On Sunday, September 8th, the celebration of Santuario del Señor de los Milagros was held at Ss. Cyril and Methodius PNCC Parish in Perth Amboy, NJ.
There will be a Summer Concert “A Tribute to the American Songbook” at St. Valentine’s Parish, 127 King Street, Northampton, MA on Sunday, August 25th at 3pm. The concert will consist of solos, duos, trios and a quartet of some of our favorite songs including “Over the Rainbow”, “I Got Rhythm”, “Sleepin Bee”, “Singing in the Rain” and many more.
The Mel Brooks show features Mr. Brooks and his wife Anne Bancroft performing Sweet Georgia Brown in Polish. They had performed this piece in their film “To Be or Not to Be,” a 1983 remake of the 1942 Jack Benny comedy by the same name. The story centers on a Polish theatrical company that goes underground and takes on Nazi Germany during World War II.
This performance took place in the early 1980’s after marshall law was declared in Poland to suppress the Solidarity free Labor Union movement.
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The Cosmopolitan Review, A Transatlantic Review of Things Polish, in English has issued its Summer 2013 edition jam packed with books, art, poetry, events, and excellent information.
CR welcomes summer, as does Poland. And nowhere is the summer solstice more beautifully welcomed than in Poland, with the ancient festival of Wianki (wreaths), when barefoot girls in white dresses bring floral wreaths to a river’s edge, cast them in the water, and leave them to fate’s caprice.
The wianki, elaborate works of art involving branches, flowers and candles, float downriver to the delight of children and adults alike. More wreaths are fashioned into floral crowns embellished with figures of birds, butterflies and anything else the artistic imagination can come up with. Extravagance has no limits on this day; the hats of Ascot pale by comparison perhaps because wianki – as opposed to hats – is not a commercial enterprise. One can only hope that this festival will forever stay as it is, that Hallmark will never create Wianki greeting cards, and shopping malls will never have Wianki Day Specials. Though purveyors of food, drink and music are welcome. And we’ve just learned that there is a Wianki fest in Washington, D.C. Good to know in case you don’t make it to Kraków next year.
Luckily, “Poland” is wherever Polish people are, as is stated so eloquently in Hanka Ordonówna’s wonderful book about children when their Poland was just “two rooms.” For thousands of us, Poland has been, at one time or another, in India, Africa, New Zealand, Mexico and beyond.
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In this issue, we highlight India, mainly because of the marvelous book by Indian author Anuradha Bhattacharjee, The Second Homeland: Polish Refugees in India. That Polish landscape included elephants, exotic fruit, generous Maharajas and a superb cast of characters ranging from cabaret stars to theosophists.
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Books, as always. Michał Kasprzak weighs in on Marci Shore’s The Taste of Ashes; there’s a review of Magda Romanska’s new anthology of Bogusław Schaeffer’s works. And two writers have a problem with Agata Tuszyńska’s Vera Gran.
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On the light side, an Englishman’s adventures – misadventures? – begin with his future bride’s father saying “No.” He also notes that while English weddings are heavy on speeches, Polish weddings emphasize food and dancing. He indulges in the eternal rivalry between Kraków and Warsaw as well, so to cool that, CR puts the spotlight on enchanting Zamość.
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And now to food! As noted in The Guardian: No processed cheeses, no tinned fish, no just-add-water packets… think Provence, with beetroot. Which brings us to two new Polish cookbooks, Polish Classic Desserts and From a Polish Country Kitchen, both reviewed in this issue.
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Finally, as noted above, Poland is wherever Polish people are and for several summers they were in Canmore, Alberta, at Poland in the Rockies. There were fond hopes that a new cycle of this lively symposium would begin again in 2014 but fate decided otherwise. In this issue, CR bids a formal Farewell to Poland in the Rockies.
With the flow of ideas and images crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean becoming a crucial component of contemporary art on the West Coast, the 2013 California-Pacific Triennial at the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) now offers an international dialogue, highlighting artwork by 32 artists from 15 countries. The presentation includes three off-site exhibitions giving greater access to individuals interested in this international survey. The California-Pacific Triennial is being curated by Dan Cameron of OCMA.
On Thursday, June 27th, from 7-9pm the OCMA will hold the 2013 California-Pacific Triennial, Artists Panel at the Yost Theater, Santa Ana. The evening will provide an early glimpse of the Triennial with a panel discussion in Spanish, moderated by MoCA Curator Alma Ruiz featuring artists from Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Colombia. Artists scheduled to participate include: Darío Escobar, Adriana Salazar, Adán Vallecillo, Sebastián Preece, Yoshua Okón, Hugo Crosthwaite.
On Sunday, June 30th, from 11am-5pm the OCMA will host the 2013 California-Pacific Triennial, Public Opening at the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach.
The Gallery is closed Mondays and holidays. Hours are Tuesdays – Sundays 11.00 am – 4.00 pm. Extended hours: Friday & Saturday 11.00am – 7.00 pm. The first Saturday of the month galleries are open until 10.00 pm.
Grand Central Art Center programs are made possible with the generous support provided by: Metabolic Studio, the Efroymson Family Fund, the William Gillespie Foundation, the Fainbarg-Chase Families, an anonymous donor, The Yost Theatre, and Community Collaborative Partners.
Off-Site Exhibitions
Grand Central Art Center
The Grand Central Art Center (GCAC) a unit of Cal State University Fullerton’s College of the Arts in Santa Ana is hosting Colombian artist Adriana Salazar for a two-month studio residency, early May through June. During her residency, Salazar is reinterpreting a preexisting work for the California-Pacific Triennial, as well as developing a new site-specific sculptural installation for the main gallery at GCAC.
Coastline Art Gallery
Coastline Art Gallery in Newport Beach will present a three-person exhibition including Triennial artists Brice Bischoff and Dario Escobar, along with artist Stella Lai from June 30 – September 22. The exhibition includes a new floor-based sculptural work by Escobar that relates to the suspended mobile piece that he has created for OCMA. More details here.
The Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University
York Chang’s and Mitchell Syrop’s two person exhibition at the Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University presents the artists interest in the fabrication of supposed truths through the authority of text and context from June 30 – September 14. The pairing of their different methods of investigation, provides exciting, new constellations and timbres of their respective work, while showing the continuation of conceptual approaches in L.A.’s most recent art history.
Over 30 years ago the United States Information Agency (USIA) worked with private partners to produce a TV film, “Let Poland Be Poland” to show support for the Solidarity movement and the Polish people following the imposition of martial law. The film features Frank Sinatra singing the Polish folk song “Wolne Serce” in Polish and English as well as Max von Sydow, Romuald Spasowski, Ronald Reagan, Tip O’Neill, Bob Hope, John Fraser, Glenda Jackson, Zdzislaw Rurarz, Charlton Heston and Orson Welles echoing the title, “Let Poland be Poland.”
The New York Folklore Society, Building Cultural Bridges, The American Folklore Society, and New York State Council on the Arts presents the Art of Community Workshop: Building and Arts and Culture Support Network for Newcomer Artists in New York State workshop on Friday, May 17th from 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the Utica Public Library, one block east of the Ithaca Commons at 401 E. State/MLK Jr. Street, 303 Genesee Street, Utica, NY 13501. You are invited to attend this workshop that will explore merging the arts with social services to better serve these newcomer communities and to enliven our community at large.
Upstate New York has become home to an ever-expanding community of refugees and immigrants from all over the world. Layering upon an already rich infrastructure of arts organizations, there is a great potential for an increasingly varied cultural landscape. Yet many of the artists from these communities struggle to maintain their expressive and cultural heritage traditions in the face of overwhelming and immediate needs as they adapt to their new environment.
Anybody concerned with the well-being of immigrant/refugee communities is welcome to attend, including but not limited to: refugee or immigrant artists, staff from cultural and community-based organizations and local art organizations, educators, funders, folklorists, staff from shops and galleries that market immigrant/refugee arts, refugee and immigrant service providers, and library staff.
The day-long workshop will present both national and local models of successful arts and social service collaborations which serve the focus communities. Also, newcomer artists will perform, demonstrate and talk about the importance of maintaining their cultural traditions in their new homeland. Drawing on personal experience and ideas generated by the presentations, participants will work together to explore possibilities for collaboration and to establish a local network for resource sharing. Spaces will be made available for participants to share information about their art forms or programs through printed materials. Interpretation services will be available.
I encourage everyone, and especially PNCC members, to take the Piast Institute’s 2013 Polish American Survey. The survey thankfully includes a question on the religious affiliation of Polish-American and includes the Polish National Catholic Church as a choice among many others. Our inclusion as PNCC members in the Polish-American demographic is important.
This survey follows up on two earlier national studies in 2009 and 2010 that the Institute did of 900 and 1,400 Polish Americans respectively. The new study probes some of the key social, political and economic questions asked on the earlier studies and adds a few additional issues that have aroused public concern since. It also probes the attitudes of Polish Americans on matters of concern to the community and their ideas about its future.
The study is being conducted as a “rolling survey” over a span of three months. Polish Americans and Poles living in America are encouraged to participate. Dominik Stecula, a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia who coauthored the original study urged as wide a participation as possible to give the study a broad statistical sample for analysis. “I hope all Polish Americans who have a concern about our community take the time to respond to the survey,” he said. Mr. Stecula noted that “The original study demonstrated to us that Polonia is a unique community which shows distinctive opinions and attitudes on public and community issues. We need broad national participation to allow us to confirm our earlier findings and to deepen our analysis. These will be invaluable as we seek to create Polonia anew in the 21st century.” The survey, he pointed out, which can be completed in 25 to 60 minutes, can be accessed here (NOTE: the survey did not really take that long).
The 2010 study published as Polish Americans Today by the Piast Institute has gone through three printings. Its findings have been a key item of discussion at several national conferences. The chancery of the President of Poland ordered copies for its staff as have several Polish Ministries as well as the offices of the Marshalls of the Sejm and Senate. “The Piast Institute undertook the original study because we found a dearth of information about the Polish American Community as major Research Centers such as NORC at the University of Chicago and the national election exit polls have stopped asking about European American ethnic groups.” Says Dr. Radzilowski. “Poles and other European groups were lumped into a new default category called “White” which makes no historical, cultural or demographic sense. It is a new version of the melting pot.”
The new study will be published by E. Mellen Press, a major Social Science and Humanities publisher.
Thank you for your participation. You can access the survey HERE.
The New York Folklore Society’s Annual Conference will be held at ArtsWestchester, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY on Saturday, March 2nd. The day will begin at 11 a.m. with a preview of the Society’s newly designed website followed by the Society’s annual meeting. An optional lunch will be available (advanced reservations and a small fee required). Speakers and panel discussions begin at 1 p.m. on the theme Occupational Folklore: A conference to accompany the exhibit From Shore to Shore: Boat Builders and Boat Yards of Westchester and Long Island.
Admission is $15, $10 for NYFS Members, Students are Free. Attendees may register and RSVP online. More information on the event is available by calling (518) 346-7008.
Event Sponsors include ArtsWestchester, Long Island Traditions, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
From the Atlantic Cities: Buffalo Residents Team Up to Buy Old Train Station a $3,000 Gift
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, one historic building might be getting a piece of its old self back as a gift from locals.
After spotting a $9,000 light fixture that once belonged to the Buffalo Central Terminal, neighborhood booster Christopher Byrd helped organize an online fundraiser to bring it back to its original home. This weekend, the effort reached its goal. “After I posted a link to it on Facebook, a lot of readers said they’d chip in $100 or $10 so I emailed them and said ‘let’s try to do this then,'” Byrd says.
Byrd heads Broadway-Fillmore Alive, an organization that promotes Central Terminal’s surrounding neighborhood. The current owner of the light fixture, Robert Navarro of Toronto’s Navarro Gallery put the item on hold until December 24, willing to part with it for $3,000 under the condition that it’s reinstalled inside the Terminal. “I was reached by multiple volunteers and interested parties from the Buffalo area by email. They arrived all at once,” says Navarro, adding, “I always admired Buffalo for its architecture.”
The train station served its last passengers in 1979 and experienced a rapid decline under multiple owners until the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation took control in 1997. Much of its interior was either sold off or stripped away in the 1980s with baggage carts, clocks, signage, railings and lighting fixtures finding new homes around the world. Fans of the Terminal continue to find the station’s decorations elsewhere, from eBay listings to antique stores, art museums or even Hong Kong restaurants.
The CTRC, while known for its efforts to restore the building, have never had much money to work with, depending mostly on preservation grants and memberships. “This effort from BFA allows us to concentrate on funds for stability and remediation,” says Marilyn Rodgers, executive director of the CTRC. Rodgers and the rest of the CTRC board is currently focused on repairing the building’s roof and the 15-story tower that makes it one of the city’s most identifiable symbols.
Bigger fundraising efforts have taken place for former pieces of the building before, most notably the $25,000 purchase of the original clock that now stands in the terminal’s main hall again after it was spotted on eBay in 2004.
While Central Terminal has retained some of its original decorations since its new ownership, you’ll still find its parts scattered through unexpected places. According to the CTRC’s website: The clock was found for sale in Chicago. Mailboxes from inside the building are currently in the The Wolfsonian-Florida International University Museum in Miami, Florida. A number of light fixtures are now in the Cafe Deco restaurant chain in Hong Kong. Our lights have also appeared in the movies The Hardway, For Love or Money, and Bullets Over Broadway.