Class #5: Eastside Explorations- Part Two

           

            As we got ready to depart for our adventures today Mike informed us that we would be traveling from Spanish Harlem on Central Park East to the Midtown East. To get to the Eastside we had to take the Times Square Shuttle, otherwise known as the S train over to Grand Central Station and take the number 6 train uptown to Eastern Harlem.

            Once we grotto East Harlem we walked to Museo Del Barrio. “Located at the edge of Spanish Harlem or ‘El Barrio’, El Museo was founded in 1969 by community activists, teachers and artists, mainly Puerto Ricans” (BG, 376). This museum was built from a one man show in a spare room in an apartment to a magnificent showcase for art around the world. This museum housed some of the most famous Latin-America art in America while also housing children’s art from the surrounding communities. The museum does this to show the kids that you do not need to be a famous artist to create art. Unfortunately, like NBC Studios, the museum did not let us take any pictures. This is unfortunate because this was a very interesting museum with a lot of interesting pieces.

            After walking around the museum for a little bit we started our walking tour of Spanish Harlem. The tour guide was a young man who worked for the museum as someone who reads and performs his art. His art does not hang in museums or even on walls. He speaks from the heart and creates images in his spectators heads while they listen to him preach. He showed us all around Spanish Harlem from the famous graffiti wall to the fallopian tube art in the park, and even showed us a gallery where street art hung. My favorite part of this tour was the graffiti wall where graffiti artists get permits to spray their message on the wall. In this part of Harlem the kids are encouraged to create art. To assist their knowledge in the area of art the city makes sure they surround the kids with positively influenced art.

            Once that tour was over we headed across the street to the Museum of the City of New York. “Founded in 1923, the Museum of the City of New York offers exhibitions that explore the city's complex history from its early days as a Dutch colony to its present eminence” (BG, 376). Here we saw how the famous Grid of New York was created. There were huge images and information showing and explaining every little detail that went into making the city what it is today. Here we also watched an interesting short film called “Timescales.” Timescales traces the growth of New York City from a settlement of a few hundred Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans to its status now as one of the greatest cities in the world.

            After the museum we went to the Conservatory Garden right across the street. As we hiked through the park I was tired but remembered that I wanted to enjoy myself and soak up the environment and the atmosphere in the park. After this park we made our way to Central Park where we all sat and discussed everything we saw in the class so far. I was amazed with the amount of different answers people gave when asked what was their favorite part of the course. I guess that’s what makes this course so interesting and fun; everybody has a different perspective about the different places we visit. Something that can be boring to me, others can find very interesting.