Wednesday March 6, 6-8 pm: Joan Jonas | Animal, Vegetable, Mineral at Drawing Center

Ahead of the full-on retrospective at MoMA, this retrospective of works on paper by Joan Jonas offers a denitive look at the integral place of drawing in the career of this pioneering artist. One  of the most signicant experimental voices in American art over the past five decades, Jonas used the medium of drawing as a recording device, an expression of the notion of process, and a way to bring imagery of the natural world into her performances and environments. 

Jonas’s drawings depict dogs and other mammals like horses and foxes, as well as birds, butteries, sh, snowakes, shells, rocks, leaves, and even rivulets of water. Over the years, the artist has also drawn herself, isolating individual body parts like her hands, face, and torso, creating atomized self-portraits that are as studied and carefully rendered as her lexicons of non-human animals. This voluminous drawing oeuvre, which constitutes the backbone of her video, performance, and sculpture practices, has never been surveyed.

Save the date: April 11 at 6:30pm: Joan Jonas in conversation with artist Adam Pendleton. Info

The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster Street, New York, NY Info 

Wednesday, March 6, 6-9 pm: Women Celebrate Women 2024 at PS109

Co-curated by New York-based mixed media artist Yvonne Lamar-Rogers and PS109 Programs Director Rolinda Ramos, the exhibition includes works by 60+ local female artists working in all disciplines to celebrate and honor Women’s History Month.”  Right: @arcadias111_haven, Queen Barbara the Beautiful (detail)

The public is invited to view the works at the beautiful El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, a previously abandoned public school building that was transformed into a community housing complex for artists. The circa-1899 landmark building offers beautiful space for the arts as well as important cultural programming in the East Harlem community. 
For more information about Women Celebrate Women and El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 programs, please go to Instagram @elbarriosartspace and @women_celebrate_women

Through March 31^st El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, 215 East 99^th Street, New York, NY 

Tuesday, March 5: Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art at The Met

This exhibition, featuring textiles by four distinguished modern practitioners—Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Lenore Tawney, and Olga de Amaral—alongside pieces by Andean artists from the first millennium BCE to the 16th century, explore the striking connections between artists of the ancient Andes and those of the 20th century. Above: Man’s tunic, Central Coast; 1000-1476 CE; 

Textiles in the ancient Andes—while bold and exceptional in design—were also fundamental to the exchange of information in the pre-Hispanic period, used to swiftly transmit social and political messages in a manner that overcame linguistic and geographic barriers.Artists of early European modernism and the American fiber arts movement sought to uplift and recenter the medium—commonly relegated to the realm of “women's work.” Left: Annie Albers, Pasture, 1958

Each of the four modern artists featured in the exhibition developed innovative approaches to an ancient medium through deep study of Andean techniques. Within this legacy, they responded to the demands and challenges of the modern industrial society while maintaining a firm commitment to abstraction as the language of modernity. Shown together in this exhibition, these ancient and modern weavings reposition the place of textiles in global art history. Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art will be accompanied by an issue of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Info

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

Saturday, March 9, 1-3pm: Manny Vega | Open Studio Art Making at MCNY

Manny Vega, a masterful visual storyteller, skillfully blends the richness of diverse homelands in his works, whether mosaics, watercolors, or drawings. These works, presented in the current exhibition Byzantine Bembé , delve deep into the heart of New York's urban diasporas, exploring the depths of the human spirit and consciousness. His creative journey spans his ancestral homeland of Puerto Rico, his spiritual connection to Brazil, and his enduring bond with El Barrio (East Harlem), the Museum's very own neighborhood, where his public artworks adorn numerous spaces. Rooted in a unique understanding of the diaspora experience, Vega's worldview is a vivid, rhythmic, passionately spiritual, and yet accessible journey. 

In Vega's own words, "My art is a finely honed visual language crafted over years of creative exploration and a personal odyssey through the diverse tapestry of New York City. The lives of my neighbors and the vibrant city itself are an ever-evolving theater, depicting our shared joys, sorrows, challenges, and universal truths. This awe-inspiring reality fuels my artistic endeavors, expressed through drawings, paintings, murals, and mosaics, creating my own modern-day Renaissance."  

Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103^rd Street, New York, NY Info

Saturday, March 9, 6-9 pm: It’s Alright at Hey There Projects

From our friends Mark Todd and Aaron Smith in Joshua Tree: HeyThere Projects presents three artists, Wyatt Hersey, Heidi Anderson, and Michelle Valigura, who's work reflects a reverence for the natural world with whimsy and modern clarity. Each unique piece brims with artisanal skill and design integrity. Info
In addition to the exhibitions, Hey There now offers monthly artist workshops on the first Thursday in the gallery, from 5 to 7pm. Info

Hey There Projects, 61675 Twentynine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree, CA 

Continuing: Guadalupe Maravilla | Si no sanas hoy, sanarás mañana, at PPOW

The title of the exhibition translates to “If you don’t heal today, you will heal tomorrow” and is derived from a popular song “Sana Sana Colita de Rana” that adults in Latin America sing to children when they are experiencing pain, an injury, or need emotional care. In a series of new Retablos, a signature form of elaborate relief assemblages that feature devotional paintings, Maravilla reveals untold personal childhood stories of perseverance and humanity in the face of war and atrocity in El Salvador.

Maravilla’s autobiographical work tells the story of his unaccompanied, undocumented migration to the United States at the age of eight. Across all media, Maravilla explores how the systemic abuse migrants experience physically manifests in the body; his own battle with colon cancer is linked to generational trauma and the impact of his own migration. Maravilla discovered sound therapy during his radiation treatments and subsequently became a healer himself. His celebrated series of large-scale sculptures, titled Disease Throwers, are artworks which the artist activates around the world in healing ceremonies.

Save the date: Sound bath ceremonies will take place in the gallery from 6:30 – 8:00pm on March 6, 7, 8, and 12. During regular hours, the exhibition will include immersive audio recordings of healing ceremonies offered by the artist and his collaborators.  Info

PPOW, 390 Broadway, FL 2, New York, NY Info