Kew Gardens HOME-Coming Weekend Nov 4-6

EVENT: Kew Gardens HOME-Coming Weekend
Friday, November 4, 2011- Sunday November 6. 2011
Press Contact: Carol Lacks, (917) 881-3358, CarolLacks@aol.com
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A painting of a welcoming private house with a path and a vibrant garden with rich soil, a photo of a young woman trapped in a tangle of branches and rocks, an assemblage full of doors, windows, stairways, vintage photos “a door to the past” honoring a grandmother who offered respite to her grandchild, a collage of a skeleton, Egyptian cat and angels entitled “Unattainable Dream of Hearth and Home”, and places, so many places one yearns for and feels at home in; Kew Gardens, Venice, Santa Fe, the beach with two sand chairs or a bench in Cunningham Park “alone and isolated” but still a place that offers solace.

At a time when people are finding themselves at home not by choice, but by circumstance, home is a place of loss for some as they face foreclosure and still home will always be our most loved person or a space where we feel most at ease and can be our freest and most creative selves. With these facts in mind, a Citizens Committee for New York City, New Yorkers for Better Neighborhoods Grant was applied for and awarded to the Kew Gardens Improvement Association, Inc. The receiving of this grant also prompted us to put out a “Call for Kew Gardens Poets” and “Teen Photographers, 12-17 years”. We hoped to include many of the talents of the Kew Gardens community in the Kew Gardens HOME Project and to highlight meaningful leisure time activities aimed at making the community experience deeper and to help connect residents in our ethnically diverse neighborhood, to each other and to Kew Gardens.

Kew Gardens HOME-Coming Weekend on Friday, November 4- Sunday November 6, will offer poems written about HOME by Kew Gardens poets and paintings, collages, photographs, drawings created by Kew Gardens artists exploring the theme HOME: A PLACE WE YEARN FOR, RETURN TO AND SOMETIMES RUN FROM.

The schedule for Kew Gardens HOME-Coming Weekend is as follows:
Friday, November 4, 5:30-8:30pm: The launch of the Kew Gardens HOME Project, Kew Gardens Art Show and Opening Reception at The Center at Maple Grove,
127-15 Kew Gardens Road, (718) 709-0390. On view until November 25.

Saturday, November 5, 1:00-3:00pm, Kew Gardens HOME Project Poetry Reading “A Word About HOME”, Spolini's Restaurant (in the party room),
116-25 Metropolitan Avenue, Kew Gardens, (718) 805-5852

Saturday, November 5, 3:00-6:00pm, Kew Gardens HOME Project Art Show and Reception, Mood Restaurant and Lounge, 120-29 83 Avenue,
Kew Gardens, (718) 849-mood. On view until November 25.

For more information: (917) 881-3358, kewgardensarts@gmail.com

Call for Kew Gardens Artists! Submissions Due Oct 23rd

Kew Gardens Visual artists will explore the theme-

HOME: A place that we yearn for, return to and sometimes run from.

The focus of the artwork does not have to be Kew Gardens but can be anywhere that the artist emotionally associates with as HOME.

All two-dimensional media welcome: photography, drawing, painting, collage, mixed media, etc. Exhibition will take place at two venues in Kew Gardens that will host public reception events, November 4-5, 2011. Artwork will be on view 3 weeks. Artists can list a price for their art work if they choose to.

Deadline for Submission: October 23, 2011, announcement flyer & Application/Guidelines attached for more information: (917) 881-3358, kewgardensarts@gmail.com

This project is made possible by the generosity of a New Yorkers for Better Neighborhoods Grantawarded by the Citizens Committee for New York City to the Kew Gardens Improvement Association, Inc.