Saturday's parting shot

A scene from the annual Dias de Los Muertos at Campos Community Garden on 12th Street today... thanks to Stacie Joy for the photo...

Halloween in community gardens

There's a lot of Halloween happening today at La Plaza Cultural, the community garden on the SW corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street.

Events scheduled yesterday were postponed until today to make for one action-packed Sunday.

Via the EVG inbox...

• All day: Haunted Adventure Garden and Rat Race Maze, featuring mystic fortune telling, face painting, the world-famous Rat Race of Capitalism Maze, and thrilling coffin rides — bring the kids
• 1:30 p.m.: Spooky sounds with the brass-tastical Dead Ghoultastical Eek-chestra
• 4 p.m.: Spine-tingling tunes from Pinc Louds
• 6 p.m.: Macabre dance performance with Masse dancers
• 7:30 p.m.: "Ill Angels Only" horror film fest

 An EVG reader also shared this... happening today in the Garden of the Humanitarians at 270 E. Fourth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C...

Oh, Henry! A live performance of 'The Lion in Winter' at Green Oasis Community Garden

On Saturday night, Le Petit Versailles/Allied Productions, Inc. is presenting "a live outdoor theatrical performance" of James Goldman's original 1966 play, "A Lion in WInter." 

The show happens at Green Oasis Community Garden, 370 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D at 8 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday at 2.) Here's info via the EVG inbox:

An Even Queerer Rendition Than The Movie 

If you know the 1968 film directed by Anthony Harvey you know the over the top performances delivered by Katharine Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Anthony Hopkins and budding stud Timothy Dalton. Director and artist par excellence tops the dark comedy in performance, and by delivery of the original script as written, historically based while hilariously anachronous. 

Admission is by suggested donation of $20 with no one turned away for lack of funds. Proceeds will benefit the play's presenter Le Petit Versailles and the hosting Green Oasis Community Garden. 

The performance represents the first collaboration in cultural programming between the two community gardens and the last major presentation of LPV's 2020 season. The fundraising compliments Allied Productions' celebration of its 40th year in serving the public through its support of the development of experimental art and progressive culture.

Find more info, including cast and credits, at this link. Directed by Bizzy Barefoot.

Mozart in the garden

Among the activities today in neighborhood community gardens... dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's Opera in the Park concert series continues with excerpts from Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio."

This free event is happening this afternoon from 3-4:15 in the Campos Community Garden, 644 E. 12th St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Find more info here. 

Image via

Fall plant & zine fling on 1st Street

A lot of people seemed to enjoy/appreciate this event last time around (June 5!) ... so, the First Street Garden between First Avenue and Second Avenue is hosting another zine and plant swap today from 1-3.

A night at the opera via the LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival

The 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival continues through Sunday in neighborhood community gardens. 

Here's one of the more unique events taking place... tomorrow (Friday!) night, dell'Arte Opera Ensemble and LUNGS present "The Great Aria Throwdown" in the Campos Community Garden on East 12th Street just west of Avenue C.

Starting at 6:30 p.m., you'll find "an hour of music at operatic proportions featuring Bahati Barton, Perri di Christina, Diana Charlop and Jeffrey Mandelbaum with Pablo Zinger at the piano."

Find the full LUNGS schedule here.

The 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival is underway

In case you missed our post from Wednesday... the 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival is underway.

This year's festival includes activities at dozens of gardens, each featuring various performances, concerts, workshops and other related events.

Check the LUNGS website here for the day-by-day, garden-by-garden schedule. There's a lot of free live music on the calendar for today (Sunday!).

The 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival begins on Friday evening

There are 10 days of free events in the neighborhood's community gardens connected to the 10th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival.

This year's festival includes activities at dozens of gardens, each featuring various performances, concerts, workshops and other related events (dominos tournament!). 

The festivities begin with an opening-evening celebration at 6 at Green Oasis, 370 E. Eighth St. between Avenue C and D.

Check the LUNGS website here for the day-by-day, garden-by-garden schedule.

Albert's Garden celebrating 50 years on 2nd Street this Sunday

Albert's Garden is celebrating its 50th year coming up on Sunday... when you can stop by the space at 16-18 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery between noon and 5 p.m. for some music and refreshments...

And it's a chance to check out the variety of plants, flowers and ferns... not to mention a redbud tree and a small pond with several goldfish (no fishing please) and the bird mural by Belgian artist ROA.

Per the garden's website:

Help us celebrate fifty years of serving the community and welcoming strangers to our small miracle: a picturesque garden that grew from rubble. Sit on welcoming benches, stroll on meandering paths, enjoy the tall trees, rustic walls, and shrubbery, and delight, as many birds do, in this small spot of nature we all need and love.

And as Ramones fans likely know... East Village-based photographer Roberta Bayley shot the Ramones here for PUNK magazine... an iconic image used for their debut record in 1976.

Find more garden history here.

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Gardening in the East Village is 'a great way to meet your neighbors' — and other things

 “Two Gardeners,” a watercolor sketch of El Sol Brillante gardeners Patrick McDonald and Barbara Augsburger courtesy of Kaley Roshitsh

By Kaley Roshitsh

For many, a community garden is a place for healing, a sanctuary amongst concrete — and a lifeline.

This holds true, especially for the gardeners of El Sol Brillante (ESB). Meaning “a brilliant sun,” ESB is a 1,000 square-foot community garden on 12th Street between Avenue A and B. The 29-plot garden is complete with managed plots, common space, compost and worm bins, a tended beehive and ample space for community members to interact.

A once broken lot, the community banded together to raise the garden from ashes in 1977 — and the space couldn’t be more sorely needed in strange times.

“I was here through the blackouts, riots, 9/11, floods, Hurricane Sandy, and as horrific as some of those [events] were, the [COVID-19] pandemic was a new level because the city just seemed so empty — and it was soul-crushing,” said Patrick McDonald, a resident on the block and chef for 35 years, speaking on the impact of the latest event.

Despite the recent pandemic-induced surge in green spaces and outdoor park visits, many long-standing garden members can attribute their joining to a friendly neighbor.

McDonald first joined ESB in 2012 and received his plot the following year. He describes the influence of the late Ken Bond, who counts many friends among the current members, in joining the garden. Bond’s mother Florence, or “Flo,” was referred to as a “block historian” by many on the block and was “instrumental in starting the garden,” according to McDonald. Both Bond and his mother served as president of ESB.

“For me, it’s a little slice of heaven in the middle of the concrete jungle,” said McDonald on the importance of the garden. Describing his front-facing plot, he added: “I like its location. As you come into the garden, it’s one of the first ones you see. I always try to have something fun going on.”

Taking the right pathway tracing the edge of McDonald’s tended plot, on-lookers find pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes — the evidence of a chef (and gardener) at work.

A Place for Love, Healing — and Democracy

“It was such a great way to meet your neighbors,” chimed in Barbara Augsburger, a Swiss native who moved to New York in the 1980s (following a then-boyfriend who was a musician). She would join the garden in 1983 and meet her husband only five years later.

Music is a central theme. “There was a guy in the store [on the block] who used to play Latin music and I would be sitting on the stoop [listening],” described Augsburger nodding along, “and that’s how I met my husband.”

Like the roses twisting atop the lover’s arch between her and her husband’s neighboring plot, Augsburger finds unity at ESB. “I learned how to be in fusion with nature,” she shared. “I mean, I knew already because I hiked a lot in the Alps, and I was always in nature, but this made it even in a more intimate way.”

In Augsburger’s plot, there are fresh healing herbs like lavender or lemon verbena, as well as oregano and fragrant rose geraniums.

“I think that every block should have a garden and life would be — for mental health — so much better,” said Augsburger calling the garden her “lifeline” and a space for “healing,” which is fitting given her energy work.

The garden is also rightly “a place of democracy,” in the words of Augsburger, as no communal space can be free of heated discussions where plot politics, fresh harvests and lingering branches are concerned.

A Fresh Take

Austin Frankel joined the garden in winter 2017 to meet new people and soon rose the ranks from friendly neighbor to key holder to plot holder to influential board member.

“In my plot, I’m making a space for myself, and it’s very organic. What I’m developing is coming along from what I’ve set there, and what I’ve inherited, and that’s a very cathartic experience,” described Frankel.

Cucumbers and shishito peppers are the stars of Frankel’s first harvest. But as is true of East Village — one can expect the unexpected to sprout up. When clearing his plot, Frankel discovered of all things a red stiletto boot nestled amid the weeds. (The other shoe to the pair was recovered in the garden common space for those curious. A bent spade atop the garden fence gives reason to suspect midnight stiletto-clad climbers).

His plans are to make a planter from the found shoe and continue providing a fresh take to garden meetings.

The Arts, Alive

Greeting amblers on the block is the 100-foot long fence that was created in 1993 by artist Julie Dermansky using scrap metal and speaks to the artistic presence at ESB that is still kept strong by members like Alejandro “Kuki” Gomez, among others.

“All of a sudden, I decided to start helping and working with the garden and getting dirty. There’s something about touching the dirt, the sticks, the leaves,” said Gomez, drawing the inspiration back to his work as a graphic designer, artist (known by the neighborhood for his tape designs), and now, events director, where an amalgamation of creative talents come together.

He joined over five years ago after first seeking solace in the garden as a guest. Gomez’s mother — an avid gardener — inspired his passion.

On Aug. 25, Gomez helped put on a free jazz event in association with The Jazz Foundation of America and Ariana’s List as part of the City Parks Foundation’s 28th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. A strong turnout despite the heat, “Jazz in the Garden: with Willie Martinez and His Latin Jazz Collective,” drew newcomers and regulars in for a night of swirling sounds.

Along with summer jazz, Gomez organized a watercolor painting night in the garden. Like many in the garden, his tended plot takes on a distinctive flair, with Gomez’s shady corner plot taking on a heart shape among rectangles. Close to heart, “safety” is what ESB provides to Gomez.

Amid what he felt was an abandoned state of the city on the onset of the pandemic, Gomez reiterated that “this was heaven for us.”

-----

Kaley Roshitsh is the first-ever sustainable fashion journalist at WWD. Her work appears on U.N. Women USA NY, Her Campus Media and the independent magazine she founded called ThriftEd Mag. You can find her on Instagram ranting about her latest thrift finds or the importance of knowing your neighbors at @KaleyRoshitsh. 

The Spring Zine Fair is underway on St. Mark's Place, and in community gardens

The Spring Zine Fair is underway now on St Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... happening until 7 p.m. (Thanks to Steven for the photo!)

Printed Matter/St. Mark's and 8-Ball Community teamed up for this event.

Also! Don't sleep on the collaborative events at these neighborhood community gardens...   

Details on Open Garden Day NYC and Art Around the Hood tomorrow

Some local community gardens will be taking part tomorrow (Saturday!) in the fourth annual Open Garden Day via GreenThumb... activities include garden tours, arts and music, yoga, gardening workshops, etc. 

You can visit the NYC Parks website here for details. In addition, 20 local community gardens are participating in Art around the Hood. Details at the LUNGS website. 

Highlighting one event over at the First Street Garden between First Avenue and Second Avenue... where there'll be a zine and plant swap ...

Top photo from the 6th & B Garden

Saturday's parting shot

A moment from the LUNGS parade today on Avenue B in celebration of the neighborhood's community gardens... photo by Derek Berg...

A celebration of community gardens on Saturday

Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens (LUNGS) is hosting its annual Spring Awakening in honor of the neighborhood's community gardens tomorrow (Saturday).

Per the LUNGS website:

The parade will begin at noon at El Sol Brillante, 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, meander down Avenue C ... cross 6th Street and end up on Avenue B. 

Spring Awakening will feature a photo scavenger-treasure hunt, prizes, music, puppets, workshops, comedy and art.

Some of the individual community gardens will be hosting events throughout the afternoon. Check this link for details. 

There will also be events in the afternoon on Avenue B between Eighth Street and Ninth Street in conjunction with Loisaida Open Streets. (Yesterday, City Council made the Open Streets program permanent. More on this later.)

The artist who captured the sounds of East Village community gardens during the pandemic

Interview by Stacie Joy

Over the past year, Japanese artist Aki Onda has been visiting East Village community gardens and making field recordings for his project "Silence Prevails: East Village Community Gardens During the Pandemic." (Find the video here.)

Although now back in Japan, his project has recently gone live, and I was able to talk with him about his work, the inspiration behind the project and what’s next for him.

How did this project come about? Can you speak about its history? What made you choose the East Village for your project and what drew you to its community gardens?

I had an idea to do a project about the East Village community gardens for many years, although it took a long time, nearly two decades until I could work on it.

I started visiting NYC around the end of the 1990s and often stayed in the East Village. Back then, the area was home to artists and musicians. I had many friends and it was easy to hang out with them as well as sublet their apartment. I also loved watching avant-garde cinema at Anthology Film Archives, spent hundreds of hours there and met Jonas Mekas. 

His film "Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania," which I watched in Tokyo in 1996, had a tremendous impact on my life and art practice. So, it was a big deal for me to meet him. I would visit him at his office, and he would offer a drink to toast even if it was morning. Then, we would go to lunch at his usual Italian restaurant nearby, or Mars Bar.

Mekas organized two exhibitions of my photographs at the Courthouse Gallery in the basement. I donated a couple of large-size prints, and in return, he gave me a small print of his still image, which I still have. I met so many filmmakers while I spent my time at the AFA, and that helped me to absorb the Downtown culture. 

I found community gardens such as Albert’s Garden, Liz Christy Community Garden and 6 & B Garden around that time. Each had a very distinctive character and I sensed there was something to look into. My favorite was La Plaza Cultural, although the garden itself was rough around the edges and unpretentious, I found it a cheerful and festive space. 

Much later, I learned that the garden was founded by Carlos "Chino" Garcia and fellow local activists. Their associations with Buckminster Fuller and Gordon Matta-Clark, and the intersection between art and activism, was also inspiring.

My work, both sound- and visual-based, are often catalyzed by and structured around memories —personal, collective, historical. So, the community garden was the perfect subject, and slowly over the years, I kept visiting those gardens and learning historical backgrounds.  

Finally, I decided to embark on the project in 2019 and there was a strong twist. The original idea was to document the gardens by making field recordings, taking photos, and writing texts through the four seasons from spring 2020 to winter 2021. 

However, the pandemic swept the globe, and as of March 2020, New York was its epicenter and under full lockdown. GreenThumb made a decision to close all community gardens until further notice. Only members were allowed to enter, and my project ground to a halt. 

Nonetheless, I thought it could be interesting to document the gardens in these unprecedented times and began contacting individual gardens directly. In the end, I visited around 25 gardens in spring and summer 2020. Spending time in the gardens was somehow comforting. Those are sparsely populated outdoor spaces and there is low risk of catching the virus. 

And, if I look back to the past, those gardens started as "green oases" by local residents when the city was going through a severe financial crisis in the 1970s. This was the hardest hit area with many low-income residents, and buildings descended into ruin. In that traumatized neighborhood, there was a strong need to improve lives and find sources of hope. 

Somehow, in the midst of COVID-19 crisis, though it’s a different type of crisis, I saw a sort of cycle and thought it’s worth researching and how those garden spaces changed over the last half-century.

What was the most surprising thing that happened while you were recording?

When I was recording in Campos Community Garden, suddenly the wind blew, and the wind chimes hung from a tree, started making beautiful sounds and vibrations. It lasted until I pressed the stop button.

What were the reactions of others as you set up your equipment and recorded sound and images?

I use a handheld cassette recorder, only with a cheap attached microphone. It’s low-key and not like a high-end digital recorder with a fluffy expensive shotgun microphone attached to a long boom. The presence of my equipment is unobtrusive and people feel less uncomfortable. Taking photos is a bit different, and I usually ask them to get permission first as I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable.  

What’s next for you as an artist?

I'm preparing my solo exhibition titled "Letters from Dead Souls" at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) in summer 2021, and as well as a few other upcoming exhibitions.  

As for the community garden project, luckily, I developed good relationships with core members of the community garden movement during my research. It's a deep subject and there is a lot more to dig into. I'm planning to continue the research for the next several years and expand the project for another opportunity. Let's see what comes with it...    

Image of the artist by Makiko Onda, all other images courtesy Aki Onda. You can keep up with the artist here.

That Ginko tree in the Secret Garden on 4th Street and Avenue C

If you're interested in a last blast of fall foliage, then consider a walk by the Secret Garden on Fourth Street at Avenue C... where the Ginko there is looking specactular...

And if you are interested in seeing this... you may want to do it sooner rather than later: There's a gale warning for the area tomorrow.

Groups petition city officials to protect NYC's community gardens

On Nov. 18, the New York City Community Garden Coalition, environmental law organization Earthjustice, and 52 allied groups submitted "From the Ground Up: A Petition to Protect New York City’s Community Gardens," which urges New York City government agencies to provide greater legal protections to community gardens, including the several dozen in the East Village.  

Here's more about the campaign via the EVG inbox...

To preserve and protect community gardens, Petitioners are requesting that New York City agencies designate City-owned community gardens as Critical Environmental Areas (CEAs) under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Currently, there is only one CEA in New York City: Jamaica Bay in Queens.

CEA designation will help to ensure that projects and activities likely to affect community gardens are subject to consistent and rigorous environmental review that accounts for their exceptional characteristics and provides ample opportunities for public participation. CEA designation of community gardens represents a significant step toward recognizing and preserving community gardens as critical parts of the City's landscape.  

Equally important, by designating gardens as CEAs, the City would acknowledge community gardeners as stewards of sustainability and resilience and ensure that they have a meaningful — and necessary — voice in any future decision-making processes that could affect community gardens. 

The Petition makes the following three legal requests:

• First, City agencies with jurisdiction over 40 community gardens identified in the Petition designate those City-owned gardens as CEAs under SEQRA within six months following the submission of the Petition, or by May 18, 2021;

• Second, Within 12 months following the submission of the Petition, or by Nov. 18, 2021, the Department of Parks and Recreation's GreenThumb Program conduct an assessment of all remaining community gardens on City-owned land and confirm, in consultation with community gardeners, that these gardens meet the regulatory criteria for CEA designation; and

• Third, Within 12 months following the submission of the Petition, or by Nov. 18, 2021, City agencies designate as CEAs all gardens within their respective jurisdictions that meet the regulatory criteria for CEA designation, based on GreenThumb's assessment, in consultation and coordination with community gardeners.

Last year, community gardens on city-owned land were in danger of closing or relocating due to the ongoing dispute over the licensing agreement from the department's GreenThumb program.

Photo from the Sixth Street and Avenue B Community Garden

At the 9th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival

This last weekend saw two days of arts and events in participating East Village community gardens... as always, the annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival — an abbreviated and socially distant version compared to previous years — brought out the best in the neighborhood (art, music, creativity, community, etc.) 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these images from the weekend.

"Sounds of our Ancestors" HOWL Arts at La Plaza Cultural on Ninth Street and Avenue C ...

"The Contemplative Garden: Nature is Healing" at Le Petit Versailles on Second Street...

Penny Arcade reading from "Front Row Seat At The Apocalypse" at La Plaza Cultural ...Michelle Shocked at De Colores Community Yard & Cultural Center on Eighth Street...

Dance to the People in Tompkins Square Park...

   

 Kuki Gomez at El Sol Brillante on 12th Street ... Elizabeth Detjens Maucher in "From Microbes to Metropolis" outside Grace Exhibition Space on Avenue C...  Nora Balaban and some mbira music plus her drawings at La Plaza Cultural...

Samone Leona showcasing her art at La Plaza Cultural ...

Ian Dave Knife at Tompkins Square Park...

 

Live Music from VC, featuring musician/gardeners Victor Weiss and Carmine D’Intino at 6 & B Community Garden ...

Reminders: The 9th annual Lungs Harvest Arts Festival is this weekend

An abbreviated version of the annual Lungs Harvest Arts Festival is taking place this weekend in participating community gardens around the East Village.

Check out this link for the full list of performances, which includes a reading by Penny Arcade at La Plaza Cultural and music by Michelle Shocked at De Colores Community Yard & Cultural Garden.

And an overview via the EVG inbox...

It's 2020 and we are all stuck inside somewhere ...  This year's festival is dedicated expressing our situation through art ...  sharing the reality of what is going on in our lives

All the exhibits will take place behind the garden fences with the audiences on the sidewalks.

The audience will be moving, fluid. The art stationary. We want to foster our wild variety of sentiments through our art. We are all politically bent, given the times and election. Vote with your ART too. Let people know how you feel.

This as an Art exhibit and the gardens are the Green Museum.

It's perfect for touring audiences to visit and enjoy our community gardens.

Save the date: The 9th annual Lungs Harvest Arts Festival is Oct. 3-4

An abbreviated version of the annual Lungs Harvest Arts Festival is taking place on Oct. 3-4 in participating community gardens around the East Village.

Here are a few details via the EVG inbox...

It's 2020 and we are all stuck inside somewhere ...  This year's festival is dedicated expressing our situation through art ...  sharing the reality of what is going on in our lives

All the exhibits will take place behind the garden fences with the audiences on the sidewalks.

The audience will be moving, fluid. The art stationary. We want to foster our wild variety of sentiments through our art. We are all politically bent, given the times and election. Vote with your ART too. Let people know how you feel.

This as an Art exhibit and the gardens are the Green Museum.

It's perfect for touring audiences to visit and enjoy our community gardens.

More details will be on the Lungs website closer to the festival.