April 26, 2023 - Queens Ledger

Artists Use NYCHA Scaffolding as Canvas

Iryna Shkurhan on April 26, 2023

Tipu Alam, The Astoria Project, located at 4-03 Astoria Boulevard, Astoria Houses, Queens. Photo by Paul Katcher.

By Iryna Shkurhan | ishkurhan@queensledger.com

A city-wide art program that gave artists the opportunity to transform scaffolding at public housing sites into community-specific murals came to an end last week.

ArtBridge’s City Artists Corps: Bridging the Divide program was started ten months ago in partnership with the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) as the city recovered from the height of the pandemic. Selected artists had a paid opportunity to create an outdoor public facing installation while also engaging and cultivating inspiration from community members in the process.

Since 2009, the ArtBridge program has given artists across the five boroughs an opportunity to install large street-level art installations in unutilized construction fencing. According to their website, artists have installed 60,000 square feet of street art since.

The completion of the Bridging the Divide program was celebrated on April 19 at Manhattan’s Taft Houses. The event honored the artistic contribution of 59 artists to NYCHA sites across the city, as well as the stories and of the public housing residents that were represented in the art.

“Bridging the Divide shows what’s possible when our artists and residents are empowered to collaborate and create toward a shared vision,” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner, Laurie Cumbo, who attended the celebration. “It also shows how innovative use of our public spaces can turn something like a drab green construction shed into a canvas for artist-led collective creation, and a platform to engage and inspire New Yorkers.”

Prior to designing their murals, artists led workshops on site where they engaged with the community to include them in the process. For two Queens artists, the art created by children who attended their workshops was incorporated directly in their murals. Each mural was unique to the site, with the community it represents in mind.

“Each NYCHA site is like a little neighborhood. It’s so different so everyone’s artwork came out differently,” said Kiki Bencosme, an artist who transformed scaffolding at the Pomonok Houses in Flushing. “But at the same time, there was a strong sense of joy and community in all of the artwork.”

During the pandemic, Bencosme was searching online for an outlet for her art when she came across the program and applied for the residency. She chose the Pomonok Houses, just blocks from where she grew up in Briarwood, as the site of her nature-inspired mural.

Over the course of several months, she attended workshops that discussed the art of mural making — a first time artistic endeavor for Bencosme. Eventually she led her own workshops at the site where she gave children the space and opportunity to create their own artwork.

“My goal as an artist is to use my art as a form of social justice and community engagement,” said Bencosme in an interview with the Queens Ledger. “I just wanted the artwork to exist there. And if it could change one person’s day, then I did my job.”

Kiki Bencosme, Dimelo Cantando, previously located at 70-30 Parsons Boulevard & 154-05 71st Avenue, Pomonok Houses, Queens. Photo by Paul Katcher.

The title of her piece, Dimelo Cantando, which translates to “tell it to me singing” was inspired by her Dominican roots. It is a common greeting phrase of endearment that Bencosme would often hear elders use while growing up.

“It was important for me to have that title in Spanish to kind of be like, this is representing us, you know, we are not living with everybody else,” said Bencosme. “We are here every single day fighting adversity.”

Close to 90 percent of NYCHA’s 400,000 residents are Black or Hispanic, according to city data. And communities of color in NYC were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Bencosme’s mural, printed and laid over scaffolding, contains an array of florals against a blue background which she designed on Adobe Illustrator. Several of the flowers were lifted from art that children who attended her workshop created.

The mural was taken down this past March, after being up in the Pomonok Houses since July, 2022. She said that installation was a pivotal moment for her as she recounted childhood memories just blocks away from her installation. And although she never resided in NYCHA housing, she would often visit close friends and family who did.

“My inner child was just radiating,” said Bencosme when she first saw her work installed in person. “And I was able to connect with kids growing up in the area who grew up like me. So it was just a full circle moment.”

Kiki Bencosme leading an art workshop with children living in the Pomonok Houses. Photo by Destiny Mata.

She says that it was bittersweet when the piece came down.

Tipu Alam, another resident artist, installed an layered mural at the Astoria Houses last July. His work, which is still standing, features children photographed during his community workshop holding up letters that spell out Astoria with neighborhood spots collaged in the background.

Another side of the scaffolding shows the children photographed wearing various masks, and standing alongside themselves with their mask in hand. He says that the inspiration for the masks came during the Halloween season, when he led the workshop, as well as cultures around the world that hold masks to a high regard.

“It was amazing actually,” said Alam about the reaction that the children had when they saw themselves in his mural. “They were very happy.”

Tipu Alam, The Astoria Project, located at 4-03 Astoria Boulevard, Astoria Houses, Queens. Photo by Paul Katcher.

Alam, an immigrant from Bangladesh, chose Astoria as his site after living in the neighborhood for four years and having his work displayed in a local art gallery for two years. He is no stranger to the art of mural painting and has dotted various restaurants across Queens and The Bronx with their own extensive murals.

Both artists say that the program was also a big financial help during the pandemic, and believe that they were fairly compensated for their work. They pointed out that fair compensation is rare in their line of work.

“Everybody walked away, just feeling appreciated as an artist,” said Bencosme. “But also fulfilled that they were able to give back to their own communities.”

A Free Tree on Earth Day

Iryna Shkurhan on April 26, 2023

A family in attendance picked out a tree to plant at home. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan.

By Iryna Shkurhan | ishkurhan@queensledger.com

For Earth Day on April 22, Queens locals lined up at the Queens Botanical Garden parking lot in Flushing to secure a small tree to take home.

The Tree Giveaway event was sponsored by the New York Restoration Program, a nonprofit organization working to promote urban agriculture, restore parks and renovate gardens. It was one of dozens of tree giveaways spread across all five boroughs from April to May annually.

All eight tree species up for grabs are native to the New York region and include Sycamore, Willow Oak, and Honey Locust trees. The Eastern Redbud variety was first to go, with attendees expressing a strong desire for its delicate pink blossoms in the spring season. Plum trees and Black Cherry trees, which produce harvestable fruits, were also in high demand.

A volunteer at the event warned takers that planting one of the trees outside of the region could be disruptive to the ecosystem and become invasive. With each tree volunteers handed off, they made sure to ask when and where it would be planted to ensure the tree would thrive in its new home.

“It’s nice because it brings people together,” said Kimberly Guaman while holding a Flowering Dogwood tree in a two-gallon container. “Especially on Earth Day.”

Kimberly Guaman plans to plant the tree she reserved at the Sunnyside church she volunteers at. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan.

Guaman says that she will plant the tree she picked up outside of the Queen of Angels Church on Skillman Ave. in Sunnyside where she volunteers in her spare time.

Many of the attendees reserved one of 200 available trees online weeks before the event. Others who were unable to secure the reservation expressed disappointment at how fast the reservations filled up. But they still showed up in hopes of securing an unclaimed tree.

According to volunteers, the remaining trees were first-come first-serve until all were distributed. The second hour of the event was reserved for those who missed the chance to register in advance.

Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, who represents eastern Queens, co-sponsored the event with the Queens Botanical Garden. She could not attend the giveaway due to observance of Shabbat, according a representative from her office.

Two professors from Queensborough Community College, Joan Petersen and Mercedes Franco, signed up to volunteer at the event in an effort to get more involved in environmental initiatives in the community. Peterson also recruited students in her biology research program to volunteer at the event.

Eight tree species were up for grabs. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan.

Maha Almaflehi, a first year Queensborough student said this is her first time ever volunteering. She plans to plant the Dogwood tree she reserved in the backyard of her Flushing home.

“If we don’t do something to help the environment, nothing else is going to matter,” said Petersen, who teaches Environmental Science and Ecology. “If we don’t have a good healthy environment to live in, nobody’s gonna survive.”

Helping Dreams Come True in Nicaragua

glendaleregstg on April 26, 2023

After being sponsored by former SJNY President Sister Elizabeth Hill, Elizabeth Diaz followed her childhood dream of becoming a doctor

By Sam Miller

At 12 years old, Elizabeth Diaz knew that she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.

Twelve years later, the Nicaraguan woman made her dream a reality — in part due to former St. Joseph’s President S. Elizabeth Hill ’64, CSJ, J.D., who helped sponsor Diaz’s education.

“An infinite thank you to S. Elizabeth for giving me her support during all these years,” said Diaz, 24, of León. “She was a blessing in my life, allowing me to know a new panorama. The level of education she afforded me while I was growing up prompted me to want to be better and set new goals — great goals that today are a reality and that I managed to achieve thanks to her support.”

Diaz is just one of hundreds of students who have been sponsored by members of the St. Joseph’s community since 2010, affording them a better education and more opportunities for a brighter future.

Connecting with Students in Nicaragua

A partnership between St. Joseph’s and the community of Sutiaba, in León, Nicaragua, began taking shape in January 2007, when Thomas Petriano, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and the former modern languages chair Antoinette Hertel, Ph.D., developed an interdisciplinary course that connected international study with service (one of the University’s five pillars). This became known as the Nicaragua Project.

“The program began with the idea of creating an interdisciplinary service-learning course that would allow students an opportunity to travel to Latin America,” Dr. Petriano said. “Over the years, the program has proved to be as impactful on the lives of our students as it has been for the people of Sutiaba.”

The program worked on smaller projects, such as building and repairing homes, to more sustained commitments, such as providing support for a preschool and children’s scholarship program. The program has been on hold since 2018 due to political unrest and then the pandemic, but there are hopes to return in the future.

“Many of our students who took part in the program have described the experience as transformative for them,” explained Dr. Petriano. “Several returned two and three times, and a number of students chose their career paths based on their experience in Nicaragua.“

Growing a Scholarship in Nicaragua

The scholarship program itself began in 2010, when Dr. Petriano invited Tom Travis, Ph.D. — current special assistant to the president and then-vice president for planning and dean of the School of Professional and Graduate Studies — to join them on a trip to Nicaragua.

“One of the activities on that trip was to take the kids to the movies — a big treat for them,” Dr. Travis said. “We were all assigned a child to monitor, and I met this young girl named Miurett. Later, I met her mother and saw where she lived. I was taken back by a humble domicile with mud floors and no indoor plumbing.

“I wanted to do something to help the child, and decided the best way to do that was by paying her tuition to a private school, the Colegio Santa Lucia (a Catholic primary/secondary school),” he continued. “When I returned to St. Joseph’s, I told some folks about what I was doing, and they wanted to sponsor a child as well.”

Faculty, staff, students and student clubs, alumni, and members of the Board of Trustees have since joined in on sponsoring students.

“We have sponsored scores of students at the Colegio,” Dr. Travis said. “And as the students graduated, we worked with Hope for the Children Foundation, Inc., to support their attendance at universities in León, Nicaragua. At the current time, we are sponsoring 20 students at Santa Lucia and 40 at University.”

Those who would like more information about the sponsorship programs can direct questions to Tom Travis at ttravis@sjny.edu.

“The students’ and their parents’ appreciation is probably my biggest reward,” Dr. Travis said. “That, and to see the children progressing in their education from youngsters to young adults graduating from University.”

Becoming a Doctor with Support from St. Joseph’s University

Diaz felt drawn to the medical field from a young age, but growing up in Nicaragua, her family couldn’t afford to provide her with a higher level of education.

“The vocation of service is what led me to choose this career,” said Diaz, who now works as a general physician after graduating from medical school in Nicaragua in December. “Since I was a child, helping others has been important to me, even if the action is minimal. I believe that everyone has a calling, and mine was to be a doctor.”

S. Elizabeth is honored to have been a part of Diaz’s journey to becoming a doctor.

“I am delighted that she has worked so hard and has reached the goal she set for herself many years ago,” S. Elizabeth shared. “I wish her great success in her career and life.”

Diaz expressed her extreme gratitude for the support she received from S. Elizabeth, and to the sponsors from the St. Joseph’s community who are helping make children’s dreams become a reality.

“From the moment I began to receive support, my whole perspective changed,” she said. “New opportunities opened up to help me be able to achieve my proposed objectives, and to be where I am today is thanks to a collective effort. It is something incredible. There are no words to describe the gratitude. Thank you all for opening doors and giving these kids a light of hope, just like you did for me.”

To S. Elizabeth directly, Diaz says: “My mom and I will be forever grateful to you. I hope in some way to repay what you have done for me. I thank God for putting in your heart and that of the other sponsors the desire to support students in Nicaragua. It is a blessing, since whoever receives it has the opportunity to discover new horizons and set new goals. Thanks for believing in me.”

Dr. Diaz with her mother.