The official Norte Maar schedule for Bushwick Open Studios 2012:

Friday, June 1 from 6-8pm: Opening Reception

Welcome to your New Statement: the complete collages of Oliver Ralli is an exhibition celebrating the paper and film collages of Oliver Ralli created in affiliation with his Brooklyn-based band Pass Kontrol. Following the opening join Norte Maar for a serious Pass Kontrol concert / record release / after party at Tandem (236 Troutman Street btwn Knickerbocker + Wilson / $Free)

Saturday, June 2 from 11am-2pm: Maps-N-Mimosas

Start your BOS weekend off right with a map and a cocktail! Norte Maar is please to host once again this signature kick-off event. Map-N-Mimosas will be held at Norte Maar (83 Wyckoff Avenue at Suydam / $Free)

Saturday, June 2 from 7-9pm: Cocktail reception for Bushwick Basel

Join us at the studio of Jules de Balincourt as Norte Maar participates in the first ever Bushwick Art Fair: Bushwick Basel. Other participating art spaces include English Kills, Parallel Space, Regina Rex, Valentine, (108 Starr Street, btwn Knickerbocker + Wilson Ave)

“Other studio-dense districts like Long Island City, Gowanus, Red Hook and Sunset Park can’t compete with the spectacular quantity and quality of the art being produced in converted warehouses beyond East Williamsburg. Nor does any other neighborhood have a group quite like Arts in Bushwick to get everyone coordinated for a massive one-weekend art party.” -L Magazine

Our monthly kids art program, Authors and Artists, returned for it’s May Edition at the Bushwick Library. We talked about ideas of color and pattern and read Elmer and Rose, by David McKee. The book celebrates the uniqueness of each individual as Elmer the Elephant meets a new girl elephant — who happens to be pink! These ideas of uniqueness were discussed and how this may be reflected in our own lives as we meet people of different color and uniqueness.

The children then translated these ideas into the creation of colorful and uniquely patterned pinwheels!

It is hard to believe that Norte Maar’s original ballet The Brodmann Areas has finished its final run at the Center For Performance Research. With a cross-genre, multi-media collaborative approach to developing the original ballet – and its accompanying visual and audio components – the countdown to opening was highlighted in the advance press:

Bushwick Daily featured a preview that included a conversation with choreographer Julia Gleich, which can be found here. Joined by director Jason Andrew, as well as the Brodmann‘s crew of dancers, Gleich also spoke with WNYU’s CityWide arts and culture program. CityWide stopped by during the last day of rehearsal to get the details on what host Lucas Green calls “a particularly visceral collaborative product.” For audio, please click here.

Norte Maar thanks all who attended, and appreciates the overwhelmingly positive reviews of the project. As ARTINFO‘s Benjamin Sutton commented after attending opening night, “the resulting brain (and eye) candy forms a wildly varied but consistently nourishing whole that manages to integrate contemporary ballet, classical and modern (and postmodern) music, visual and performing art wonderfully.”

Critic James Panero of The New Criterion also found plenty to ponder in this brainy performance. His review of Brodmann Areas in the May Issue of the publication offers a comparison with last years ballet:

“With visual artists, sound artists, and dancers all coming together, last year was something of a celebratory free-for-all, a sprawling jam session with one guitar hero after the next compounding the awesomeness until your thoughts turned to the line at the Porta-John. “Brodmann,” in contrast, took on the subject of cognition and didn’t dance around the big thoughts. Tight, far more spare than a year before, the performance brought the dance up front while still collaborating with Bushwick artists such as Paul D’Agostino, who created rapid projections out of his triptych cardboard collages. This time Ryan Anthony Francis, as musical director, also arranged a score to link the various parts into a coherent theme.”

Panero ends with a nod to the collaboration between director/choreographer Julia Gleich and neural scientist Denis Pelli on peripheral vision. Panero’s complete review can be found here. For Panero’s review from last year’s production,  In the Use of Others for the Change click here.

The Brodmann Areas‘ complete program, including more information about the artists and performers involved, can be found here.

‘Punk Poet‘ and critic Jerome Sala joined us on the final day of Tamara Gonzales’ show for a reading of his selected works. It was exciting to spend an afternoon listening to the curious and matter-of-fact prose written by a man Vincent Katz called the “first heavyweight champion of poetry.”

Sala read to a packed gallery. And  we had the pleasure of hearing him read a few selected verses from the book designed and published by Norte Maar specifically to accompany the exhibition which featured details of Gonzales’ paintings juxtaposed with Sala’s texts.

Jermone Sala has a terrific blog and you can also follow him on twitter @JeromeSala

Watch Sala read his poem ‘Urban Warrior”:

Authors and Artists celebrates Cinco de Mayo!

For our April installment of Authors and Artists, we made brightly colored Dahlia flowers-Mexico’s National flower in celebration of Cinco de Mayo (the holiday commemorating the triumph of a small Mexican army over French forces in the 1862 battle at Puebla).

After Norte Maar’s Director, Jason Andrew, read a short story illustrating the vibrant and festive history and traditions surrounding Cinco de Mayo, artist and project assistant Andrew Szobody lead an instructional workshop on the making of the Dahlia flower out of folded and cut crepe paper. We discovered that the Dahlia Flower is used to decorate parade floats and dances and now we have our own decorating our own homes!

Authors and Artists is a free monthly program that invites local professional artists, musicians, dancers, craft makers, architects, etc, to teach and explore books and the arts with the children and families in our neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn. Authors and Artists is presented in collaboration with the Bushwick Library and is sponsored in part by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC).

Artist Andrew Szobody demonstrates the making of the Dahlia Flowers- Mexico's National Flower.

The Brodmann Areas, a photo by EJ Hauser

The painter EJ Hauser, with camera in hand, attended a performance of Norte Maar’s The Brodmann Areas on April 14, 2012. We were excited to see how one of the most exciting painters working today would capture the dance in photographs. Here’s a few of our favorites! (all photos: ©2012 EJ Hauser)

EJ Hauser is a Brooklyn based painter known for her abstract and text-based work. Recently, portraits of Walt Whitman and Paul Thek made an appearance into her oeuvre. This year her work has been seen in Special Blend at the Journal Gallery and at the VIP Art Fair 2.0 with James Fuentes Gallery. EJ blogs on art and artists and you can follow her @ SUPERDIGIT.

Crowding (featuring collaboration with Denis Pelli and danced by Jace Coronado)

∏ (3.14159…) (danced by Michelle Buckley)

Hypnosis (danced by Michelle Buckley + Abbey Roesner)

 

Sub/Conscious (danced by Jace Coronado + Dylan Crossman)

Motivi esteriori e cosi via (collaboration with Paul D’Agostino, danced by Michelle Buckley + Dylan Crossman)

Multi-Tasking (text and performance by Lawrence Swan with full cast and Ida Josephsson)

Part II: accelerate. mitigation. toil. blizzard (video projection and sound by Audra Wolowiec + Margo Wolowiec)

The Emotion Experiment (the duets)

Grey / White Matter (danced by Jace Coronado + Morgan McEwen)

 

Folium (danced by Jace Coronado)

Homunculus / Spatial Neglect (danced by Morgan McEwen + Abbey Roesner)

Smell / Orange (performed by Ida Josephsson)

Postlude

 

]]> http://nortemaar.org/2012/04/painter-ej-hauser-photographs-dance/feed/ 2 http://nortemaar.org/2012/04/a-letter-to-tamara-gonzales/ http://nortemaar.org/2012/04/a-letter-to-tamara-gonzales/#comments Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:10:01 +0000 hdaly8 http://nortemaar.org/?p=2164

This month The Brooklyn Rail invited Raphael Rubinstein as guest editor, in turn, he invited critics to submit their reviews in letter form. Rubinstein explains:

“We know that some of the most memorable writings on art have taken the form of letters, including, to name a few examples, Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo, Rainer Maria Rilke’s Cézanne-inspired missives to Clara Westhoff, and the letters Samuel Beckett sent to Georges Duthuit in the late 1940s about the paintings of Bram van Velde…The theme for this edition of ARTSEEN is, thus, not a theme but a form: the letter—a letter addressed perhaps to an artist, living or dead, but, just as plausibly, to anyone else. The occasion of the letter can be an exhibition you have just seen, or maybe the fact that there is something you have always wanted to say to someone about some work of art. Write not for any general reader but to a specific addressee, and, with luck, your letter will arrive at its destination.”

Sharon Butler, the artist and blogger behind Two Coats of Paint, visited Norte Maar to see the newest series of paintings by artist Tamara Gonzales. In her ‘review/letter’ for The Brooklyn Rail’s ARTSEEN Butler writes:

“[Tamara] I’ve seen your work around for a while—in group shows at Janet Kurnatowski and the Dependent Art Fair—and most recently took in your solo show at Norte Maar in Bushwick. As poet Elizabeth Bishop suggested in a letter to James Merrill after reading his 1954 book, Short Stories, perhaps rather than offering any kind of criticism, I should simply say thank you.

Traditionally made by women, lace has been embedded within stories of politics and trade as intricate patterns have passed from one culture to another. And, of course, in terms of art historical precedent, painters like Peter Paul Rubens, Judith Leyster, Francisco de Goya, and Diego Velázquez all delighted in rendering delicate depictions of exquisite lace. Combining lace imagery with spray paint is brilliant feminine machismo—so amusingly facho!

[...] Tamara, your new paintings are glorious—literally, in that they seem to depict a magnificent, ecstatic glory. They vividly reflect the warmth and fullness that has grown in the Bushwick art community over the last few years.”

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE =>

TAMARA GONZALES : Untitled is on view at Norte Maar through April 29th. Copies of TAMARA GONZALES: UNTITLED, the limited edition artist book that accompanies the show, are still available for purchase.

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Board President Julia K Gleich addresses supporters of Norte Maar hosted at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Chelsea
photo: Benjamin Sutton

On Monday, April 2, Norte Maar held its first public benefit event at the Mitchell-Innes & Nash. The evening celebrated eight years of Norte Maar’s unique programming and collaborative mission. The night also honored Julie Martin of E.A.T. who was introduced by noted curator Barbara London.

Curator extraordinaire Barbara London (right) introduces our evening’s honoree Julie Martin (left)
photo: Kerosene Rose

“Long before the founding of Norte Maar, myself and the choreographer Julia K Gleich, searched to define the many various artistic projects we partnered to program and present,” explained Norte Maar’s director Jason Andrew in his opening remarks, “Collaboration was always at its core. Applying equal weight to the visual, literary and performing arts, we set out to start an organization that would build community, foster artistic expression and raise the imaginative energy in us all. Now, eight years since our beginning, our commitment to the spontaneous, our concentration on the unique, and our avoidance of the ordinary has never wavered.”

The benefit included pre + post music by DJ JoJo, performances by Andrew J Nemr + CPD Plus with Gordon Au on the horn, David Tudor’s electronic environment masterpiece Rainforest I (1968) performed by Composers Inside Electronics, and a preview of Norte Maar’s upcoming ballet The Brodmann Areas danced by Dylan Crossman, Jace Coronado, Morgan McEwen, and Abbey Roesner. The Brodmann Areas opens April 12. Tickets available here.

Tap dancer Andrew J Nemr performs with Gordon Au
photo: Kerosene Rose

Composers Inside Electronics play Tudor’s Rainforest I (1968)
photo: Kerosene Rose

Dancer Dylan Crossman (formerly of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company) performs a scene from the upcoming ballet
photo: Kerosene Rose

“The crowd couldn’t help laughing when the final dancer, Dylan Crossman, raced into the main gallery space filled with [Catherine] Opie’s photographs wearing football pants and a very short tank-top with the American flag printed across its chest,” wrote ARTINFO‘s Benjamin Sutton.

“The evening was simply lovely,” wrote Katarina Hybenova of Bushwick Daily, accompanied by some great photos of the evening.

Norte Maar would like to thank all those who contributed their time and talents to make this benefit such a success. We are also very gratefully to all who showed their extraordinary support by donating and contributing to our organization. A special thanks goes out to Lucy Mitchell-Innes and David Nash, Jay Gorney, Lucy Dew, Robert Grossman, and the entire staff at Mitchell-Innes & Nash.

We raised $7,900! Which will go to support our children’s literacy and art collaboration with Bushwick Library, the collaborative ballet, our various exhibitions, and our Cage Transmitted program.

“If you like what you’ve seen tonight please tell your friends,” Jason Andrew said in his closing remarks,”It’s not only money that is critical to what we do, it’s people.”

To see more images from the evening’s festivities, please visit our Facebook page here.

Norte Maar would like to thank the following for their special contributions and donations:

Board of Directors:
Julia Gleich, Board President
Jason Andrew, Director
Trevor Carlson
Jessica Duffet
Veken Gueyikian
Maggie Waterhouse

Donation of Services:
Mitchell-Innes & Nash
DJ Jojo
Andrew J Nemr + CPD plus
Composers inside Electronics
Gleich Dances
Pernod Absinthe
Bodega Wine Bar
Vinos en Wyckoff

Project Assistants:
Hannah Daly
Lauren Denitzio
Ida Josephsson
Andrew Szobody

Volunteers:
Ryan Michael Ford
Ben Godward
Alice McKenzie

]]> http://nortemaar.org/2012/04/norte-maars-first-benefit-a-success/feed/ 0 http://nortemaar.org/2012/04/countdown-to-the-brodmann-areas-begins/ http://nortemaar.org/2012/04/countdown-to-the-brodmann-areas-begins/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:19:18 +0000 hdaly8 http://nortemaar.org/?p=2174

With only a week until opening night, people are already talking about Norte Maar’s original ballet The Brodmann Areas.  “You can’t go wrong with so many brilliant artists working together,” says our director Jason Andrew, as quoted by reporter Aaron Short in his preview for The Brooklyn Paper. 

The Brodmann Areas, choreographed by our president Julia Gleich, thinks conceptually the gaps and synapses that define the 52 areas designating the regions of the cerebral cortex of the brain. Conjuring a cross-disciplinary vision as Norte Maar continually pursues, Brodmann combines the work of not only a team of dancers, but the visual artsits on set and costumes design. In his piece for The L Magazine, “This Is Your Brain on Dance,” Paul D’Agostino asks, “sounds like a mindful mind-full, no?”

The Brodmann Areas runs April 12 through 15, at the Center for Performance Research, 361 Manhattan Avenue 11211. TICKETS still available.

]]> http://nortemaar.org/2012/04/countdown-to-the-brodmann-areas-begins/feed/ 0 http://nortemaar.org/2012/03/new-collaborative-ballet-the-brodmann-areas/ http://nortemaar.org/2012/03/new-collaborative-ballet-the-brodmann-areas/#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:05:26 +0000 hdaly8 http://nortemaar.org/?p=2119

Norte Maar is thrilled to announce our spring ballet, a new collaborative project entitle The Brodmann Areas, choreographed by our president Julia K. Gleich. With the help of artists Paul D’Agostino, Audra Wolowiec, and Margo Wolowiec, the work presents a movement based exploration of dives the gaps and synapses that define the 52 areas designating the regions of the cerebral cortex of the brain. For the evenings of April 12, 13 and 14, as well as the afternoon of April 15, Norte Maar will take over the Center for Performance Research. 

A portion of Brodmann will premiere at this Monday at Norte Maar’s first ever benefit event, hosted by Mitchell-Innes & Nash. In the following weeks, the team of dancers developing this new ballet will on continue to work towards the April premiere. Read more=>

PURCHASE TICKETS

 

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