MAY EVENTS North Shore Towers Courier n May 2013 45 Queens Museum of Art Flushing Meadows- Corona Park Queens, N.Y. 11368 www.queensmuseum.org The Cinema of Immigration will continue to screen “Anna,” starring Sally Kirkland. In this Oscar nominated performance, Kirkland portrays the life of a Czech actress who was a star in her country, but now finds herself struggling in New York. Mark Ethan, member of the Actors Studio, will be introducing the film and holding a discussion afterwards. “Anna” will screen Thursday, May 9 from 2p.m. to 5p.m. “A Better Life”, directed by Chris Weitz, tells the story of a father who tries to protect his son from the gangs and immigration agents that prowl East L.A. This film stars Demian Bichir. Mark Ethan will hold discussions after the screening. “A Better Life” will screen on Thursday, May 16 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Nassau County Museum of Art One Museum Drive Roslytn Harbor, N.Y. 11576 www.nassaumuseum.org The Lost Irascible will take place on Sunday, May 5 at 3 p. m. Charles A. Rilley II, Ph.D., noted art critic, writer and social historian, will explore the talents of artist Fritz Bultman. Tickets for this event are $5 for members, $15 for non-members. Become immersed in the world of art during the Spring Culture Stroll on Wednesday, May 29 at 5:30 p.m. Participants will walk the museum grounds, viewing several sculptures from the collection. Senior Educator Jean Henning will offer a brief introduction of the current exhibit: AB-EX/RE-CON: Abstract Expressionism Reconsidered, prior to the Stroll. This event is free for members, $5 for non-members. Flushing Town Hall 137-35 Northern Boulevard www.flushingtownhall.org Let the rhythm of the Spanish Flamenco and the beats of Reggae keep you on your feet with Cultural Crossroads #3: Jamaica Meets Spain, on Friday, May 3 at 8 p.m. Tribal Legacy and Flamenco Latino will share the stage offering dance lessons at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 for non-members, and $10 for members and students with identification. The Annual Tap Extravaganza will be held on Saturday, May 11t at 8 p.m. All are encouraged to bring their tap shoes and join in on the festivities. Some featured artists will include Omar Edwards, Baakari Wilder and Michelle Dorrance. Tickets are $20 for non-members, $15 for members, and $10 for students with identification. Carving the balances of LIFE HUMAN DUALITY IN THE STONES AND MOSAICS OF KAREN DIMIT BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO Feeling like she was never good at art, Karen Dimit started her career as an opera singer. Yet when the perfect stone sang to her, she decided to begin chiseling her outlook on the dualities of life. “I physically felt something hit me in the gut and say ‘Karen, you’ve got to do something with me,’” she said. “I’d beg my father to bring home some stones that I found and put them in the garden. So I think I’ve always had a relationship to it and it’s the stones that called me back. Eventually it just took over.” After a visit to a sculpture supply store, this California native began her move into the artistic world. She went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and found that the African sculptures drew her into a domain of both art and purpose. “They were done for a function in society, not just as a decoration, but they had a force in the society that they were used for,” she said. “They weren’t really necessarily polished or finished, they could be very rough, but they had this power that was imbued in them.” Working on mosaics of the tragic masks of Pompeii, Dimit’s first sculpture took its form after September 11, 2001 and featured a mask depicting what she believed to be the reflection of how everyone was feeling. “It was so perfect for the energy, getting out the frustration, fear and anger pounding into a stone,” she said. After that, she was hooked. Moving to a studio in Long Island City five years ago, Dimit began a series of pieces mixing different materials including stones, minerals, metals and mosaics. The main theme behind her works focuses on the dualities in the human condition, dealing with human strengths and weakness. The “Subway Goddess Pageant” was a project in which Dimit created replicas of ancient powerful female figures in history through mosaics symbolizing the different aspects of the feminine. “At a certain point in my life I realized that I thought of myself as a second-class citizen and I behaved that way,” she said. “I wanted to deal with my journey in trying to find my inner power from that and deal with the patriarchal religion and upbringing that I had.” One of her pageant beauties, “Miss Cucuteni 2011” depicts on one half of the figure the colorful beauty of Mother Nature, yet on the other half, the colorful stones are replaced by coal and barbed wire showing the destruction of suppression and exploitation. Pieces take between two weeks to one year to complete and each depicts life in the eyes of this sculptor and mosaic artist, who does not only mold the materials but works together with them to bring their inner beauty out. “What’s most fun is that I’m so seduced by them. I let the stone tell me where it needs to go,” she said. “It takes a lot of time to find just the right thing, but then all of a sudden it starts working.”
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