY 10027

(212) 864-4500

https://studiomuseum.org/

http://www.studiomuseum.org

Hours: Thursday-Sunday: 12:00pm-5:00pm/Closed: Monday-Wednesday-Closed

Fee: Donation

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d116230-Reviews-The_Studio_Museum_in_Harlem-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Museum:

The Studio Museum in Harlem is the nexus for artists of African descent locally, nationally and internationally and for work that has been inspired and influenced by black culture. It is a site fro the dynamic exchange of ideas about art and society.

The Studio Museum of Harlem

History:

The Studio Museum in Harlem was founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists and philanthropists, who envisioned a new kind of museum that not only displays artwork but also supports artists and arts education. The Museum was originally located in a rented loft at 2033 Fifth Avenue, just north of 125th Street. Renowned architect J. Max Bond Jr. led a renovation that adapted the building into a two level exhibition space with offices and space for rental tenants.

The Galleries at The Studio Museum in Harlem

In 1985, the Museum began excavation of an adjacent vacant lot at 142 West 125th Street, leased from the City of New York. Over the following two decades, the Museum, in partnership with the City, completed additional renovations to the building and lot and added additional gallery and lobby space, a theater and a flexible outdoor space. The Museum has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) since 1987, when it became the first black or Latino institution to gain this recognition.

The Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the works of artists of African descent. The Artist-in-Residence program was one of the Museum’s founding initiatives, and gives the Museum the “Studio” in its name. The program has supported more than one hundred emerging artists of African or Latino descent, many of whom who have gone on to establish highly regarded careers. Alumni include Chakia Booker, David Hammons, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, Mickalene Thomas and Kehinde Wiley.

The Rico Gatson exhibition in 2018

The Studio Museum serves as a bridge between artists of African descent and a broad and diverse public. A wide variety of programs bring art alive for audiences of all ages-from toddlers to seniors-through talks, tours, art-making activities, performances and on and off-site educational programs. Museum exhibitions expand the personal, public and academic understanding of modern and contemporary art by artists of African descent. The Studio Museum is a leader in scholarship about artists of African descent, publishes Studio magazine twice yearly and regularity creates award-winning books, exhibition catalogs and brochures.

The Museum’s permanent collection includes nearly two thousand paintings, sculptures, watercolors, drawings, pastels, prints, photographs, mixed-media works and installations dating from the nineteenth century to the present. The Museum’s Acquisition Committee facilitates the growth of the collection through donations and purchases. Artists in the collection include Romare Bearden, Robert Colescott, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Chris Ofili, Betye Saar, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker and Hale Woodruff as well as many former artists in residence. The Museum also is the custodian of an extensive archive of the work of photographer James VanDerZee, the quintessential chronicler of the Harlem community from 1906 to 1983. The Museum does not have a permanent exhibition of work from its collection but frequency shows selections in temporary exhibitions.

The current exhibitions are wonderful and include:

Regarding the Figure

Rico Gatson Icons 2007-2017

Jamel Shaazz Crossing 125th

All them are compact exhibitions and you will need about two hours to see everything at the museum (See TripAdvisior review).

Public transit access:

Subway: 2 & 3 to 125th Street

Bus: M7, M60, SBS, M100, M102, BX15 buses

Website: studiomuseum.org (http://studiomuseum.org)

Folks, please don’t miss this gem of a museum in your travels to NYC in a very quickly gentrifying Harlem (See ‘MywalkinManhattan’ site for more details).

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