60 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • JULY 6, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Mapping Malba: Artist launches a collaborative
arts project within her Whitestone childhood home
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A north Queens resident is looking to
establish her neighborhood as an arts
destination.
Artist Eleni Th eodora Zaharopoulos,
who grew up in Malba, launched the
pioneering “Malba Arts Project” on
June 19. With funding from the NYC
Department of Cultural Aff airs awarded
through the Queens Council on the Arts,
Zaharopoulos has turned her childhood
home at 42 Boulevard into a space where
artists can live, work and create.
Zaharopoulos, who studied poetry,
fi lm and theater, said creating the program
has been a longtime dream. In
1989, the home and its backyard were
transformed into a wedding reception
space for her cousin and nearly 200
guests — a memory she said left “an
indelible mark.”
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve
just really enjoyed bringing or doing
things here,” the artist said. “It’s such
a big house … and it can easily be sectioned
off like this.”
Zaharopoulos’s mother, Evyenia
Papadakou, lives in the space and is a
collaborator on the undertaking, the
artist said. In addition to hostessing,
Papadakou will also cook for each artist’s
weekend reception.
Participating artists Zachary Becker,
Ashley Yang-Th ompson and Tiff any
Smith will each receive room and board,
an artist stipend and a personal studio
space for about two weeks. Each artist’s
residency will culminate with a public
viewing and reception.
Becker, an interdisciplinary artist
whose residency ended on July 2, created
“Meet Me in Malba,” an installation
Artists Zachary Becker, Eleni Theodora Zaharopoulos and Evyenia Papadakou stand in front of the Malba home.
which recreates his West Village basement
studio inside of Zaharopoulos’s
childhood bedroom to scale. Th e space
was open to the public on July 1 and 2.
“It’s totally a two-way street, in that,
in my time here, I have spent a fair
amount of time walking the neighborhood,”
Becker said. “To me, and this
may be selfi sh, but it’s been a great
opportunity to come to a neighborhood
that I probably would never have spent
any time in otherwise.”
“Everyone who is doing this residency,
in one way or another, is a good
fi t for the project,” Zaharopoulos said.
“It’s about activating the space in a new
way.”
Billed as a residency in “pastoral New
York City,” Zaharopoulos said the home
and picturesque neighborhood are conducive
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
to creativity and expression.
“Not a lot of New York City is like
this,” the artist said. “I love bringing
people here because I think it’s such a
unique place.”
Th e program will run until Aug. 31.
Check Zaharopoulos’s blog at www.malbaartsproject.
tumblr.com for updates
on the project and dates of the other
two upcoming public receptions.
