Talk Bronx New York

Erotic artwork bares ‘SoBro’ culture clash

“Hyde Park ” (2008) by South Bronx artist Emily Stedman. Ms. Stedman’s paintings were exhibited at Bruckner Bar and Grilll in the Mott Haven neighborhood in the Bronx. The paintings were subsequently removed following local opposition to their erotic nature.

Some creative types streaming across the Harlem River in search of the city’s “next” neighborhood are starting to find their new home to still be more South Bronx than “SoBro.”

At least that’s artist Emily Stedman’s conclusion after her show, “Erotic Watercolors,” was pulled off a neighborhood gallery’s walls when patrons at adjacent restaurant deemed it offensive.

“I expected it to be an anything goes, sky’s-the-limit, open kind of place,” said Stedman, 59, who left her loft in TriBeCa for Mott Haven in December after tiring of hearing people at gallery openings talk more about real estate prices than art on the walls.

“I’ve been in New York a long time and there’s always a neighborhood where people move to — a Williamsburg or a Long Island City, and it seemed like Mott Haven was going to be the next place. I don’t know if that is still going to happen.”

Her show features soft watercolors of couples or threesomes in various states of embrace. The opening earlier this month at the Bruckner Gallery attracted dozens of art patrons.

But the owner of the Bruckner Bar and Grill, a hip new dining spot which owns the gallery, ordered the show to come down after some of the neighborhood old guard — who rented out the space for golden wedding anniversaries and the like — considered the paintings pornographic.

“A lot of young people have moved here, but you still have a lot of old timers coming in for parties or what not,” said Alex Abeles, the bar’s owner. “We didn’t want to take it down but you could see that it collided with the ideas of people.”

Stedman, who has shown at the Brooklyn Museum and at galleries in Chelsea, said she was shocked that the show was closed, and added that it was hard to imagine something like it happening in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

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Top Honor For BCC Student 

A Bronx Community College student has been awarded one of the highest honors given to community college students.

Kojo Wallace has been named a 2008 All-USA First Academic Team Member by Phi Theta Kappa, the international honors society for two-year colleges. He received a $2,500 stipend.

Wallace, a liberal arts/sciences major from Ghana, aspires to become a neurosurgeon.

He will graduate in June with honors, and has applied to CUNY, Harvard, Cornell, the University of Rochester, Amherst and SUNY Binghamton.

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Bronx Community College Automotive Program Receives National Certification

The automotive training program at Bronx Community College of The City University of New York has received certification by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) and The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).

To achieve this coveted recognition, the program underwent rigorous evaluation in areas such as instruction, facilities and equipment. The certification in engine performance, electrical and electronic systems, and suspension and brakes is a great boost for BCC’s automotive program that has gone through significant change in recent years.

BCC’s designation to lead CUNY’s sustainability efforts provided the opportunity to refocus the College’s Automotive Technology Program, in existence for nearly 15 years.

Over the last 17 months, Clement Drummond a 35-year automotive industry veteran, has worked to create a leading-edge training program that includes state-of-the-art labs, equipment and teaching facilities; and a comprehensive curriculum for associate in applied sciences degree (A.A.S.), and one-year automotive technician certificate program.
Additional focus on alternative fuel and hybrid cars also expands the scope of the program’s offerings.

In collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Energy and the Office of Institutional Advancement, the BCC automotive program has received three grants in support of curriculum updates as well as facilities and equipment upgrades totaling $1.2 million.

“This is great news for automotive-minded young people,” said Donald Seyfer, NATEF Chair.

“Because this program increases cooperation between local education and industry leaders, it gives added assurance that Bronx Community College’s graduates will be employable entry-level technicians. As a result of the quality education provided by Bronx Community College, the motoring public will benefit since better repair technicians will join the work force.”

Upon completion of the evaluation, NATEF recommended that Bronx Community College be certified by (ASE), a national non-profit organization that tests and certifies repair technicians, in addition to certifying automotive training programs.

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Bronx College Needs Green To Make The Design Grade

Trustees at the City University of New York are seeking $178-million from state and city officials to restore historic buildings at Bronx Community College. The plan is part of the university’s 2008-9 capital request, now under review by city and state.

A great deal of the money would go to maintenance and building upgrades, including improving heating and cooling systems, fire-alarm replacements, improvement of the public-water supply, and new roofs throughout campus. About $25-million would go to construction and equipment costs for a new $77-million library building designed by Robert A.M. Stern.

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Brandy Cochrane, 27, and others have been doing cleanups at University Woods Park since October 2006.

Battle Over University Woods For Condos

Abused and just about abandoned, a little Bronx park tucked away above the Harlem River is finding itself caught in a tug of war.

Once a dumping ground for carcasses of animals sacrificed in Santeria rituals, the community board wants to use hilly 3.3-acre University Woods Park for an affordable condo complex.

But some local activists have been working to clean up and save the park.

Two years ago, Community Board 5 approached developer Andrew Lasala about swapping the park for his property on the waterfront just north of it, which would be ideal for a greenway, said District Manager Xavier Rodriguez.

The state was interested in buying Lasala’s waterfront property, Rodriguez said, and there was interest in swapping it for the University Woods acres, which have been a haven for drug addicts and homeless people and last year was ranked as the worst park in the city by an advocacy group.

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