NEW Year NEW Jackson Heights

HOPE reigns in the New Year!

the Bright Lights on houses and shops make everything seem so alive and HOPEful...we have so much going on in the New Year in our own backyard featuring music, art and film...PLUS endeavors by our elected officials to make Jackson Heights prosper and grow!

Vote HERE to help 78th Street playstreet win the
"2010 Streetsies" Award - your voice is heard and just one click away. Thank You CB3 and Councilmember Danny Dromm and State Senator Jose Peralta for making this happen for the kids of all ages last summer - with our limited park space, we HOPE to make it open again in 2011.

and Don and Katha Cato are keeping HOPE alive for all our visual artists in the 'hood with the Queens World Film Festival - which will be 4 days of films and fun right here on 82nd Street in March -featuring local and international entries...send in your submission NOW via Without a Box- and www.queensworldfilmfestival.com


AND the Jackson Rep Theatre is hosting a local CONCERT SERIES at PS 69 and other Theatrical events - you won't even have to spend money on the subway...MORE to come with dates and performances which we HOPE will showcase all the talent here in Queens!

PLUS! a year end gift
COME OUT FOR A Pre-New Year Celebration and
new ART opening

NOVO LOUNGE (78-23 37th ave)
THURSDAY DEC 30th
6-9pm
2 for 1 drink specials to thank everyone who has been so supportive through the year and with HOPE and wishes for a healthy - happy - better - NEW YEAR!

See you on the avenue!
Celeste

FREE WHISKY & other Holiday events

Whisky (the movie!)

by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll

Winner of the Sundance NHK Award and the "Un Certain Regard" Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Whisky tells the story of Jacobo, the 60 year old owner of a sock factory in Montevideo, Uruguay, whose younger and more successful estranged brother is r

eturning from Brazil after twenty years on the occasion of the matzeveh of their mother. Desperate to prove his life has added up to something, Jacobo asks Marta, an employee at his factory, to pose as his wife.

Monday, December 13, 2010

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Jewish Center of Jackson Heights

37-06 77th Street (corner 77th Street and 37th Avenue)

Admission: is FREE

Note: the film is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS

from NOVO LOUNGE and ART SPACE.

Richard and Edwin are asking their patrons and neighbors to please come to their FUNDRAISER Holiday Dance Party complete with DJ - raffles - surprise guests on FRIDAY, DEC 17th ...beginning at 8pm!

We know this is trying times for everyone and especially for NOVO... they love Jackson Heights and want to continue to serve great food, host art openings and music events and provide that cozy meeting place for friends and family!

NOVO needs a helping hand this month in regard to a business situation - and so if you can come and join in the festivities, $40 at the door * will include 2 drinks and delicious appetizers raffles- special guests - and a holiday dance extravaganza!

* you will also receive a coupon for $10 off a dinner in january!

See you on the avenue!

Celeste

FREE in Jackson Heights MUSIC-FILMS-and Giving Thanks!

FOUND OUT LOTS OF STUFF HAPPENING RIGHT HERE - under our noses

Free! in Jackson Heights this weekend!

why go anywhere else ? plus the Clean Jackson Heights program is in full swing - so please shop locally and THANK the 40 + store owners for keeping JH Clean!

Thanks to our Councilmember Daniel Dromm for this initiative and Andrew Ronan for pulling it all together... to see stores listing: Clean Jackson Heights

below are more links - so you can click and get more info and come to the events:

Films at the JH LIbrary on Saturday DEC 4th - FREE... time TBD

presented by QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development, is a non-for profit cultural organization co-founded and presently under the direction of New -media artist, Hector Canonge and his ongoing FRAMING AIDS initiative since 2005.

PIANO CONCERT with SUNNY KNABLE

via the Jackson Heights Concert Series on SUNDAY DEC 5th - FREE

JH Jewish Center at 77th St /37th Ave - 4 pm

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OPEN CALL TO FILMMAKERS

from everywhere and anywhere

March Forth!

will launch a festival of features, shorts and kid film fun at the JACKSON THEATRE on 82nd Street -

MARCH 3-6 in 2011

maybe one of them will be yours...

find out more about submissions:

Without a Box - Facebook - Twitter

Please visit for more information:

queensworldfilmfestival.com

All roads lead to Queens...

The new destination for filmmakers.

See you on the avenue! Celeste

Family of Inspiration

NOVO ART OPENING this THURSDAY November 18th

FEATURES talented J.H. MOTHER and DAUGHTER ...

Raised in Jackson Heights, CAITLIN GILBRIDE

received a BS in Art Education and a BFA in Printmaking from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Caitlin began working mainly in oil paint, however her interest shifted to the use of printmaking techniques and incorporating thread into them

Caitlin continues to reside and create work in Jackson Heights and hopes to become an art teacher, just like her mother:

MICHELE GILBRIDE

who was born in Jackson Heights but grew up on the north shore of Long Island.

Some of her favorite childhood memories were coming back to Jackson Heights for visits to her aunt's studio, where she learned how to draw and paint. Michele received a BFA in painting from Pratt and a MSAE from Queens College.

Michele explores the light in Cape Cod while Caitlin experiments with printmaking, monotypes and collage elements in her work.

Come meet and greet this month's artists Michele and Caitlin

NOVEMBER 18th from 5-9!

NOVO is on 37th ave between 78 & 79th Streets

Happy Hour serves up some specials from 4-7pm too

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ANOTHER LIFELONG resident - our Councilman, Daniel Dromm, has launched "CLEAN Jackson Heights!" imploring all our local businesses to commit to beautifying their stores and making sure their storefront and street are maintained. Visit www.cleanjacksonheights.com for more info.

Awards and certificates will be given to the businesses that are participating in DECEMBER to THANK THEM for the role they play in attracting and serving the neighborhood and beyond - you can show your appreciation too by shopping locally this holiday season!

here also was a recent study about how LOVE for a community helps its ECONOMIC GROWTH:

Residents' Emotional Attachment to Community May Boost Local Economy, Study Finds According to a Knight Foundation-funded study of twenty-six U.S. cities, regions with the highest levels of resident attachment also had the highest GDP growth rate over time....

It's all about LOVE in Jackson Heights!

see you on the avenue,Celeste

BOO-TEE - FULL!

HAPPY 21st HALLOWEEN PARADE sponsored by the JHBG, which began with a seed and bloomed into a safe and renowned event with candy distributed to over 3000 local children.

OCTOBER ends on a clear and sunny note but the wind carries a slight chill...

inspiring jack o'lanterns are everywhere...

and painter Carla Lobmier continues to showcase her fantastic paintings in the AUTUMN window of Ultima Florals

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PLUS please visit and see the haunting art at NOVO...

Jeff Terzi 's photographs (above) reveal a texture and a palette that

pop, making everyday scenes come alive. Sara Armstrong creates these dreamy, nuanced panels that draw you in to get a closer look.

_______________________________

Espresso 77 is highlighting the works of

local artist Nitin Mukul .

Artists of Jackson Heights are emerging! What they have to offer are works that are thoughtful, sophisticated and worldly.

We also say THANKs! to all the people in the neighborhood that appreciate the arts and come out to hear the music, stop by the openings and support the businesses ... working together to highlight all the talent and diversity

in our community.

FRESH OCTOBER ...

...Blown sideways into neighborhood arts and music.

NEW ART OPENING AT NOVO features captured everyday images like "Hear Me Out" (left) by Photographer Luisa Pineda aka lulusolei, (on FB.)

I selected some of my own favorite works for this month including a collage "Cassette Preservation" =>

Shows have been in place since February 2010 and the local

artists featured have been appreciated by the patrons and crowds that pop in for $5MOJITOS...plus their delicious food cooked up fresh...

LIVE ENSEMBLES... Bethany Wild & Friends has been in place on "Thursday Night Lounge" and Jim Hershhorn Trio on "Monday Night Jazz"

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ESPRESSO 77 always has something BREWING with music, an artists salon, book signings or just fantastic coffee and treats, stop by for schedule.

..............................................................................................................

Popped by CROSSING ART in Flushing for the new QCA Board induction, presented by Borough President Helen Marshall, and hosted by members of the QUEENS COUNCIL ON THE ARTS

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ari Laura Kreith

is teaming up with Councilmember Danny Dromm

SATURDAY OCT 9

ARI is teaming up with Councilmember Danny Dromm to celebrate the "Clean Jackson Heights" awards initiative

EVENT TIME: 2:30 pm -4pm

LOCATION: 37-32 75th St

"Come be part of Theatre 167's first Street Theatre Event!!! In support of City Councilmember Daniel Dromm's Clean Jackson Heights Intitative, we're turning Jackson Heights into living theatre for an hour.

Come join us, dressed in your finest, Sat. Oct 9 from 2:30-4 pm....for Food, FUN and lots of surprises"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ari plus the cast and crew of

167 Tongues

are heading to

QUEENS THEATRE IN THE PARK!

http://offbroadway.broadwayworld.com/art

icle/Queens_Theatre_in_the_Park_Presents_167_TONGUES_101617_20101005

The IDES of SEPTEMBER

went underground for the duration of August and with the help of September weather have resurfaced

Councilmember DANNY DROMM meeting with JH business owners on SEPTEMBER 20th to thank them.

Announcing the clean streets program and

entries for the "SWEEPIES" awards in OCTOBER!

ART jackson HERE & heights THERE

fun crowd Espresso 77 art opening-sept 14 -

see the dazzling wall of 14 artists - stop by, say hi and see a vibrant array of works

from talent in the community. There will be an ART SALON every 3rd THURSDAY starting on September 23

Invitation to everyone to come show at NOVO- the art explosion there has infused the Monday Nite Jazz Jam and now Thursday Night Lounge -

perfect for that delicious meeting for two -

with native Bethany Wild and her command of the standards from 7-10pm.

mojitos are 5 all night every thursday

ART SHOW: "ABSTRACTION"

with

GERARD SANTUOSO paintings (above left)

& CLAUDIA SCHELLENBERG

photographs (right)

on view until sept 29

NOVO LOUNGE & ART SPACE

78-23 37th ave

LOCAL ARTISTS SHOWCASE
SEPTEMBER 30

6-9pm

ART OPENING- everyone invited!!

See you on the Avenue ,

Celeste

AUGUST ARRIVES & none too soon

Are we past the dog days of summer??

we can only hope that JULY took care of that...

I stayed in my cave like everyone else but did venture out for a few events in JULY:

Paul Kelly , Jackson Heights Playwright and Director, and crew (L to R: Andy, Cary, Jane, PK, Celeste) scheduled a shoot on his FERMENTED production,

early on July 17th - we began at 10 am and finished by 1:30 before the heat kicked in.

We even had a few clouds which helped reduce glare and shadows on the performers:

Rhett (l) & Joe (r)

ALTHOUGH their steamy dialogue made it even hotter outside!

More on the video when it gets near completion and hits the silver screen! and more about Rhett too! who has been featured on a new reality show that will premiere in JANUARY... fasten your seatbelts...

JULY 29th was the opening of a very sparkly and exciting art show at NOVO Bar & Lounge - works by Carla Lobmier, Eung Ho Park and Norma Markley were on display.

People enjoyed the food, drinks and razzle dazzle art.

Jackson Heights Folks that are still in the city came out to meet artists and neighbors. The show will be up until AUGUST 25th so stop by to see the intense & colorful artworks and enjoy the A.C. & a Mojito!! while you are there.

See you on the avenue,

Celeste

INSPIRING Community of ARTISTS & BUSINESS

WELL it is almost JULY in Jackson Heights and this has been an extraordinary exhibit along the avenue, showcasing community members who love painting, photography, pastels, sculpture and expressing themselves creatively and sharing their talent.

CLAUDIA SCHELLENBERG

is interested in both photography and pastels. Her love of the outdoors encompasses both plain air and indoor work. She continues to explore the medium through courses and workshops. As a self-taught recreational photographer, she has been shooting in earnest since the winter of 2006, when she set out on her first photo expedition to the Adirondacks.Claudia is a Boardmember of the Sierra Club Photo Committee and has a special interest in nature photography.

BERTINE LAFAYETTE has studied drawing and oil painting at the Art Students League in New York City

She is now working in her current love: watercolors. She enjoys painting various subjects especially landscapes and animals. She has been studying this medium at the Jackson Heights Art Club, at the Brookfield Crafts Center, and with Jairo Toro at the Latino Arts Council. She exhibits in different venues in Connecticut and some of her work may be found in private collections.

MARCUS WOOLLEN grew up in Seattle, Los Angeles, Belgium and New Hampshire and now lives in Jackson Heights, where you're likely to find him over at the new dog park. Marcus’ career as an actor has taken him across the United States three times, and throughout western Europe. Tours include 42nd Street, Zorba, Meet Me in St. Louis, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In New York, he has performed Moliere’s The Miser, Shaw’s Candida, Strindberg’s Dream Play, and Euripides’ Medea. He has appeared on HBO, MTV, and in several independent films and has created and produced a number of original plays. He currently is at a theatrical licensing agency, building websites and social network presence. He has enjoyed taking photos ever since he borrowed his father's old Spotmatic when he was 7 and has photographed some NYC locations recently that emphasis how colorful and magical the city can be.

Due to the groundbreaking partnerships of all the artists & store owners, 37th Avenue became more than a series of shops - it connected our unique restaurants and businesses to a larger audience and offered an opportunity for neighbors to display their creations and show the world that the arts are thriving in Jackson Heights.

JUNE 30th - Babel Art Exhibit at 86-08 37th Avenue,

curated by Hector Canonge

Closing Reception starting at 6pm

come celebrate what Councilmember Daniel Dromm and his culture & development liaison Andrew Ronan have instituted: the recognition of exceptional artists and savvy business owners working together to sustain our industrious neighborhood.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

37th AVENUE ART GALLERY

ending on SUNDAY JUNE 27

enjoy the art while you shop and eat and stroll and glance and eat and...

TINA SELIGMAN was spotted at La Portena getting food to go and her good friend

LAURA SCHIAVINA had lunch at Armondo's on Tuesday...

and they are both thrilled to be featured in their favorite restaurants!

Laura M. Schiavina has lived in Jackson Heights since 1951. Included in the Who’s Who of American Art, her award winning work has been collected and exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Islip Art Museum, NY; Sumner Museum, Washington D.C.; DuPont Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Citicorp Gallery, LIC; Eleftherias Park Art Center, Athens, Greece; National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, NY; New York City College of Technology, CUNY; and Ringel Gallery at Purdue University, IN. One of the first female members of the Salmagundi Club, Laura was chosen by Cynthia Maris Dantzic for her book “100 New York Painters,” published in 2006. She is member of N.A.W.A, National League of American Pen Women, National Art League, Jackson Heights Art Club, Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, and Audubon Artists. Laura came to New York in 1944 from Springfield, MA to become a fashion illustrator, completing evening courses at the Traphagen School of Fashion, while working in business. Deciding to continue in business, she studied fine art weekends, evenings and vacations from the late 1950's through 1980 with artists including Will Barnet, Carl Molno, Joseph Caine and Paul Puzinas.

Tina Seligman is a mixed media artist, curator, art educator, and writer, who has lived in Jackson Heights for 50 years. Her artwork is represented by Cheryl McGinnis Gallery in New York City, and has been exhibited and acquired by private, public and corporate collectors in Saratoga Springs, NY, Manhattan, Wellfleet, MA, and Queens. Tina has worked as a teaching artist-in-residence at Flushing Town Hall since 2000, facilitating multi-sensory workshops for adults and young people through CASA, Parents as Arts Partners and NYSCA grants. From 2001 through 2006, she contributed a regular column to Magazine.ART and to Art of the Times during 2005. Her poetry and illustrations have been published by several art and literary periodicals including Prehensile Pencil Publications (formerly The Feral Press), Art Times, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center website, Pudding Magazine, Prayers to Protest and Cicada Haiku Quarterly. After earning a B.A. in Art from Queens College, she has continued her education with several forms of music and dance classes, which often inspire her work. You can visit www.tinaseligman.com

A few blocks east at NOVO tables were filled with art and food and PEACH MARTINI lovers (we mentioned those before!) everyone was celebrating the OPENING of a new exhibit of works by Afzal Hossain and Greg Stowell. The combination of the dreamlike, colorful and anamorphic paintings with the edgy city realism of the black & white photographs really makes for a very dynamic show. Stop by for one of those MARTINIs you keep reading about...

Sparkle and Pizzazz

REMINDER NOVO TONIGHT 6-9 pm - cold drinks warm heart!

Two artists along 37th avenue

just brighten up a window!

Carla Lobmier & Norma Markley

and their exceptional art works are side by side at Ultima Florals and Jahn's on 81st Street

Carla evokes an influence of literature in her work; all pieces are titled and often contain words or are sometimes amended with short passages from literature. Poets are permitted the pursuit of the lyrical, the metaphor, the emotional connection. The very structure of a poem and what can be communicated in such a small form is surprising, yet graceful. Can images do the same?

The notion of surprise as part of visual pleasure stuck. In contrast, a resting of the mind - to invite contemplation - seems part of my visual equation. Reading + poetry + metaphor + Illinois landscape + shadowy interiors + living looking and asking questions = pictures critical of art without visual pleasure.

“It is the clash or intersection of sex and Americana that she paints with cut paper, draws with thread, embroiders on towels, or writes with the glow of neon tubing. Norma coaxes these incongruent elements until they sit well together, creating works that have been described as ‘thoughtful symbols of throwaway culture.’ ” Norma lives in Jackson Heights and works in her Greenpoint, Brooklyn studio. She graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art and was awarded an MFA in painting from Columbia University

what do art & peach martinis have in common?

Both are appearing at NOVO this week -

ask for the incredible "June in JH Restaurant Deal" with the peach martini ...

and come meet neighborhood artists:

Greg Stowell & Afzal Hossain

Opening Thursday June 24 from 6-9pm

NOVO - 37th ave between 78 & 79

Photography grabbed hold of Greg Stowell when he was a teenager, opening his eyes to the marvels to be found in the mundane, ordinary, everyday life. Much of the work he commenced to do exploited the potential offered by the aesthetic virtues of black & white images (and yes, he still uses film), allowing viewers to be readily transported to another place in our color world.

Neighborhood defining venues such as small businesses, coffee shops, and the like have been warmly enthusiastic hosts to his indirectly referential style of documentary photography. Through his work, they have enjoyed tantalizing allusions to their own immediate experience that readily draw them to places in their minds they have not regularly been.

Early years of life in the working class, bedroom community of Olathe, Kansas found Mr. Stowell was compelled to migrate to New York City, where today he is a resident of the borough of Jackson Heights, New York.

Afzal Hossain is a longtime resident of Jackson Heights and received his Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute and worked as a designer at Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

He later founded BANG Architecture and Design, focusing on small architecture, art, furniture and graphic design projects.

Afzal and his wife Julie Nymann created a space for people to meet and express their art at Espresso 77, an artisanal coffee bar in Jackson Heights which hosts the Gallery 77 program, a series of exhibitions of work by local artists and provides a venue for acoustic performances.

Afzal works explores memory and emotion searching for a universal truth. Early work evoked the nostalgia for family and life in Bangaldesh. Recent works define his new life in New York, the fascination with the way the human condition is affected by natural and cultural forces. Afzal’s paintings offer reflections on being an immigrant, infused with personal history and inspired by new surroundings and possibilities.

KUDOS to Ali and Richard who joined me on SUNDAY (remember Sunday? hot and sticky Sunday?!) for the Walking Tour of 37th Avenue Art Gallery where we viewed the 20 works along the avenue of local artists

click GOOGLE MAP HERE for list of stores and artists

and check them out until JUNE 27

and we will feature the remainder of the artists here at Community Communicato too

Thank you! for a great show to all the businesses and artists in this unique and unusual gallery

See you on the Avenue!