Up to six choreographers will be selected to receive free rehearsal space at TOPAZ ARTS. Choreographers will each be awarded 30 hours during April to June 2012 (hours to be used within a one-month period) in the spacious 1,250 sq. ft. studio. The intent of this residency is to support concentrated time for the creation process, allowing choreographers a space in which to explore ideas or new working methods, with an opportunity to have informal open rehearsals or artist talks to discuss their creative process among peers and audiences.

Choreographers from all five boroughs of New York City may apply. Also open to artists outside of NYC, but please note: there is no travel or housing provided. Choreographers will be chosen from a competitive application process and reviewed by a panel of professionals in the dance field on the basis of artistic merit, description of intent for the residency and video work samples. Awardees will be announced by mid-March.

Studio location: TOPAZ ARTS, 55-03 39th Avenue, Woodside, Queens
Subway: #7 to 61 St/Woodside or R,M,E to Northern Blvd. > directions

DOWNLOAD GUIDELINES AND APPLICATION FORM HERE:

> In PDF format: TopazArtsResidency2012appform.pdf

> In Word Doc: TopazArtsResidency2012appform.doc

Please make sure to download and save the file first, before filling out form.

DEADLINE: Fri, MARCH 9, 2012 (Must be received by 11:59pm EST)
Application form must be submitted by email to: topazartsresidency@gmail.com
For inquiries, please email: topazartsresidency@gmail.com

The Dance in Queens Residency Program is a project of TOPAZ ARTS initiated in Summer 2003 to provide opportunities for contemporary dance in the Queens community. Initially in partnership with the Queens Museum of Art, Dance in Queens 2012 takes place entirely at TOPAZ ARTS facility during the museum’s expansion.

TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. is a nonprofit arts organization founded in 2000 by artists Todd Richmond and Paz Tanjuaquio. 
TOPAZ ARTS fosters new works and provides public programs for contemporary performance and visual arts. Providing a creative development center, TOPAZ ARTS offers affordable space, gallery exhibitions and residency opportunities, enabling artists to realize their projects and the process shared with audiences. An urban oasis designed using sustainable concepts, the 2,500 sq. ft. facility boasts a light-filled gallery space, a rehearsal studio with a heated dance floor, and an organic roof garden. For more info, please visit www.topazarts.org.

This project is supported by the New York State DanceForce with funding
from the New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program; and, in part, 
by NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

TOPAZ ARTS presents
“Memory of Smoke” — a solo exhibition of new work by Cambodian Artist Bandaul Srey,
a 2011 Asian Cultural Council Grantee & LMCC Artist-in-Residence

accompanied by drawings & photographs from the
Global Children’s Art Programme/Timothy Lomas
project at Phare Ponleu Selpak, Battambang, Cambodia

on view from December 1, 2011 to January 15, 2012 – Extended to March 3rd!
Gallery hours are by appointment
directions to TOPAZ ARTS >

TOPAZ ARTS welcomes Cambodian artist Bandaul Srey and is pleased to present his new series of work “Memory of Smoke” – a solo exhibition of smoke on paper. On view from December 1, 2011 to January 15, 2012 – extended to March.

“Memory of Smoke” is a new series of works on paper by Cambodian artist Bandaul Srey. Developing a technique of applying smoke on paper by using actual smoke from an oil lamp, Srey transfers personal memory in creating an art form that conveys human experience. The powerful image of smoke impacts people in many different ways. For Srey, who initially studied art at Site Two Camp on the Thailand border and whose artwork references his experience of war in context of modern-day Cambodia, explains, “Clouds of smoke can remind us of good or bad memories, for me smoke has bad memories. When I was a child I remember the bombs, their smoke, the sounds — these images are still fixed in my mind. I use the strong power of smoke in my memory to relate my life experience through drawing with smoke on paper.”  
As an artist, Srey communicates these memories, creating visceral images that allow viewers to explore their own experiences with smoke. Srey is a 2011 Asian Cultural Council Starr Foundation Visual Arts Fellow and current artist-in-residence at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s studios at Governors Island.

The exhibition will be accompanied by drawings from Global Children’s Art Programme and photographs by Timothy Lomas – a project that took place at Phare Ponleu Selpak, where Bandaul Srey is Professor and Director of the Visual Arts School, a community-based school for music, visual arts, and performing arts he helped found in his hometown in Battambang Province, Cambodia.

Read about Battambang, Cambodia in the New York Times Travel section >
where artist Srey Bandaul is from and his school Phare Ponleu Selpak

About the Artist:
Srey Bandaul, is a Cambodian artist working in drawing, sculpture and painting. He is a Professor and the Director of the Visual Arts School at Phare Ponleu Selpak, a community-based school for music, visual arts, and performing arts he helped found in his hometown in Battambang Province. A current Asian Cultural Council Starr Foundation Visual Arts Fellow, Bandaul is currently an artist in residence at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s studios on Governors Island as well as conducting research about the development of contemporary art and the educational framework and art school management in the US. As an artist, Bandaul started to exhibit his works in 1998 at Reyum Gallery in Phnom Penh Cambodia. Since 2000, he has exhibited in many places around Cambodia and published two books, Looking at Angkor and The Land of the Elephants. He has also exhibited internationally, including Norway, the Philippines, Thailand, New York, Australia, and Singapore. During his residency in New York City, Bandaul will research and collect new information and ideas for developing his art school in Battambang and art community in Cambodia. His artwork will focus on a series of paintings made from smoke, and sculptures made from aluminum cans, talking about his experience of war and the modern world of Cambodia.

Global Children’s Art Programme is a non-profit organization whose mission is to nurture and facilitate creativity and cultural exchange between youth of different countries. GCAP donates art supplies and instruction to underserved communities. Timothy Lomas, Co-Founder and Creative Director of GCAP, has worked with schools and organizations in Thailand, Cambodia, and Turkey. He has headed numerous projects with the Global Children’s Art Programme’s philanthropic and humanitarian experience. A NYC artist and certified art educator, his works include sculpture and painting, photography, graphic design, digital photography and ceramics. This is his third project with Bandaul Srey and the students of Phare Ponleu Selpak.  www.globalchildrensartprogramme.org

TOPAZ ARTS is pleased to participate in Curate NYC 2011. Curators Todd Richmond and Paz Tanjuaquio have reviewed over 1,500 entries and had the pleasure of seeing the depth and perspective of works by NYC artists whose artistry demonstrate the dynamic culture of New York City. “PEERING IN” is an online exhibition featuring 29 works by diverse artists whose vision allow us to peer into global views and corners of imagination. See details and more about each artist at CurateNYC.

Featuring artists:
pasha radetzki / pasha Ra – Portal Do Sul. South Gate
Alex Yudzon – Impossible Cloud 9
Rachel Selekman – Splash
Jerome Walford – Take Flight
Warren Lehrer – “Tell Me A Story_7″ from “A Life In Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley”
Sarah G. Sharp – Mountain Glory
Ellie Balk – Soundwaves Mural
chuyen huynh – Cut & Paste
Ryan Sarah Murphy – The set state
Francia Tobacman Smith – Architectural Designs in Prague
Julio Jose Austria – Fall for All Season
Shannon Bradley – Untitled (glass painting)
Lauren Denitzio – Do You Know What We Call That? Emotional Labor.
Malika Cosme – Louise Bourgeois
Mark Blackshear – Pondering Prospect Parks’ Pond
Alexander Thebez – We’re All from Somewhere
Hanif Abdur-Rahim – A Revolution in Etiquette: Connoisseurs of Swag
Neely Johnson – DANI T-P
Rejin Leys – Arroz con Pollo
Richard Jochum – Collaborative Silverware
Thomas Witte – China Town
Shari Diamond - Conflicting Views, series no.5
Skowmon Hastanan – Fire Wheel
Armita Raafat – No Title
Jeanne Verdoux – Bird House
James Martocci – Receding towards the sound, view from promenade, Orchard Beach
Deanna Lee – Dov’e
Kyongah Choi – 41° 52′ 55″ N, 87° 37′ 40″ W
Harry Wilks – “Pulaski Skyway”

The Second Annual Curate NYC is brought to you by New York City Economic Development Corporation and Full Spectrum Experience, Inc. – a borough-wide showcase for New York City visual artists. Curate NYC exists to heighten exposure for New York City visual artists, and to promote the city’s image as a cultural hub. An open call city-wide, all entries are reviewed by a panel of judges, and the top 150 works were exhibited as museum-quality postcards at Rush Arts Gallery in Chelsea. In 2011, in addition to the postcard exhibition, guest curators will organize online shows, and five galleries, one per borough, will curate and exhibit their own shows of actual works by Curate NYC artists. www.curatenyc.org

Curatorial Review by 
The Curate NYC PANEL OF JUDGES & Bill Hodges Gallery, 
Art @ Bay, Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, Like the Spice, and Crossing Art. Online exhibitions by Bronx River Art Center, Culture Fix, Deep Tanks Studio,
 Elisa Contemporary Art, Fowler Arts Collective, Skylight Gallery,
 Tabla Rasa Gallery and Topaz Arts.

Hear the co-founders of Full Spectrum, Brian Tate and Danny Simmons, talk about their collaboration with the New York City Economic Development Corporation to co-produce Curate NYC on The Brian Lehrer Show >

Wishing everyone the very best in the New Year! Taking time to give thanks for all we’ve been able to accomplish. As we enter into our 12th year, we look forward to welcoming you back to Topaz Arts with new projects and space improvements! Whether you’re near or far from Woodside, Queens, there are many ways to support Topaz Arts and continue to help the arts flourish:

Donate now – make a safe & secure donation online or send a check made to TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377.  All amounts are greatly appreciated and make a huge impact in maintaining TOPAZ ARTS. Your support will enable us to continue to provide choreographers and dancers a warm, spacious studio in which to create, offer artist residencies, and in 2012 to present new international visual arts exhibitions. As always you’ll be first to be invited to openings and special events. Donations made by December 31st are fully tax-deductible for 2011.

Click on the tip jar to donate now >

You can also show your support for Topaz Arts simply by clicking “Like” on our Facebook page. It’s a great way to keep in touch and show that you “like” Topaz Arts! or Follow us on Twitter – Thanks!

Follow @topazartsinc

I’ll Crane For You
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 7:30pm
at TOPAZ ARTS Space > directions
> RSVP on Facebook

Choreography: Deborah Hay
Adaptation: Lynn Marie Ruse
Performers: Lynn Marie Ruse and Eric Hubel
Sound Score: Eric Hubel
Film: Aeric Meredith-Goujon
Costume:  Cynthia Ruse, Lynn Marie Ruse

No solo performance is a solo effort – choreographer and dancer Lynn Marie Ruse invites you to come dance with her. “I’ll Crane For You” is an adaptation of choreography by Deborah Hay, in a work that asks “What if the depth of the question is on its surface?”

Find out about the Asian American Arts Alliance (a4) call for artists & spaces for the 2012 “Locating the Sacred” Festival! Join us for the official Queens Info Session where you can learn more about the application process and ask your questions to festival staff.

Thursday, February 2nd, 6:30PM – Queens
TOPAZ ARTS
55-03 39th Avenue
Woodside, NY 11377

RSVP at: http://infosessionqueens.eventbrite.com/

For full festival guidelines visit: http://aaartsalliance.org/page/locating-the-sacred

“Locating the Sacred” is a twelve-day, twenty-event festival that brings together artists & spaces in New York for creative explorations of the “sacred”. The festival acts as a showcase of the vibrancy of the local Asian American community and aims to provide all New Yorkers with fresh ways to think about what constitutes sacredness today. Artists from all backgrounds and spaces from across the five boroughs are encouraged to apply.

Applications will be open from January 3rd – February 20th, 2012.
The festival takes place September 12th – 23rd, 2012.

Thanks for joining us!
Dec 3rd, 3-6pm: Opening reception of “Memory of Smoke” – a solo exhibition of new works by Cambodian artist Bandaul Srey.  Accompanied by drawings and photographs by Timothy Lomas/Global Children’s Art Programme from a project at Phare Ponleu Selpak. details >

Special musical guests at 6pm, free admission
The Noah Kaplan Quartet will perform in celebration of their new recording, Descendants, on HatHut Records.  Featuring: Noah Kaplan (saxophone); Giacomo Merega (electric bass); Joe Moffett (trumpet); Ben Hall (drums) details >

directions to TOPAZ ARTS >

TOPAZ ARTS is pleased to present “Memory of Smoke” – a solo exhibition of new work by Cambodian artist Bandaul Srey, a 2011 Asian Cultural Council Starr Foundation Visual Arts Fellow and current artist-in-residence at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s studios at Governors Island. On view from December 1, 2011 to January 15, 2012, an artist reception will be held on Saturday, December 3 from 3-6pm. At 6pm, musical guests The Noah Kaplan Quartet perform from their new recording Descendants.

The exhibition will be accompanied by drawings from Global Children’s Art Programme and photographs by Timothy Lomas – a project that took place at Phare Ponleu Selpak, where Bandaul Srey is Professor and Director of the Visual Arts School, a community-based school for music, visual arts, and performing arts he helped found in his hometown in Battambang Province, Cambodia.

Following the reception on Saturday, December 3 at 6pm, The Noah Kaplan Quartet will perform in celebration of their new recording, Descendants, on HatHut Records. Featuring: Noah Kaplan (saxophone); Giacomo Merega (electric bass); Joe Moffett (trumpet); Ben Hall (drums). Accomplished musicians, The Noah Kaplan Quartet has been described as, “The transparency of the quartet’s intent and mode of operation allow hearing inside the music, from which details of descent and association emerge. In response, memory, and imagination, memory’s mirror, suggest familiar analogies…” – Art Lange.

photos by Paz Tanjuaquio

Artists Meet & Greet with Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer

On Wednesday, Nov. 30th, 2011 TOPAZ ARTS hosted Fractured Atlas’ November Meet & Greet Event Series: artists from different neighborhoods in New York City engaged in lively conversation with District 26 Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer and Cultural Affairs Chair, followed with music by LIC-based artist Anthony Cekay.

Read about it here in the Fractured Atlas Blog and learn how to Make Your Voice Heard: How Artists Can Influence Policy and the Political Process

Artists Represent! Meet Your Council Member! Wednesday, November 30th from 6-8 pm TOPAZ ARTS hosts Fractured Atlas’ November Meet & Greet Event Series: roundtables and panel discussions that spotlight artists from different neighborhoods in New York City, in conversation with the City Council Members who represent them.  Meet District 26 Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer as he talks to LIC-based artist Anthony Cekay at Topaz Arts: 55-03 39th Avenue (between 55th Ave & 56th Streets), Woodside NY 11377 Closest trains are the 7 to Woodside/ 61st St or the E/M/R to Northern Blvd The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A: share success stories and challenges with your creative peers and your local council member. Emily Gray, Fractured Atlas’s Program Director for Insurance, will moderate. Light food and drinks will be served! Space is limited so RSVP to support@fracturedatlas.org to let us know you’re coming – feel free to include any issues relevant to the district that you’d like to see discussed. See you there!

The Noah Kaplan Quartet will perform in celebration of their new recording, Descendants, on HatHut Records.  Featuring: Noah Kaplan (saxophone); Giacomo Merega (electric bass); Joe Moffett (trumpet); Ben Hall (drums).

Immediately following an opening reception from 3-6pm of “Memory of Smoke” – a solo exhibition of new works by Cambodian artist Bandaul Srey.

The transparency of the quartet’s intent and mode of operation allow hearing inside the music, from which details of descent and association emerge. In response, memory, and imagination, memory’s mirror, suggest familiar analogies – such as the guitar’s Appalachian folk arpeggios in “Pendulum Music,” the tenor saxophone’s vocalization and the raga-like development of “Descent,” the bluesy edge of “Esther,” the multiple meters in “Rat Man.” Or the way “Wolves” comes together – the fluid electric bass fitting hand-in-glove with the guitar’s fluttering modalities, the groove and textural incident of the drums, the soprano saxophone’s shofar cry. As the improvisational mode coheres, everything relates to melody, even the rhythm section, urging without forcing, alert to alternatives in the moment. – Art Lange

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Noah Kaplan is an American composer and saxophonist. His playing has been described as “venturesome” (New York Times), as well as “formidable” (All About Jazz) and “meditative and elegiac . . . it communicates a wild tenderness” (All About Jazz, New York). Noah graduated from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Joe Maneri and Jerry Bergonzi. With Maneri, he studied microtones as well as Arnold Schoenberg’s theory and composition texts and cultivated a sound that blends microtonality and modern jazz. In 2008, the light and other things, a collaboration with slide guitar icon David Tronzo and bassist Giacomo Merega, was released to critical acclaim. In January 2011, Dollshot’s self-titled debut album was released on Underwolf Records. The Noah Kaplan Quartet’s debut recording, Descendants, featuring guitarist Joe Morris, will be released on HatHut Records in 2011. Also in 2011, Noah will appear on Ad Faunum which will be released by NotTwo Records. Noah maintains an active performance schedule and has performed and/or recorded with Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Peter Erskine, Alan Pasqua, Anthony Coleman, Art Davis, Joe Maneri, Randy Peterson, Ed Schuller, David Tronzo, Luther Gray, Daniel Levin, Judith Berkson, Pandelis Karayorgis, Kirk Knuffke, Marco Cappelli, Mauro Pagani, and Hampton Fancher among others. Noah lives in Brooklyn, NY. www.noah-kaplan.com

Bassist Giacomo Merega is a leading voice in the avant-garde improv music scene. In 2008, his debut album ‘the light and other things’, featuring slideguitarist David Tronzo, was released to critical acclaim and as part of Noah Kaplan’s Quartet he will appear on ‘Descendants’, an upcoming release on HatHut hatOLOGY. Born in Italy, schooled in Boston, Giacomo now lives in New York. He has performed and recorded with musicians such as Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Anthony Coleman, Dave Fiuczynski, Marco Cappelli and Luther Gray among others. Giacomo also plays in Bryan Baker’s quartet and has presented solo bass performances in the US, Europe and Asia.

Ben Hall is a drummer, percussionist, tympanist and a founding member of the 1/4 speed Michigan chamber jazz group Graveyards, as well as a co-curator of the experimental label brokenresearch.

Joe Moffett is a trumpeter and improviser based in Brooklyn.  He can be heard leading his own groups and has also performed alongside musicians such as Joe Morris, Kenny Wollesen, Tony Malaby, Luther Gray, Forbes Graham and Jim Hobbs.  His projects include Ad Faunum, a quintet that will see the official release of its debut album on Not Two in 2012.  He is a co-founder of the Philadelphia-based quartet Bird Fly Yellow, and the voice-trumpet duo Twins of El Dorado with vocalist Kristin Slipp.

In Queens, Going Where the Art Leads
The Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2011
By PIA CATTON

Culture City’s month-long resolution to venture forth beyond familiar museums and performances is now in its second week. This time, the anti-procrastination effort takes us deep into the heart of Queens.
The ultimate goal: to see the New York City panorama at the Queens Museum of Art. But there’s a lot of ground to cover between the museum’s location in Flushing and the established arts hub that is Long Island City.
The day began on a quiet residential street in Woodside, with a visit to Topaz Arts, a nonprofit visual-art gallery and dance space now in its 11th year. Founders Paz Tanjuaquio and Todd Richmond are a husband-wife arts team: both create visual art, but she is best known as a choreographer and dancer, while he is a composer and filmmaker (who also can build seemingly anything that’s needed).

Together, they renovated a former manufacturing workshop into a dance studio (rental goes for $10 per hour) that can be converted into a 50-seat theater. Visitors are greeted in a pristine art-gallery area filled with natural light, passive solar heat and plants rescued from the street. Topaz Arts exhibits four shows a year (with an emphasis on emerging and mid-career artists) though it does not sell the art work or function as a dealer.

“We view the visual arts as a way to engage the community, whereas the dance is more private,” Mr. Richmond said. But when a choreographer has worked in private long enough and has something to present, Ms. Tanjuaquio is a good person to know. Since 2003, she has led the programming of Dance in Queens, a contemporary dance series at the Queens Museum of Art. Over breakfast (divine pastries from the Jackson Heights bakery Cannelle Patisserie) in their gallery space, Ms. Tanjuaquio and Mr. Richmond related the story of how they landed in Queens. “We had looked everywhere. It was a dream of ours to create a multi-use space,” Ms. Tanjuaquio said. While driving through the neighborhood one day, Mr. Richmond spotted the building’s garage-like door and coveted the property: “I said, ‘How come places like that are never for sale?’”

About a week later, a “For Sale” sign popped up outside and the couple expressed interest. When the owner (who still owns the neighboring properties) asked them what they planned to do with the location, they were nervous: The words “nonprofit arts space” had already made enough sellers anxious. But their luck was better. “He said, ‘That’s perfect. You’re going to buy this place!” recalled Mr. Richmond.

And they did—knowing that by eschewing the foot traffic of neighborhoods closer to Manhattan, they would be giving artists (and themselves) a peaceful, nurturing place to create and present their work, be it visual or performing. The opportunity to share one’s work publicly, without heavy commercial pressure, fills a need that is difficult for mid-career artists to fulfill, as Ms. Tanjuaquio explained: “When you are ready to show something, you want the feedback.”

She and her husband are both still creating their own work, but in order to give themselves some freedom from running the shop, they regularly seek out artists’ residencies away from home. “We do end up focusing our time and energy on other people,” Mr. Richmond said.

But that’s also what makes them local art celebrities. When the three of us drove to the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows, Ms. Tanjuaquio and Mr. Richmond were greeted as beloved neighbors by everyone from executive director Tom Finkelpearl to the security guard who sets up for the performances that make up Dance in Queens.

Mr. Finkelpearl, the museum’s executive director, gave us a sneak peek at the ongoing construction project that will double the museum’s size. The hanger-sized building, which was erected for the 1939-40 World’s Fair, had been home not only the museum but to a full-size ice rink. The renovation, set for completion in 2012, will reclaim the space for galleries, performances and public use. “We have very small galleries that don’t allow us to show much right now,” Mr. Finkelpearl said.

Currently, the galleries house an exhibition of works from the collection that emphasizes architecture, as well as a show of photographs by Luis Márquez, who was the art adviser to the Mexican Pavilion at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair.
But of course, the star of the show is the 9,335-square-foot architectural model of the City of New York. There’s just no way to be blasé about it: The panorama at the Queens Museum is a fascinating must-see.

Constructed as a means of showcasing the city during the 1964 World’s Fair, it represents every building in the five boroughs constructed before 1992. It took 100 people three years to build. “People spend a lot of time looking at it—half an hour easily,” said Mr. Finkelpearl. “New Yorkers are obsessed with New York.”

After the museum, Team Topaz and I capped off our day with a quick visit to the Fisher Landau Center for Art, in Long Island City. It was a chance for me to see one more new venue—and to see some art that Mr. Richmond had helped create: Years ago, he worked for sculptor Richard Artschwager and contributed to a large-scale wooden sculpture of a book, which is in the collection.

From there, it was a short subway ride back to Manhattan. And though the contemporary art at the spiffy Fisher Landau Center had made a strong impact, the vision of the panorama loomed large.