Wednesday, June 8, 6-8 pm: Geles Cabrera |  Museo Escultórico at Americas Society

The first solo exhibition in the United States dedicated to Mexican artist Geles Cabrera, one of the most prominent female sculptors of her country, will feature artwork created over 40 years of her career and will be on view through July 30, 2022.Above: Geles Cabrera in the museum of her work (El Museo Escultórico), c. 1960s

The more than 50 works on view reveal the artist’s interest in the human body through her experimentation with various materials such as volcanic rock, bronze, terracotta, papier-mâché, and molded plexiglass. Between abstraction and figuration, Cabrera carved and molded human forms evoking labor, motherhood, and human relationships. The show also includes archival documentation about her artistic practice in Mexico City. 

Curated by Americas Society Chief Curator and Director of Visual Arts Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Assistant Curator Tie Jojima, and Assistant Curator Rachel Remick, Geles Cabrera: Museo Escultórico  will be the first installment in a series of Americas Society exhibitions highlighting the legacy of women and female-identifying artists of the Americas, focusing on celebrating artists previously understudied or overlooked. Americas Society will host a series of public programs, both in-person and virtual, accompanying the show, including panel discussions with the curatorial team and scholars of Latin American art and sculpture, performances, and regular free gallery tours.

Continuing through July 30 at Americas Society, 680 Park Avenue, New York, NY Info

Through June 19: Art Work | Artists Working at The Met

Since 1935, staff members working at the Met, many of whom are accomplished artists, have shared their creative contributions with their colleagues in the museum’s gallery spaces. This year, for the first time, the exhibition is open to the public 

Daniel Kershaw, an exhibition design manager at the museum, has directed the show’s curatorial process for more than 20 years. Every piece of art submitted is traditionally included in the show, and staff members like Kershaw work after hours to organize the exhibition. As the works come in, Kershaw said he looks for common threads to tie the diverse and eclectic pieces together, grouping them into categories like “landscapes,” “flowers,” and “portraits.” In a recent interview with Hyperallergic, he explained that some of the artists in the exhibition are professionals who work at the Met to pay their bills. Others are hobbyists creating art in their spare time. 

In the current show, more than 450 of the Met’s staff of 1,700 contributed works to the show, which are on view in gallery 199, adjacent to the Greek and Roman collection. “The wide range of artistic expression—from drawing, painting, and photography to sculpture and digital media—corresponds to an equally expansive representation of departments throughout the institution,” said Kershaw, “including guards, educators, technicians, librarians, designers, engineers, conservators, volunteers, registrars, and many others.”

One of the artists, who has been teaching at the Met since 1999 and goes by the single name Syma, described her process esclusively for DART readers:

“The materials are: re-visited smoke-fired clay, family photos, found objects, 24k gold leaf, and an audio loop from 1950s dictaphone recordings of my grandmother. The clay wall mask was salvaged from studio storage of works deemed ‘not-yet-as envisioned’. I covered the previously fired terracotta clay with a coating of white gesso, and smoke-fired it in a Weber Grill on the roof deck of my Brooklyn studio. 

“I did not like the results, but after two years’ time, it had grown on me enough so that I could continue playing with possibilities. I collected printed copies of family photos, found papers, and little found objects, all came from my personal treasured materials meant to be used in some future project. Sifting through hundreds of hours of my grandparents voices, I collected some of my favorite messages. Now I can listen to my grandmother’s voice as I continue to search for my own. Headphones generally used for gallery or studio visitors have been replaced with the QR code to the audio recording for covid-safety compliance.”

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Info

Friday, June 10, 5-9 pm: Haksul Lee | The Weight of Space at SLA Artspace

The Weight of Space, the first New York solo exhibition by Korean-born, NYC-based artist, Haksul Lee, preents fifteen works created in 2022. Trained as a figurative sculptor, Lee’s work is informed by his knowledge and understanding of natural forms and the anatomy of the human body. While analyzing organic forms with simpler geometric language—a common practice in figure drawing and sculpting—he became interested in the practice not only as a means to understand more complicated organic forms but also as a vehicle for discovering clearer ideas. The show’s title, The Weight of Space, references the artist’s work with the perceptual weight and tension of an enclosed space in the forms he has created through ongoing experiences with AutoCAD drawing, in which he explores physical form in a more analytic and mathematical way. That perceptional practice has led Lee to developing a new visual vocabulary seen here. Info

SLA Art Space, 307 W 30th street, New York, NY 

Saturday, June 11, 5-8 pm: Nacho Eterno | Paintings and Ceramic Sculpture at Hey There Projects

Nacho Eterno (b. 1992) is a self-taught Spanish painter and ceramic artist based in the Girona countryside. His work, including ceramic sculpture, tattoo and contemporary muralism, evolves through a coherent way of making, based on a simple and spontaneous aesthetics with smooth shapes and minimal color. Folk art and ancient art cultures are at th core of his practice. 

Through July 7 at Hey There Projects, 61675 Twentynine Palms Highway, Joshua Tree, CA Info

Saturday, June 12-Wednesday, June 22: River to River Festival, Downtown Manhattan

LMCC presents the 21st annual River To River Festival, Downtown New York City’s leading free summer arts festival from June 12–26, 2022.

Opening event: Gregory Corbino | Murmurations (above) June 12, 2pm gather, 3pm parade, Teardrop Park, Battery Park City. Enter at North End Avenue or River Terrace entrance

Experience a wide-ranging array of dance and musical performances, visual art installations, film, participatory processions, family events, and more, all by groundbreaking artists in NYC.

This year, festival artists look to nature, ritual, and metaphysical wonders to offer a hopeful perspective on the future of public space. Featured artists include:  Gregory Corbino, Rose Desiano, keyon gaskin, Beth Gill, Jonathan Gonzalez, Craig Harris, Amy Khoshbin & Jennifer Khoshbin, Heather Kravas, and Okwui Okpokwasili & Peter Born.

All events are free and open to all. Due to limited capacity, some events require advance registration. RSVPs are now open. If you see that an in-person event is sold out online, walk-ups are welcome to join the standby line.

Saturday, June 18, 10:30am-6pm: Schomburg Center Literary Festival 

The Schomburg Center Literary Festival, which celebrates authors of African descent and champions literacy and books across genres, returns in person and outdoors this year. Festival programming, built on the foundation created by Arturo Schomburg, encourages freedom of thought, the relentless pursuit of Black history, and the engagement of our imagination towards our collective freedom. 

Join in for discussions with acclaimed authors including Jason Reynolds, Roxane Gay, Akwaeke Emezi, and more, plus storytelling workshops with the Harlem Writers Guild and The Moth, a marketplace of Black literary artisans and small businesses, and the “Woke Baby!” children's festival curated by poet Mahogany L. Browne.

Left: Art by Jennifer Mack-Watkins

New York Public Library Schomburg Center, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY as well as outdoors on a stage at 135th Street between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevards Info

Looking Ahead:

Saturday, June 18, 11am-6pm: East Village Zine Fair
Printed Matter and 8-Ball Community present a one-day street fair featuring zine-makers, publishers, artists, and community organizations based in New York City.  Like last year, a full schedule of programming will be held throughout the day, including workshops and performances at neighborhood community gardens and a rooftop poetry reading at 38 St Marks Place. Below: Photo © EV Grieve

Four organizations focused on community building and mutual aid work in the Lower East Side and beyond will join the festivities: Abrons Arts Center, Bailfront, Corpus NYC, and Friend of a Friend. Read more about these organizations—and browse the entire exhibitor list—here.

St Marks Pl between 1st and 2nd Avenues, New York, NY