ART & ACTION ON THE BRONX RIVER
The Fall 2024 semester of “Art and Action on the Bronx River” at Fordham culminated in an array of 12 individual student projects ranging from a mini-documentary, to a dance piece, to a 24-mile walk, as well as a number of other artworks. Taught by Professor Matthew López-Jensen, the course explores the intersection of art, ecology, and history, specifically focusing on the Bronx River and the communities surrounding it. For their final projects, students were tasked with creating ambitious works that responded to the river in creative and thought-provoking ways.
REFLECTIONS: GRACE ON THE WATER
Emerging artist Tori Garcillano has taken to the Bronx River to create a statement piece that implores viewers to consider the ways in which the art of dance can allow people to honor their bodies and surroundings. Her question is as follows: dance does not only exist in studios or on stages but in the very way that we interact with the world around us.
In this video piece, Garcillano dances her choreography on a dock atop the Bronx River at Starlight Park, directly across the way from the Bronx River House. In between moments of choreography, she has added brief clips of sights from the riverbank, focused mostly on the movement of the water. Just as water
creates reflections, Garcillano views her movement as a reflection on the ways in which dance is an expansive art form that exists beyond the body itself.
Link to piece: https://youtu.be/i2AWfbS59aM
CREATURE SPOTTED IN THE BRONX RIVER
When asked to describe her piece, collage artist Julia Mancini said it all began with a question- “Can take your picture?” From here, she collected body parts: a foot from a friend, her sister’s leg, and her own two hands. Her goal was to create a physical creature, a conglomeration of the people in her life, to bring to the river. “I wanted to exaggerate the inaccessibility of reaching the river and construct a reality where I could bring all of these people there, a reality where they could even swim in it.” She sought to create a symbolic creature with Photoshop to be blown up, printed, and then secured to an outstretched cardboard box and sealed with clear packing tape.
24 MILES,
19 FRAMES,
1 DAY
Patrick Dolan embarked on a 9-hour trek spanning the entire 24-mile length of the Bronx River. His journey took him from the busy metropolis to the small forests of our city, capturing the diverse ecosystems that exist within the city’s veins.
The journey began at Kensico Dam in Valhalla, NY, and ended Soundview Park, where the Bronx River meets the East River, with the goal of trying to stay as close to the river as possible during the journey. The Bronx River, once a vital waterway, now flows through a landscape transformed
by urbanization, offering a unique perspective on the intersection of nature and human development.
Link to project: https://www.behance.net/gallery/215144205/From-Start-to-Finish-River-Walk
“Sound Waves of the Bronx River” BY CHRISTIANA STAUB
Artworks by students Maxanne Millerhaller, Nikki Phillips, Emily Torres, Olivia Griffin, Sofia Cordero, Guadalupe Vargas, Kelly Stanton, and Jonas Guzman.
Materials for the Arts (MFTA)
On September 16, 2024, students in the “Intro to Art & Engagement” course visited Materials for the Arts (MFTA), New York’s largest creative reuse center, to collect their art supplies. Everything at MFTA is free, as it would otherwise be discarded and end up in a landfill!
Afterwards, Education Coordinator, Will Niedmann, led students in a zine-making workshop, using found materials.
This isn’t oral history (learning from the library)
On Wednesday October 23, 2024, in the Lipani Gallery and the adjacent seminar classroom at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, there was a quiet and short multimedia installation by students and their interviewees studying the “art of the interview”.
After brief talks from representatives of Landmark West! (Executive Director Sean Khorsandi) and Good Shepherd Faith Presbyterian Church (Michael Nelson, Ronald Woods and Neal Matticks) on topics ranging from urban renewal to urban removal, students presented research talks they had developed with the help of New York Public Library staff (thanks to Mia Brunner of the NYPL General Research Division for her tremendous support, as well as her colleagues in the Picture Collection of the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs and the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History, and Genealogy).
The installation in the Lipani Gallery included this video by Fordham alumna Nikki Estelami, made with student field recordings and collages made by students and interviews from archival research at NYPL and Fordham University Special Collections.
This isn’t oral history featured presentations by Fordham students Junhan Zhao, Tanvi Shah, Ash Wang, Bhavika Yendapalli, Eric Bishop, Meena Kabbani and Morgan Mueller.
The classes of Professors Fadi Skeiker and Stephan Apicella-Hitchcock attended, along with several other individual guests.
This isn’t oral history was presented by Fordham’s Departments in Theatre and Visual Arts, Anthropology and American Studies.
Sound Stories
(Art of the Interview)
In VART 2222 Art of the Interview, students record interviews with elders who recount the history of the Lincoln Square neighborhood, which was demolished in the 1950’s to build Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, and other developments.
On Saturday December 14th, the Fall 2024 class presented artworks highlighting various stories at Good Shepherd Faith Presbyterian Church, where many interviewees are members:
Ash Wang created this animated collage video highlighting a story from an interview with Ronald Woods.
Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church, by the way, is the last standing church to predate the Lincoln Center urban renewal project that demolished the rest of the neighborhood, and has a rich civil rights history.
Meena Kabbani and Bhavika Yendapalli created this piece from this interview with Michael Nelson, Harold Thomas, Debra Washington and Ronald Woods.
Eric Bishop features another Ronald Woods interview in this piece
Video by Morgan Mueller and Tanvi Shah, featuring a story told by Michael Nelson, Harold Thomas, Ronald Woods and Debra Washington
Here is Junhan Zhao’s video featuring stories told by Ronald Woods, Michael Nelson and Debra Washington.
Loops & Loops
(Intro to Art & Engagement: Protest, Participation, the Public & Other Performance Practices)
A very temporary installation
Monday December 16, 2024 | 2-3pm
Butler Gallery | Fordham College at Lincoln Center | 113 West 60th Street New York
Through a workshop with beck haberstroh and Mira Dayal, authors of Camera of Possibilities: A Workbook Towards a Carrier Bag Theory of Photography, students taking VART 1111 “Intro to Art & Engagement” were asked to think about the ways that text can serve as an invitation for engagement. They considered how invitations might serve as an incentive for someone to join in, and indicate who is invited to participate, how they participate, and what they can expect when they do. At Loops & Loops, our very temporary installation, students used simple prompts to invite the public into challenging and abstract conversations.
Film photos by Suchi Jalavancha:
Artworks by VART 1111 students Suchi Jalavancha, Isis Poulose, Shamia Rahman, Veni Rosales, Michelle Rosas Garcia, Pradanya Subramanyan, Elizabeth Weldon and Janson Zheng.
Presented by the Department of Theatre & Visual Arts. Special thanks to Nikki Estelami, Materials for the Arts, and Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning.
Zine by Suchi Jalavancha
Words & Sounds : Poetry Reading and Performance 7pm on January 26th by Theo LeGro + AUDG
WORDS & SOUNDS
Poetry Reading and Performance by Theo LeGro and AUDG
Fordham University’s Lipani Gallery
7pm January 26, 2024
Fordham University at Lincoln Center map
113 West 60th Street at Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023
Map to the Lipani Gallery
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The Fordham University Department of Theatre and Visual Arts is pleased to announce the inaugural Words & Sounds event featuring FCLC Alum poet Theo LeGro and FCLC Alum musician AUDG on Friday, January 26, at 7 pm in the Visual Arts Complex Susan Lipani Gallery. There will be light refreshments, poetry, music, bumper stickers, and community.
This event is hosted in the Susan Lipani Gallery by the Hayden Hartnett Project Space and has been made possible by Professor Connections funding through FCLC Dean Auricchio.
The second installment of Words & Sounds will feature poet Ama Birch on March 7 at 6 pm, with support from Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning.
For more information, contact Stephan Apicella – Hitchcock
CARCELÉN, an exhibition by Joèl De Andrade Ledesma
CARCELÉN
Exhibition by Joèl De Andrade Ledesma
Fordham University’s Lipani Gallery
January 19 — February 9, 2024
Opening Reception: January 25th, 6:00 — 8:00 pm
Fordham University at Lincoln Center map
113 West 60th Street at Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023
Map to the Lipani Gallery
fordhamuniversitygalleries
The photographs in Carcelén were taken in 2018 in Quito, Ecuador at a makeshift refugee camp created and inhabited by Venezuelan migrants. This photographic project represents an investigation into the humanity of people, the reality of migration, and the vitality of those who choose to leave their homelands.
Many of the migrants pictured in this project had left home on foot as part of a wave of millions of Venezuelans who left the country in the 2010’s due to political and economic instability. In Ecuador, like other receiving countries, many of the Venezuelans encountered the challenges of xenophobia, accessing basic needs, and attacks by conservative and even fascist elements in society. Joél came in contact with the people of the camps, supporting a mutual aid network that was aware of the plight of these Venezuelans, including attempts by state and local actors to displace them from their camp. In the time spent with the community, Joél exchanged similar and divergent stories of homeland, diaspora, and the reality of migration today.
Carcelén consists of eighteen 13 x 19 prints, matted and framed. The photographs were created from black and white 35 mm film negatives shot on a Pentax K1000, developed in the dark room, and then scanned and digitally printed.
Artist Biography: Joél Alexander De Andrade Ledesma (b. 1989) is a cultural worker, educator, and community organizer. Born in Caracas, Venezuela in the midst of the Caracazo insurrection, Joél and his family migrated to the United States in the wake of this historical and violent event. Having lived as an undocumented immigrant for almost two decades, Joél now focuses his creative, political, and academic projects on making sense of the structural and institutional violence marginalized communities move through. From this perspective, Joél elaborates the ways communities exercise reciprocity, resistance, and resilience. Joél is interested in visual storytelling that demonstrates these qualities and the way people and communities assume the responsibility and reality of freedom, solidarity, and survival
For more information, contact Vincent Stracquadanio
Grants and Awards!
Junior Review for Visual Arts Majors – Deadline April 13
To be considered for Senior Thesis studies, Junior Visual Arts Majors should submit the following:
- A cover sheet with your name, email, phone number, FIDN, and your thesis advisor.
- 10 to 15 high-quality jpgs (or pdfs) of your work, or approximately 10 minutes total of film/video pieces.
- A list of all the art and art history courses you have taken and are currently taking, along with the grades you have earned in those completed courses.
- A maximum 300-word statement about the thesis idea you intend to pursue. Discuss concept, medium, and stylistic approach.
- Email your documents and portfolio, with the Subject line Junior Review Submission to Mark Street, Visual Arts Program Director, mstreet@fordham.edu, and Anne Clark, Senior Executive Secretary, aclark49@fordham.edu, by 5:00 pm, Tuesday, April 13.
We strongly encourage you to consult a full-time faculty member for help both in selecting your portfolio works and writing your statement!