Events Calendar

Folk art has flourished in the heart of New York City since the eighteenth century, contrary to popular belief that it was a rural genre that reflected local tastes, traditions, and needs. In fact, many of the objects that have been associated with the heartland were manufactured and used in New York City by artists and artisans who, in the tradition of self-taught artists around the world, learned their skills by joining family businesses, apprenticing to masters, or by teaching themselves the expertise needed to produce those pieces that we now consider among the core expressions of American folk art. Around 100 works of art by self-taught artists tell the story about New York City as the center of America’s financial and commercial world from two perspectives simultaneously: “The Art of Business” portrays the people and places that were part of the city’s thrumming commercial life, and “The Business of Art” highlights the diverse mediums and formats used by the artists, artisans, and manufacturers. The exhibition draws on the collections of a number of New York City museums, including the American Folk Art Museum, The New-York Historical Society, and historical societies and museums in all five boroughs, as well as private collections. Curator: Elizabeth V. Warren

The world teetered on the fulcrum of the year 2000. In the naïve glow of the early Internet, promises of the future were dreamt up, drawn out, and wildly aestheticized. Buoyant and iridescent, virtual and galactic, a new visual reality infiltrated the era, making the future tangible. It was adolescents who absorbed this imagery. In their bedrooms after school they dialed up and logged on, curiously navigating the digital frontier. In the twenty years since, those youthful explorations have taken an inward, self-prioritizing turn. Today, we grapple with image oversaturation, URL/IRL hybridity, device dependency, oversharing, a glittery kind of narcissism. Self-actualization has become open source; individuality, user-generated. Millennials have been raised cyborg. They know they are being viewed. Contemporary jewelry—the personal expressiveness it stands for, and the combustion of tradition and technology bubbling in the core of its material DNA—is a uniquely telling manifestation of the psyche of our time.

More than forty years after punk exploded onto the music scenes of New York and London, its impact on the larger culture is still being felt. Born in a period of economic malaise, punk’s energy coalesced into a powerful subcultural phenomenon that transcended music to affect other fields, and especially graphic design. This exhibit explores the visual language of punk through hundreds of its most memorable graphics, from the shocking remixes of expropriated images and texts to the DIY zines and flyers that challenged the commercial slickness of the mainstream media.

Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and constantly interesting musicians of our time. He has appeared with all the major American orchestras and on the most prestigious musical stages and festivals worldwide. A dedicated educator of young musicians, Mr. Feltsman holds the Distinguished Chair of Professor of Piano at the State University of New York, New Paltz, and is a member of the piano faculty at the Mannes School of Music in New York City. He is founder/Artistic Director of PianoSummer at New Paltz.

More than forty years after punk exploded onto the music scenes of New York and London, its impact on the larger culture is still being felt. Born in a period of economic malaise, punk’s energy coalesced into a powerful subcultural phenomenon that transcended music to affect other fields, and especially graphic design. This exhibit explores the visual language of punk through hundreds of its most memorable graphics, from the shocking remixes of expropriated images and texts to the DIY zines and flyers that challenged the commercial slickness of the mainstream media.

Celebrate the decades of plays and musicals that have defined Second Stage as the home for living American playwrights.

In 1979, a new theater was born with a novel idea: give a second chance to American plays that are worthy of a second look. Second Stage Theater started in a cramped 100-seat space on the 16th floor of a hotel on the Upper West Side. That first production was far from an easy or auspicious launch – the director and three actors quit, one at the very last minute (luckily, a young actor named Jeff Daniels agreed to step in and perform).

Since then, Second Stage Theater (2ST for those in the know) has gone on to become a home for emerging writers and actors, having discovered and nurtured some of the most prominent theater artists of recent years, including Annette Bening, Timothy Daly, Taye Diggs, Laurence Fishburne, Mo Gaffney, Kenneth Lonergan, Patti LuPone, Kathy Najimy, Cynthia Nixon, Lynn Nottage, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Ben Platt, Anna Deavere Smith, and Wendy Wasserstein, among countless others.

The company operates three venues throughout Manhattan: Off-Broadway’s Kiser and McGinn/Cazale Theaters; and as of February 2018, The Hayes Theater. Newly renovated by David Rockwell, The Hayes Theater is the first permanent Broadway space dedicated exclusively to living American playwrights.

This exhibit will focus on the people, the writers, the designs, and the spaces that have made 2ST “an oasis for smart, modern theatergoers” (The New York Times). See the evolution of the Theater through set models, production photography, original papers, and personal recorded accounts from the artists who have made Second Stage their home.

Folk art has flourished in the heart of New York City since the eighteenth century, contrary to popular belief that it was a rural genre that reflected local tastes, traditions, and needs. In fact, many of the objects that have been associated with the heartland were manufactured and used in New York City by artists and artisans who, in the tradition of self-taught artists around the world, learned their skills by joining family businesses, apprenticing to masters, or by teaching themselves the expertise needed to produce those pieces that we now consider among the core expressions of American folk art. Around 100 works of art by self-taught artists tell the story about New York City as the center of America’s financial and commercial world from two perspectives simultaneously: “The Art of Business” portrays the people and places that were part of the city’s thrumming commercial life, and “The Business of Art” highlights the diverse mediums and formats used by the artists, artisans, and manufacturers. The exhibition draws on the collections of a number of New York City museums, including the American Folk Art Museum, The New-York Historical Society, and historical societies and museums in all five boroughs, as well as private collections. Curator: Elizabeth V. Warren

More than forty years after punk exploded onto the music scenes of New York and London, its impact on the larger culture is still being felt. Born in a period of economic malaise, punk’s energy coalesced into a powerful subcultural phenomenon that transcended music to affect other fields, and especially graphic design. This exhibit explores the visual language of punk through hundreds of its most memorable graphics, from the shocking remixes of expropriated images and texts to the DIY zines and flyers that challenged the commercial slickness of the mainstream media.

Folk art has flourished in the heart of New York City since the eighteenth century, contrary to popular belief that it was a rural genre that reflected local tastes, traditions, and needs. In fact, many of the objects that have been associated with the heartland were manufactured and used in New York City by artists and artisans who, in the tradition of self-taught artists around the world, learned their skills by joining family businesses, apprenticing to masters, or by teaching themselves the expertise needed to produce those pieces that we now consider among the core expressions of American folk art. Around 100 works of art by self-taught artists tell the story about New York City as the center of America’s financial and commercial world from two perspectives simultaneously: “The Art of Business” portrays the people and places that were part of the city’s thrumming commercial life, and “The Business of Art” highlights the diverse mediums and formats used by the artists, artisans, and manufacturers. The exhibition draws on the collections of a number of New York City museums, including the American Folk Art Museum, The New-York Historical Society, and historical societies and museums in all five boroughs, as well as private collections. Curator: Elizabeth V. Warren

More than forty years after punk exploded onto the music scenes of New York and London, its impact on the larger culture is still being felt. Born in a period of economic malaise, punk’s energy coalesced into a powerful subcultural phenomenon that transcended music to affect other fields, and especially graphic design. This exhibit explores the visual language of punk through hundreds of its most memorable graphics, from the shocking remixes of expropriated images and texts to the DIY zines and flyers that challenged the commercial slickness of the mainstream media.

Ready for some summertime jams? Join us on Wednesdays in July and August from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at Richard Tucker Park for our annual, free Lunchtime Concert Series. Each week features performances by some of NYC's eclectic musicians from the MTA's Music Under New York progam thanks to sponsor support from TD Bank. 

Each Wednesday, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm, jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel and guests play standards from the American Songbook. Limited seating. Jazz+Wednesdays is generously sponsored by Joyce B. Cowin. Info: publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org.