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tsohl · 4 years ago

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A bit of fun...

An Interview from village magazine. 2005

A model life

Monaghan-born Caitriona Balfe was recruited shaking a charity box outside a Dublin shopping centre. Now she is Ireland's most successful international model. Based in New York and the darling of some of the world's top designers, she talks to Ailbhe Jordan

It’s just after five on a Tuesday evening in Soho. Streams of harassed-looking people scurry in both directions along Spring Street, seeking escape from the mayhem of midweek Manhattan in the form of the nearest taxi or subway station.

Nobody but me seems to notice a tall, thin young woman leaning against the wall of a grey building. We have never met in person and a curtain of long, tousled brown hair obscures her face as she flicks through a notebook, but it’s definitely her.

Since Derek Daniels of Assets Modelling agency spotted her six years ago collecting money for charity outside the Swan Shopping Centre in Rathmines, Caitriona Balfe has quietly strutted her way to the upper echelons of the fashion industry.

Nineteen years old and intent on becoming an actress at the time, Balfe modelled part-time in Dublin for a year until a visiting scout from Ford Modelling agency asked her to work for them in Paris. She decided to take a year out from her drama course at the Dublin Institute of Technology to pursue the opportunity.

In her six years as a model, Balfe has strutted down the catwalk for every big name from Gucci to Marc Jacobs. Vogue are big fans too; the fashion bible has put her on the cover of its US, French, German, Spanish and Italian editions.

After Paris, Balfe moved to Milan, where she became the darling of Dolce & Gabanna, who still hire her to work exclusively at their spring and autumn shows. Three years ago, she moved to New York to work for US based Elite Modelling agency. One of her first castings was for Cuban-American designer Narciso Rodriguez, who was so impressed, he made her his muse.

Balfe is, without a doubt, the most successful international model Ireland has produced.

On this evening she looks up and smiles, revealing a heart-shaped face, with sharp, pixie-like features and bright blue eyes. Wearing not a scrap of makeup, she looks younger than her 26 years. Her complexion is pale, clear and spattered with light brown freckles.

She is around 5ft 10”, but seems smaller because of her narrow, thin frame. Dressed in a loose, taupe-colored top, skinny blue jeans that are not as tight as they should be and red flats, she personifies that casual glamour look to which all the downtown hipsters aspire.

She suggests we go to Balthazar, a French Bistro beloved of New York models and celebrities.

As we walk, she assumes a posture so elegant and so straight it looks as though she is leaning backwards slightly.

Balfe’s family comes from Tyvadet, a small town in Co Monaghan. Her accent is neutral from years of living abroad, but every now and then, the Monaghan dialect peeps through – when she says “cool”, for instance, which she says a lot.

Weekend reservations at Balthazar are nearly impossible to make if one is not famous and has not booked at least a couple of weeks in advance.

“Go on ahead,” she says, holding the door open. The hostess directs us to a small table at the window. Balfe glides into her booth without pushing the table out first. “I’m going to have some cake,” she says, lowering her voice.“I got my wisdom teeth out on Friday, so I’ve basically been eating soup all weekend,” she adds quickly, touching her jaws with both hands.

“I was supposed to go to LA today, but I cancelled that because my face was still a bit swollen.”

Conversations between any two people renting in New York City inevitably turn to apartments and – more importantly – locations. Balfe lives in Greenpoint, a trendy Polish neighbourhood in Brooklyn. “I was about three years in the city but I love Brooklyn,” she says.

“It’s just really cute. It’s kind of European, like most of the streets are all mom and pop stores, there’s not one McDonalds. They’ve got all cute little vegetable stores, there’s a meat market and a fish market.”

She pauses to take a sip of coffee.

“We’ve got the ground floor of a building. Its got like a back garden and a basement, which is really cool. My boyfriend has his studio in the basement.”

The boyfriend she refers to is Dave Milone, a guitarist with the band Radio4, who are releasing a new album in New York this week.

“I’ve been with him for three years, he’s from New Jersey,” she says rolling her eyes as New Yorkers often do at the mention of their neighbouring and, in their opinion, less cosmopolitan state.

“It’s a bit of a cliché, I know, a model and a rocker. It’s good though.”

At 26, Balfe has said she considers herself to be one of the “grannies” of the modeling industry.

“Of my five really close friends whom I started with, there’s only one whose still modeling,” she says.

“The rest have gone off to college or have real jobs. I still feel like I’m at college,” she says, stirring her coffee and putting the spoon down on the saucer with a loud clink.

“When I see some of these younger girls who are starting at 17 or so, it’s like being at school, you know. You’ve a bunch of girls who are like, teenagers and of course everyone’s like: ‘is she doing better than me?’ and all that. I was a little bit older when I started, I was 19 and I never really experienced that. I mean, you’re always going to come across a bitch but there’s nothing you can really do about that. I’m getting older now and it does feel weird when you come across someone who tries to intimidate you in that really high school way. It’s like: ‘why am I feeling insecure because of this?’ And it’s funny, because it’s all based on weight, it’s like: ‘you put on a few pounds,’ or something stupid.”

At this point the desserts arrive.

“I feel like the girls are getting very skinny again,” she says, following the movement of the plate with her eyes as the waitress places it in front of her.

“When I started it was like, a lot of the Brazilian girls were around, it was all about being voluptuous and I think in the last couple of seasons there’s been a lot of really, really skinny girls again. I mean, you can tell when somebody doesn’t eat, you can tell by the big rings under their eyes or when they’re kind of quiet, they’re whole personality is kind of...” she slouches down and drops her tongue out in a display of lifelessness.

She picks up her spoon and digs it into the cake, then turns the plate around and spears the scoop of vanilla ice-cream that is perched on top.

“I’ve always been thin, you know?” she says, while her mouth is full.

“My aunts and uncles will be like, ‘oh do you eat?’ but I’ve always been lucky that I can. I eat more than Dave. I go through very, very sporadic, once-in-a-blue-moon fits of going running and stuff, but I’m so lazy. When shows are coming up I just do some exercises at home and maybe not have so much chocolate cake the week before. A few more salads, that kind of thing.”

Next week, Balfe expects to be working in LA for a couple of days, from where she will fly to Miami for a photo shoot, before returning to New York on Sunday to do a shoot for Spanish Vogue.

“It sounds glamorous, it’s not though, it really isn’t,” she says, holding another spoonful of cake up to her lips.

“I am moving towards retirement now – from this,” she continues. “Every year I’m asked and I’m like, ‘oh another year or two.’ But, if I’m still doing this at the end of the next two years, somebody shoot me, please. I mean, it’s really good and it allows me to live a good life. I’m building a house in Monaghan, I can do stuff like that. I can set myself up for the future and stuff. But being an actress was the thing that I always wanted to do. Before I ever started modelling.”

Balfe has not yet found her perfect role, but played a convincing seductress in 2002 when she modelled for lingerie company Victoria’s Secret during their catwalk show, an annual TV spectacle that that has propelled models like Gisele Bundchen and Heidi Klum to international fame.

“Oh God, my poor Da,” she groans, cradling her head in her hands.

“I think it was the Sun or the Mirror back home had this headline: ‘Garda’s daughter goes und-y-cover.’ I wondered what I was doing in there, this pasty little Irish girl amongst all these Brazilian goddesses. I’d gotten a spray tan and they put full body make-up on me but I was 10 times whiter than anyone there. It took very little clothes and quite a lot of champagne to get through that one.”

She shakes her head, smiling at the memory. “Its funny you know? Normally when I’m out, I don’t really dress up. It’s amazing how people will absolutely not even notice you until they hear the word ‘model,’ and then they’re like: ‘Oh.’ And I’m like: ‘what?’ Two seconds ago, I was nothing, you know?”

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abundanceofsoph · 4 years ago

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SkyFire 1: Chapter 17

The North American tour & YouTube Collabs

Word count: 3k

SkyFire 1 MASTERLIST

>Instagram posts

Aurora was nervous when she entered the recording studio in North Hollywood. Mark had sent her the address the previous week and told her that the four members of Our Last Night would be expecting her at 9am, so there she was walking through the front door, with Harry’s supportive hand on her lower back.

“Aurora?”

“Yes, Hi,” she replied, reaching her hand out to shake the one offered to her by the tall brunette standing in front of her. “It’s great to finally meet you, Matt. Thanks for having me.”

“Great to meet you too. We were all stoked when your manager reached out. Thanks again for flying out here.”

“Not at all,” Rori said. “This is my partner, Harry by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Harry. Everyone else is back this way.”

They followed Matt further into the building, finding the other members of his band sitting around the studio space. Introductions were made and the rest of the day was spent working on the arrangements for the 2 songs they had already decided on covering. They had been emailing back and forth for much of the last week and the band had already done much of the work, so it was simply a matter of putting the final touches to the instrumentals and by the end of the first day they were ready to start recording. The band invited Aurora and Harry back to Trevor’s house for dinner and they gladly accepted, already enjoying the company of the 4 men. Aurora spent most of the evening with Trevor’s 1 year old perched on her lap until the baby was put to bed. They didn’t stay too late and made plans to meet back in the studio earlier the next morning. Over the next few days they recorded the instrumental tracks for both covers, leaving only the vocal tracks left to lay down for their covers of the Chainsmokers All We Know, and Charlie Puth’s We Don’t Talk Anymore.

At the end of her first week in LA, Aurora, Trevor and Matthew all took their turn in the recording booth to lay down the vocals for each track and then they decided to take the weekend off before returning Monday morning to film the music videos.

Harry felt that Malibu was the perfect place to spend the weekend, renting a beach house for the pair and Aurora spent the days lounging beside the pool and soaking up as much sun as she could. Given their usually hectic schedules, the young couple revelled in the free time. The opportunity to waste away hours by the pool, without the constant demands to be somewhere or do something was intoxicating. Harry was happy to set himself up on a banana lounge with a book and a glass of red wine, enjoying the relaxing sounds of the nearby waves and the view of his beautiful girlfriend laying nearby in a bikini. Likewise, Aurora was also enjoying the calming sound of the waves, and would cheekily request that Harry refill her drink, if only to watch him walking around in a pair of boardshorts slung low on his hips and nothing else. Before long, their mini vacation was at an end and Aurora headed back into the studio, spending three days filming the 2 covers and then helping with the beginnings of the editing process. After what felt like no time at all, the pair said goodbye to their new friends with promises to catch up again in the future before heading to LAX to fly up to Toronto for Harry to start the next leg of the bands tour. By the time they returned to the States on Monday, the two covers were posted on both Aurora’s channel and Our Last Nights, much to their fan’s excitement and praise.

xXx

Despite being so close to her home across the river, Aurora didn’t visit while she was in New Jersey with the band and instead Tony came to see her. He was beyond excited when he pulled her into a tight embrace, lifting her feet off the ground as he swung her around.

“Missed you,” he murmured in her ear as he set her back on her feet.

“Missed you too,” Rori replied, “and Pops.”

“He wanted to come,” Tony said, “But things are a bit crazy back home.”

“How is Sergeant Barnes doing?” Aurora asked, leading her dad down the hallways towards the green room.

“Yeah, he’s getting there,” Tony answered. “He was still a bit confused when we finally tracked him down but he’s already getting better. I mean don’t get me wrong, he’s got a long way to go but he’s been doing really well in therapy so it’s just a matter of time really.”

“I was talking to Pops on the phone the other night and he seems really excited to be getting his friend back.”

“He is, I just don’t want him to get his hopes up too much. Barnes has been through so much that I’m not sure he’ll ever be his old self again.”

“I can’t imagine what he’s gone through,” Aurora agreed. “But at least he’s out of it now.”

“You’re right,” her father agreed. “I’ve been working on fixing his prosthetic lately. The one Hydra made for him was a mess. They clearly didn’t care whether it was causing him any pain, so hopefully I can ease that for him with some modifications.”

“Well there’s no one better to work on it than you, dad,” Aurora smirked. “You got Peter helping you on it?”

“I couldn’t stop him if I tried,” Tony laughed. “The kid is having the time of his life.”

The pair spent the rest of the afternoon catching each other up on the last month and simply revelling in being together after weeks apart.

Following the New Jersey shows, Aurora and the band travelled down to Massachusetts, and then on to Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri and finally Illinois. Along the way Aurora continued heading out exploring whatever city they found themselves in while the boys worked, and she would often find herself sitting in on writing sessions for the next album. Harry would often run lyrics by her, asking for her input and she found that Liam and Louis’ writing style was similar to her own which led to her often joining the two as they threw around ideas. By the time they reached Chicago at the end of August, most of the album had been written, if not recorded in full ready for its November release.

Following the last show in Chicago, the band had a week and a half break before continuing the tour in California, so Harry joined Aurora on her flight back to New York on the Sunday afternoon of the last day of August.

xXx

Aurora wasn’t at all surprised by the surprise party that she walked into when she stepped out of the lift and into the penthouse with Harry by her side. The scene that greeted her was so perfectly Tony, that she felt herself grinning widely. There was a banner strung across the living room that read; ‘WELCOME HOME RORI’ with a small crowd of her friends and family assembled underneath it. The crowd included the Avengers, Pepper and Happy, Peter and May, her parents and two new faces; one of which she recognised from photos to be Bucky Barnes, while the other she assumed to be the newest recruit to the team, Sam Wilson. Rori quickly found herself sandwiched between both of her fathers as they threw their arms around her, crushing her in a warm group hug. She laughed as they finally let her go. “I missed you too,” she chuckled, allowing them to lead her further into the room to be passed from one hug to the next as everyone took their turn to welcome her home.

A few hours later, full to bursting from the Chinese takeout Tony had ordered from her favourite place, Aurora was curled up against Harry’s side on the large sofa. Steve brought Bucky over to sit on the sofa opposite the young couple, introducing his daughter to his oldest friend. She smiled softly at him, unsure what to say. She could see the excitement on her Pop’s face to be introducing his best friend from the 1940s but the person she saw before her was also a Hydra assassin who had killed more people than she could comprehend.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Bucky murmured. “Stevie hasn’t really shut up about you.”

“He’s told me a lot about you too,” Rori replied, a soft smile lifting the corners of her lips as she glanced over at her step-father. “That was before he knew you were still alive though.”

“It’s crazy that either of us here now,” Bucky admitted. They continued to talk idly until Steve walked over to the kitchen to refill his and Rori’s drinks. The moment he was out of earshot, Bucky looked between Rori and Harry with a nervous glance. “I understand that you’re both concerned,” he said. “I am too, but I promise you that I’m not a threat.”

“We don’t think you’re a threat,” Harry replied.

“Don’t we?” Rori asked him. “I’m not going to say anything in front of Pops because he deserves this, but I don’t trust you Bucky. Maybe I will someday but not yet.”

“Steve said you were smart,” Bucky replied, seemingly unaffected by Auroras blunt words. “Glad to see he was right. I don’t trust myself completely either but we’re working on it. I’m doing therapy to help with the brainwashing and your dad is fixing my arm. I’ll earn your trust.”

“Yes, you will,” Rori agreed with a genuine smile, dropping the conversation as Steve returned with Sam in tow. “Welcome to the madhouse, Sam.”

“Thanks Aurora,” the newest Avenger replied. “Not sure what I’ve gotten myself into with this one,” he gestured towards Steve, who rolled his eyes. “Should be good fun though.”

“It’s certainly never boring,” Harry joked.

Shortly before midnight, when almost everyone had left for the night, only Nat, Clint and Bruce remained in the living room of the penthouse with the Stark-Rogers family and Harry. After refilling his drink in the kitchen, Tony walked past where Rori was sitting, lifting her wine glass to her lips to take a sip. “What is that on your wrist?” he asked, pulling his daughters attention away from a conversation she was having with Bruce. She paused for a brief moment before following Tony’s eyes to the inside of her left wrist.

“It’s a tattoo,” she replied, holding her arm out so that he could see the fresh ink clearer. “Pretty cool, right? I got it about 2 weeks ago.” The image on the inside of her wrist was of half of Steve’s shield and the right half of the Iron Man helmet, joined together in the middle. “Harry, Louis and I went to this great little tattoo parlour in Philly.”

“It’s nice,” Tony said. “Did you draw it up yourself?” Aurora nodded that she had, tracing her index finger over the ink, smiling at the memory of sitting in the tattoo studio with the two boys, Louis laughing at her as she winced when some of the heavy shading was done.

“I’m already planning the next one,” she told her father. “It really is addictive.”

Tony shot a joking glare towards Harry where he sat with Nat and Clint nearby. “You’ve got a lot to answer for,” he told the younger man.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Harry laughed, raising his hands in mock defence. “She cooked up the idea with Lou and they’d decided they were going long before I invited myself. I was just tagging along and figured I’d get something done while we were there.”

“A likely story,” Tony laughed. “So, what’s the next one?” he asked, turning his attention away from Harry and back to his daughter.

“I wanna get a yellow cab on my ribs,” Aurora explained. “Big Yellow Taxi was mum’s favourite song, so I want to be a walking cliché and put it near my heart.”

“You’re not going to start building a sleeve like Harry’s next, are you?” Steve asked, joining the conversation and sitting down next to Aurora on the sofa.

“No,” Rori promised. “But I think I’ll definitely get a couple more. I really love the idea of having my art permanently a part of me.”

xXx

Harrys stayed for the rest of the week, enjoying spending time with Rori without the pressure and constant scheduling of being on tour. He also enjoyed spending time with her family. He would sit with Rori while she sketched on the sofa in Tony’s workshop, watching her father and Peter working away on whatever project had their attention at any given moment. He’d chat with Rori while she drew, her feet perched in his lap and one of his hands resting softly on her thigh. Sometimes she’d be sketching Tony and Peter, sometimes it was Harry and sometimes it was a landscape she could see only in her mind. They reminisced about the tour, recounting the funnier stories for Peter who lapped it all up eagerly. Every morning the couple would head downstairs to the gym, where Rori would run on the treadmill and Harry would use the weights. Steve would join them most mornings and there were always other members of the team floating in and out of the space. On the Wednesday, Rori started back at Columbia and Harry caught the subway with her, wandering the campus and grabbing a coffee at one of the small cafes while she attended her two classes for the day. When she was finished, the pair walked back to the tower through Central Park, taking their time in the autumn sunshine. Eventually Harry had to leave for California, and while Aurora tried to pretend she wasn’t upset to see him go, she lasted only until he was standing in front of the lift with his bag slung over his shoulder. Happy was waiting with the car downstairs and they had agreed to say their goodbyes in private, both knowing that if Aurora went to the airport with Harry, they would be on every gossip blog by morning.

“I’ll see you at Christmas,” Harry promised. Aurora nodded, swallowing thickly against the emotion building in her throat. “Come here,” he said, pulling her against him as the tears welled up and flowed down her cheeks.

“I got so used to see you every day,” she admitted, her face pressed into his neck. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

“I don’t want to go either,” Harry said, “but you’ve got school and I’ve got the tour to finish. It’ll be December before we know it.”

“I love you,” she told him, pulling her face back from his neck to look into his eyes.

“I love you too,” he promised, leaning forward to lock their lips together.

“Sorry to interrupt,” JARVIS said, “But Mr Styles will need to leave now if he does not wish to miss his flight.”

“I’ll call you when I land,” Harry said, pecking her lips one last time before stepping into the waiting elevator car. As the doors slid closed, she stared at them for a few long minutes before turning towards the living room and throwing herself onto the sofa, her face buried into the cushions. Tony found her there half an hour later and sat down next to her hip, rubbing a handing down her back.

“Harry get away alright?” he asked to which Rori nodded, her face still pressed into the fabric below her. “You wanna watch a shitty movie and eat crap food that will make Steve disappointed in both of us?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled, finally sitting up and allowing her father to crush her in a tight embrace.

xXx

Two weeks after Harry returned to the tour, Aurora was sitting at the large dining table with every member of the Avengers team present. They were halfway through the meal before Clint finally snapped, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “Rori are you gonna tell us why you made such a big deal about everyone having dinner tonight?”

Aurora looked up from her plate, glancing around the table to see everyone’s eyes on her, expectant. “Uhhhh,” she mumbled. “I just wanted to talk to you all at the same time, so I didn’t have to repeat myself.”

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Clint asked, causing both Tony and Steve’s heads to snap towards their daughter.

“No!” Rori gasped, both men visibly relaxing in response to her answer. “Christ, Clint. I just wanted to talk to you about the fact that we’re having visitors for the next few days and I would appreciate if you could all stay on your own floors and stay out of here, so you don’t embarrass me.”

“What kind of visitors?” Bruce asked.

“I’m collaborating with a band called Boyce Avenue, so the three members are going to be here until Monday to record in the studio,” Aurora explained, growing more nervous with every second as Nat and Clint shared a look that could only spell trouble for her.

The three Manzano brothers arrived the following morning and within the hour, the four of them were already set up in Aurora’s studio downstairs. As with her collaboration with Our Last Night, much of the work had been done via email over the previous weeks, so they got straight in to running through the arrangements for their covers of Zedd’s The Middle and Khalid’s Love Lies. The process was effortless and over the next 4 days they recorded the instrumental and vocal tracks as well as filming the two videos for their separate channels. Aurora and Alejandro’s voices blended together beautifully, and they all had so much fun working together. Thankfully the Avengers took pity on her and stayed out of the way for the duration of the Manzano’s visit and before long the men returned to Florida while Aurora through herself into her college classes, hoping that the months of separation from Harry really would fly by as he’d promised.

NEXT CHAPTER

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#skyfire #skyfire fic #aurora stark #dad!tony #iron dad #step dad steve rogers #stony #stony fic #boyfriend harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #superfamily #harry styles #tony stark

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projectstudios · 4 years ago

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The residency will take place November 15, 2020 through January 15, 2021

Application Fee:

For Applications Received 7/25/2020 to 8/15/2020 $20.00

For Applications Received 8/16/2020 to 9/15/2020 $30.00

Apply Here: https://protogallery.submittable.com/submit/158910/project-studios-art-residency-and-solo-exhibition-in-nyc

About the Residency

The Project Studios Residency is a work-only visual art residency focused on production of new artwork within a very well-equipped suite of studios. The artist or artists chosen for the residency will be awarded a solo exhibition at PROTO GOMEZ Gallery in New York City in Spring of 2021. The exhibition will be featured on the PROTO Gallery Artsy page and all social media for PROTO Gallery and PROTO GOMEZ. One to three artists will be selected for the residency and solo exhibitions. Artists working in any media are eligible.

Although the focus of the residency is to produce new artwork in a mostly self-guided manner, there will the availability of consultation and light instruction regarding safe and effective use of the tools and materials within the studios as well as opportunities for studio visits with independent curators and area gallerists, performed in-person or virtually, including Will Hutnick (Ortega Y Gasset Projects and Wassaic Project) Nicholas Cueva (Underdonk) Jen Hitchings (Studio Associate) and Krista Scenna (Ground Floor Gallery), as well as Enrico Gomez and Nick De Pirro of PROTO GOMEZ. These studio visits are intended as a dialogue opportunity about the work being created in the residency with individuals working in the emerging arts field.

The shop spaces at Project Studios are very large and have been configured for optimal social distancing. Project Studios is an active creative community, so depending on availability, artists selected for the residency may be provided with an individual, shared, or common studio. Studio configuration will be developed on a case-by-case basis depending on need and availability as well as safety and comfort. The default space provided will be a college-style semi-private studio within one of the large studio suites. Masks are required. Use of the studios is subject to futuredirectives from New Jersey state government and Hoboken city government related to COVID-19.

Previously, this program was focused on ceramics, and only one artist was awarded a residency. For 2020, when many artists have seen opportunities significantly reduced, we decided to reduce our application fee and broaden the scope and award up to three artists, working in any media.

There is no cost for the residency itself, however artists are expected to acquire their own materials and consumables. If available, a lager private studio beyond what is provided can be rented on a monthly basis at a significant discount. Clay and metal can be purchased via Project Studios.

The studios are located a few blocks from the Hoboken PATH Train station, an easy connection to Lower Manhattan via various subway lines to WTC PATH, or from Brooklyn via the L Train to the 14th Street PATH Station. The studio also has free parking on-site.

Please note that this residency is work-only. We do not supply housing for artists-in-residence.

Artists awarded the residency will receive:

24-7 Access to the Clay Studio

24-7 Access to the 2nd Floor Gallery and Critique Space

24-7 Access to the Photography Studio

24-7 Access to the Printmaking Studio

Daily access to Welding Shop

Daily access to Wood Shop and Spray Booth

A Studio Space (private or semi-private depending on availability) 24-7 Access

Use of Glazes and Glaze Formulating Chemicals and Glaze Formula Library

Opportunities to Participate in Raku Firings

Free Parking on-site

Studio Visits

Professional Exhibition Photos

A Solo Exhibition at PROTO GOMEZ Gallery, a ground-floor storefront gallery located in the Two-Bridges neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

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checkmeoutphotobooths1 · 2 years ago

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phillyphotob · 4 years ago

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The State of Events for The Entertainment Trade & Gig Industry

2020 positively has brought puzzlement and chaos to everyone as a whole,as well as Photo Entertainment business specifically. As the dawn of a new decade began, brides to be previously had wedding parties planned with all of there individualism, Sweet Sixteen celebrations had been in the development phase, Bat Mitzvahs were being considered along with there particulars, graduations were going to occur, and a lot of various kinds of events and happenings were planned, and then Corona Virus hit the proverbial fan. Right away the lot ended. To state the last few several weeks are tough it may be an underestimation. The Photo Booth Business came to a crushing end. No Parties, No wedding events, No fundraises, No Bat Mitzvahs. No money. Employers lost their earnings, and people lost their earnings. A adverse blow to large and specific businesses.

But things Might get Improved!

Let us remember, it all began for Extreme Photo Booths back to December 2008. We've actually been in reality a DJ corporation. At one of my get-togethers I observed a lot of motion over in a spot of the wedding reception room. After checking it out, I found out that it was a “Photo Booth”. The booth was jam packed all night and the invitees had a great time. Upon leaving, I observed the young lady actually packed the total formation into a sedan-style auto. I was impressed but didn’t think anything more about it. Then, one day in April a lady inquired about for a wedding DJ and asked if we do Photo Booths? I talked to her about it and she advised me that she was given a quote for over a $1000 for 4 hours. Sounded good to me! On July 19, 2009, Photo Booth Rentals Philly did our first Photo Booth. It was a excellent success, so much that was our last DJ party and we haven’t looked back. Nearly 5000 events later, we are the Philly’s #1 supplier of photo booths and photograph fun.

Photo booth Philly have been around for many years. The patent for the earliest computerized taking photos instrument was registered in 1888 by William Pope and Edward Poole. A Siberian colonist by the name of Anatol Josepho presented the world’s earliest fully-automatic photographic machine on Broadway and 51st near Times Square. He titled his technology the Photomaton, priced at $11,000 to build. People wound all the way around the block waiting for hours at the chance to have their likeness captured images. It was such a achievement that Jospeho received $1 million – around $14 million in today’s money – plus future royalties for his innovation.

I in fact had one gentleman pull out of his wallet a photo of him and his bride from 62 years back, from a photo booth rent on the New Jersey boardwalk. It was not only a memento, but an an essential memory and a portion of their life. What a a good reminiscence! I could tell it was important for these individuals. He said he was going to carry this one around with him, right next to the original.

Infotech has definitely transformed over the many years, and the photo booth rental business is no different. Old digital cameras have improved from analog to digital. Processing has changed from chemical to digital prints. Or, even no printing, with pics provided via text/e mail/Wireless bluetooth. Photo booth Philadelphia even take video footage at present and are also given to the clients by sms/e-mail/Wi-fi. Such other techniques as greenscreen and digital props are just a duo of the innovative techniques.

At the moment, there are two distinctly different types of photo booths. The DSLR Booth and the IPAD Booth. Most Photo Booth corporations operate both variations, as well as Extreme Photo Booths. The basic installation of the DSLR booth is a, of course, a DSLR camera, a laptop computer, a touch-screen monitor and a printer. The pros of the DSLR camera is that the shots are normally higher quality, with enhanced illumination, and superior sized data files. The photographs are printed or in electronic format sent to the invitees. In the past five years, IPAD Booths are becoming better known. Commonly, they are not much more affordable to put into production than the DSLR Booth. The functionality of the IPAD Booths are very cool. They do make it possible for hard copy on site, but it is a bit more tricky to setup. Various firms, have included IPad booths into their leasing lineup, just to be whose purpose is as “Drop-off” booths, where the photo booth rental company just produces the booth, sets it up and your visitors make use of it with out having an clerk to facilitate. As Covid-19 takes its’ grasp, this could well be widely used.

2 of the common booths, right now, are the 360 Booth and the Roamer Booth. The 360 Booth is a wholly video-style booth, no prints. The invitees position on a low foundation as a fast moving slowmotion camera rips around them in a complete 360 degree circle. The camera captures a fast 3-5 second videos, slows it down then reverses the motion, then adds sound files, then adds logos as needed. I never saw consumers have a lot more fun than with a 360 booth! The Wanderer Booth is in addition a quite a lot of fun. What aboutthoseget-togethers while visitors just neverhave the opportunity to the photo booth. Don't worry about it, the booth visits the attendees. Certainly, the photo booth seeks out the attendees. This sort of booth has had positive results. The strolling booth is ideal for street fairs, when business wants to get its’ name out to the the mass -branding. extreme photo booth has one major corporate clients that will use nothing but the Roamer Booth, because so many of its’ office employees never leave their table or the tavern area. Most people cannot hide with the roamer booth.

Behind the curtain, photo booths have improved from a enjoyment, photo, profit tool to a data aggregation tool. Common day photo booths gather all kinds of info, not to mention names, e-mail, cell phone numbers, etc. In my opinion, I find this irritating and overwhelming, but to existing corps - data collection is important and they are willing to spend major money for it. Profit motivates the photo booth industry just like any other industry.

Many years back, I realized the photo booth industry was in a crisis for its’ existence. The industry was being over supplied by “weekend warriors”. These are the people that have full-time occupations and use the industry as a second hustle. Nothing wrong with that, except they just can’t give the same service as a corporation completely committed to the industry. They have perhaps difficulty competing on a high-quality rank, so many of them shrink prices to an unsustainable point. They just can’t charge a couple of hundred dollars and make any kind of profit. Many of those companies used internet pages such as Groupon and Thumbtack. They made sales, but even at less earnings. A large number of corporations would take a advance payment and just not show up. What a shame. It got so bad, that Groupon not long ago ceased letting photo boothcompanies on their website.

Now we are left at where we are today. COVID-19 is starting to sputter and activities are starting to return. This means we as a photo booth company have the accountability to take your health and safety incredibly seriously. In response to the health emergency, Extreme Photo Booths is taking needed actions to be sure the safety and health of our personnel and event visitors. Through this unparalleled time Extreme Photo Booth company employees will be utilizing masks, and sanitizing our booths regularly. In addition, Extreme Photo Booths will not be offering props or scrapbooking until it is safe to do so. We will be motivating guests to practice safety standards when taking photos but will not impose or enforce rules on guests unless instructed by the host to do so.

Having these minor bumps in the street are now past, and as we are all mindful, Covid-19 is controlling the economic climate. Preferably, Covid-19 will go away as fast as it came. The US economic system will get re-energized, and citizens will start Celebrations once more!

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enchanteddjsnj · 4 years ago

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Want to rent a booth for your upcoming wedding? If so, Must visit: https://www.enchantedcelebrations.com/jaimee-and-jasons-wedding-videography-at-doolans-shore-club-2/ we NJ #1 Wedding Photo Booths rentals: we provide a variety of silly accessories to make it more fun and entertaining.

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selfieboothcous · 2 years ago

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How to choose a Photo Booth

Before, photo booths were primarily found in shop corners where people took pictures for their IDs. However, they are trendy at parties, weddings, and other events.

But as the number of events that need photo booths grows, so does the number of companies that want to provide them. So the problem is to find the best company.

You do not have to worry because the article will give tips for choosing the right photography partner.

Tips for Choosing A Photo Booth

Check the ratings

When looking into a company that rents out photo booths, you should first read customer reviews of their service. It will give you a good idea of what to expect, and if a lot of people have had a good time, your event will likely be the same. Of course, we do not ignore companies that do not have ratings, but you may have more faith in a company that has been around for a long time than in one that is just starting. There are several companies that provide the rent selfie booth in Los Angeles at very reasonable prices.

Budget

The amount of money you want to spend is always an essential factor. Every event has a budget, and you should stick to it. However, do not forget that your budget will directly affect the photo booths you can choose from and that a smaller budget will likely show in the quality of the pictures and the equipment you get. Also, remember that sales tax will be added on top of that. There are several options for photo booth rentals in New Jersey that are well known for providing excellent photo services at very reasonable prices.

Somewhat Booth

Because of technological changes, there are now a lot of different kinds of photo booths. Some have touch screens, and some have themes, but the reason to have one at your event is for the photos. So, it is essential to ensure that the booth you choose has the best technology to get clear pictures of everyone's best side.

Customer support

Even though you and your guests own the photos, in the end, you trust a company to give you the best service possible. The booths have to provide excellent service to your customers because the booths with the best customer service will be able to help choose props and suggest solutions for the background. Many rent photo booths in Dallas are well-known.

Conclusion

Here are a few tips to help you find the best company, such as Selfie Booth, to set up a photo booth at your event, no matter what it is. Rental facilities are also available. Please make sure to follow the tips mentioned above before choosing your photo booth. Check out the website now: https://selfieboothco.com/

View original source here - https://selfieboothcous.blogspot.com/2022/12/how-to-choose-photo-booth.html

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sylviajackson5 · 5 years ago

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ydoineverlearn-blog · 7 years ago

Photo

NJ Photo Booth Rental: Your Answer To an Excellent Occasion There are a lot of words which can be associated with just one picture, which is why it is very important to take photos in any celebration that you are going to attend to. But the point is, there are cases when we get lost with countless things to deal with and forget to bring our cameras with us. This usually results to lost chances to get great memories from that celebration that should have been captured with our cameras. Taking photos in any occasions is now made easier with the presence of photo booths. If you are living in New Jersey and you are thinking of installing a photo booth in your party, you can find assistance with photo booth rental NJ, they can do the set up for you. This option of renting a photo booth will eliminate the worries of missing those thousand memories and thousand words again. In fact, a photo booth can be useful in many parties. Birthday Parties Birthday parties are always special, an event that most people are always getting excited about. For a kid, regardless of the simplicity or grandiosity of the celebration, being able to commemorate the event is what makes them joyful. Thus, it is but essential to capture the smile on the celebrant’s face as this will serve as a remembrance of his or her happiness during the celebration. Even for special birthday celebrations such as debut and sweet 16, each happy moment should be captured with a camera. Photo booth rental NJ, they will give you quality shots and great captures of moments, so if you are thinking to get beautiful pictures of the celebrant and also all the visitors present in the celebration, you can make it possible. Having photos of the event is something that you should not take for granted as it will give you memories of the celebration, hence, you should think about renting photo booth in every special event. Weddings & Anniversaries Weddings always come with official photographers but, you can’t merely totally rely on them in terms of capturing all the moments in your wedding. That is why you will need a photo booth; all those fantastic times will truly be captured. If you want, you can put captions on specific pictures to be able to remember what’s taking place during the time the picture was captured. If you are searching for the best photo booth to rent for your marriage ceremony, photo booth rental NJ is the ideal option for you. Proms & Dances Prom night is an important function for every teenager. This is the time of the school year where they get happy since they can relish and bond with their school friends. This is the ideal time for them to ask their crushes and love interests to get a romantic dance with them. Photo booth rental NJ can make this event extraordinary because they capture great moments with your love and your friends during the prom. Whether you are planning to arrange the events mentioned above, or you have another one in your mind, leasing a photo booth will help a lot. Think about using the services of photo booth rental NJ to make every event a good one.

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chevellesphotobooth · 5 years ago

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killandenjoying-blog · 7 years ago

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caveartfair · 6 years ago

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Inside New York’s Last Remaining Artists’ Housing

When entering Westbeth Artists Housing, a sprawling, converted industrial complex located on the quiet and manicured Bethune Street in New York’s West Village, you’ll have to abandon all preconceived notions of what it means to “make it” as an artist. In the lobby, young students of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and the New School for Drama, both housed in the building, zip between shuffling senior citizens sporting brightly dyed hair and artfully disheveled, hipsterish clothes. These bohemian elders are the original residents of Westbeth, a keen, active group of people who have spent a lifetime challenging convention.

When it opened in January 1970, Westbeth became the first and largest federally subsidized artists’ colony in the country. It was born during a moment of exceptionally liberal thinking in the late 1960s, when the National Endowment for the Arts and the J.M. Kaplan Fund tasked a young, up-and-coming architect named Richard Meier—who would go on to win the prestigious Pritzker Prize—with an extraordinary creative reuse project. Meier was asked to transform the massive, abandoned Bell Telephone Laboratories—where major modern technologies like the transistor radio and color TV were invented—into flexible, affordable live-work spaces for artists working in a range of creative disciplines.

Edith Stephen, 98, a dancer, choreographer, and documentary filmmaker, moved into the complex the year that it opened, when she was 50 years old. Her 2010 film Split/Scream, A Saga of Westbeth Artist Housing turned the lens on Westbeth. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Was the initiative a success? One need only look to the wealth of canonical works created inside Westbeth’s walls, and its roster of now-famous tenants. Merce Cunningham choreographed many of his most innovative modern dances here; video art power couple Nam June Paik and Shigeko Kubota worked side-by-side on their avant-garde projects; and Diane Arbus developed her influential, subversive street photography.

But the vast majority of residents, present and past, are not household names, or even vaguely familiar ones. Superstardom, they potently remind us, is a fate that awaits a disproportionately small number of writers, poets, musicians, actors, dancers, and visual artists. Westbeth makes it clear that it’s valuable to support artists, whether or not they achieve wealth and fame.

The project’s originators intended for artists to take advantage of the low-rent apartments for five years while they jump-started their careers, after which they would move on. But things didn’t happen that way. Today, Westbeth legally qualifies as a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community; the first class of tenants, now in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, composes an estimated 60 percent of its current residents. It was profoundly naïve to assume that artists would give up the comfort and security that Westbeth provided, especially as New York gentrified around them.

“It’s like a hive in here,” Elizabeth Gregory-Gruen said of Westbeth, a theme that recurs in the radiating fire escapes in the building’s interior courtyard. They don’t lead to the ground—in case of fire, residents are meant to crawl to a neighbor’s incombustible, concrete apartment. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

These original occupants have witnessed the West Village transform from a derelict and crime-ridden manufacturing district to a flashy “Hollywood on the Hudson,” the neighborhood’s abandoned warehouses colonized by celebrity pieds-à-terre. Westbeth’s artists have raised families who now have children of their own, and in the course of their long, creative careers, some have achieved critical and commercial acclaim, or nearly did. But many never came close.

Westbeth makes it clear that it’s valuable to support artists, whether or not they achieve wealth and fame.

Westbeth celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2020; in 2011, it was declared a New York City landmark. But in many ways, the inner workings of its hive-like interior remain a mystery. Frankie Alduino, a photographer and West Village local, first came across Westbeth in 2017 while walking to work at Annie Leibovitz’s studio, where he was a producer. It was the beginning of a fruitful project: To date, he has captured over 60 residents in their apartment studios, an ongoing effort to document this unique community.

Intrigued by these portraits, I decided to interview a number of their subjects at their homes, and they offered reflections on Westbeth and their decades working as artists in New York City. What they told me revealed the multiplicity of factors that come to bear on any artist’s prosperity and productivity.

Jack Dowling entered Westbeth in 1970 as an abstract painter, but almost immediately turned to a career in writing. These days, he has plans to finally complete his last painting, which has remained unfinished since the 1960s. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Edith Stephen’s first Westbeth application was rejected; as a university dance teacher, she made too much money to qualify. She was later admitted while unemployed. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Meier envisaged his utopian project as an “integrated, self-sufficient community…a total environment in which artists could pursue their work, from conception to performance or display.” He repurposed the 13 utilitarian steel-and-concrete structures that comprised Bell Labs—at one time the biggest industrial research center in America—to include 383 loft spaces ranging from studios to three-bedrooms to duplexes. The facility also has galleries, theatrical spaces, and a limited number of studios for painting, printmaking, ceramics, film, photography, and dance.

Despite all this, “in the beginning,” said writer and painter Jack Dowling, 87, “we called it ‘Art Prison.’” The place was a mess, Dowling explained; the hallways were painted in dark colors and covered in graffiti, a far cry from the clean, well-kept corridors one walks through today.

Architect Richard Meier’s blueprint of the second floor on the coffee table in Westbeth Artists Residents Council president Roger Braimon’s apartment in the complex. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

The scene outside its walls was not much better. “Gritty” was a term many of its residents used to describe it, but that doesn’t quite capture what was playing out. Trans prostitutes populated the sidewalks, and in the mornings, they crossed paths with neighborhood children on their way to school. Crime was so prevalent that women carried police whistles, and the tenants chipped in for a neighborhood watch agency to patrol the streets. To the west, displaced gays found a dangerous and illicit hangout among the crumbling piers that dotted the Hudson. Writer and artist Alison Armstrong, 75, wryly recalls commonly seeing “men from New Jersey having sex in their cars on the street corner” as she went out for groceries in the morning.

While most of Westbeth’s original tenants embody a certain spirit of 1960s bohemianism, all of the people I spoke to found reasons to dislike the area—but the degree to which these blights affected their experience varied dramatically. Bob Gruen, 74, a rock-and-roll photographer who could usually be found at equally gritty East Village haunts like Max’s Kansas City or CBGB in the 1970s, described the neighborhood around Westbeth as “West of Nowhere.” Much to his chagrin, the windows in his first apartment in the building overlooked the broken West Side Highway strewn before what should have been a picturesque view of the river.

Jack Dowling was nearly 40, broke, and essentially homeless when the Department of Cultural Affairs told him about Westbeth in 1970.

The piers and highway have long since been torn down, replaced by the exceptionally maintained Hudson River Park, frequented by residents of the area’s multi-million-dollar apartment buildings. But Gruen’s neighbor, 83-year-old puppeteer and theater artist Ralph Lee, has a different attitude toward what came before the chichi developments along the water: “There were abandoned warehouses open to the weather on the piers. You could go there and poke around and pick up all kinds of great stuff,” he lamented.

Despite the roughness of the neighborhood in the 1970s and ’80s, Westbeth had tremendously valuable offerings for artists facing an unrelenting series of struggles to make their work, even in an era where cheap loft spaces were plentiful and a part-time job could sustain you for months. This was especially true for artists with children. The initial wave into Westbeth came out of SoHo, where young families were being driven out by the surge of uptown money taking over the lofts for commercial use. At Westbeth they found space—families were offered larger apartments—and real bathrooms, as opposed to the makeshift toilets common in SoHo’s manufacturing buildings.

Lee, however, was 35, already living comfortably with his first wife and three children in a sprawling seven-room apartment on the Upper West Side when he heard about Westbeth from some friends at the Open Theater. Although he’d gotten a deal on the rent there, he found that the uptown place wasn’t always conducive to the production of his costumes and props. In the 1960s and ’70s, he was making elaborate masks and giant puppets for various theater companies in New York, as well as crafting props for Shari Lewis (“If Lamb Chop needed a snowsuit for a particular show, I’d make that”) while aligning with the nascent off-off-Broadway scene.

Theater artist Ralph Lee, 83, loves spending time in his studio located in the apartment he moved into with his wife and three children in 1970. He curates a rotating array of his fantastical puppets in an unused guard booth in the Westbeth courtyard. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Above all, Lee had a desire to be downtown among other artists; he was “just itching for a different lifestyle,” to be more “in it,” he said. His first marriage ended not long after he moved into Westbeth, but Lee has retained the same apartment, a spacious suite inhabited by strange creatures on every surface. A fantastical, life-sized lobster costume created for Sam Shepard’s Back Bog Beast Bait (1974) and a “pig-beast” from Cowboy Mouth (1971), which Shepard co-wrote with Patti Smith, flank his entryway.

How did his kids—then 10, 9, and 4 years old—fare? Without daycare options in the building, residents made informal arrangements with one another. Lee’s son became friendly with the son of jazz musician Gil Evans. The children would hang out in Lee’s studio in the back of his apartment, where he gave them modeling clay to play with. On Saturday afternoons, he’d take all of them to the Elgin Theater (now the Joyce) to see old films. “It was just a great place, and a great place for kids,” he said.

Today, Lee shares the apartment with his second wife, Casey Compton (his children and grandchildren are frequent visitors). For the last 42 years, they’ve co-run the upstate Mettawee River Theater Company. But he became a local legend—and a Westbeth ICON awardee, an honor for senior artist residents who continue working beyond their eighties—when he created the annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in 1974. Lee launched the “wandering neighborhood puppet show,” which begins at Westbeth, for his children and their friends. The parade became so popular, both among the residents who pitched in and the neighborhood at large, that in 1976, it became an official nonprofit organization. It still lives on, though Lee gave up directing the parade in 1985.

The work table in Ralph Lee’s home studio is the origin of many of the puppets featured in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. The beloved annual event has attracted over 2 million spectators since Lee founded it at Westbeth in 1974. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

While Lee took advantage of the collaborative opportunities at Westbeth, Jack Dowling, who has also lived there since it opened, at first felt like an outsider in the community. Thoughtful and soft-spoken, Dowling is today a figure beloved by the residents; as the longest-serving visual arts director on the Westbeth Artists Residents Council (known as WARC), he’s organized countless exhibitions at the Westbeth Gallery, and he knows just about everyone. In 2017, he was named the first Westbeth ICON.

But Dowling was nearly 40, broke, and essentially homeless when the Department of Cultural Affairs told him about the newly-opened housing project in 1970. This low point followed what had seemed to be an upward career trajectory: For 12 years, Dowling had produced his abstract paintings in an 1,800-square-foot loft on 1st Avenue and East 24th Street, an out-of-the-way location that the artist cherished for its space and quiet. The legendary art dealer Ivan Karp, who worked at Leo Castelli Gallery, was championing his work. Then, suddenly, the city allowed New York University to raze Dowling’s apartment building for student housing. Despite a costly legal battle, he was evicted and forced to put his paintings in storage.

When a slot opened at Westbeth, Dowling moved into a modest, 400-square-foot space the tenants call the “starter apartment,” because “the first thing you do is put your name on the in-house move list to get out of it,” Dowling explained. Enterprising tenants took advantage of the frequent management turnover in those days, remodeling their spaces or ignoring the in-house move list, and grabbing bigger and better apartments or coveted studio spaces as they became available. Dowling has now upgraded to a tidy, gray-painted apartment nearly twice the size of the starter apartment, with a loft space he built to write and store his work. “I just moved into it, and then I went down to the office and said I moved. That would never have happened later,” he told me.

As the longest-serving visual arts director on the Westbeth Artists Residents Council, Jack Dowling, 87, is acutely aware of tenants’ broad spectrum of creativity. “You could come in here and find just about every school of art being produced by somebody,” he said. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Still, in 1970, Dowling had “lost momentum,” and lost contacts, too. He felt the art world leaning toward Conceptualism and Minimalism. So Dowling put his abstract painting career on hold and took a job at a small publishing company, where he began to play around with writing.

But mostly, he kept to himself. Dowling’s popularity at Westbeth is relatively recent; back then, he told me, he wasn’t much of a “mixer.” He avoided the many parties he later heard had been going on. As a single gay man, he felt more comfortable in nearby Village bars than with the families in his building, who he sensed “were not happy with some of the action that was going on in the neighborhood.” But while Dowling perceived Westbeth residents with families as somewhat prudish, other tenants told a far different story. During my week of interviews, I heard countless tales of intrigue: a tangled web of relationships shaped by rampant cheating or partner-swapping, estrangement, and divorce.

When John Lennon visited his personal photographer’s Westbeth apartment, he said “Man, you’ve got some weird neighbors!”

These knotty relationships have added to Westbeth’s complicated—and not totally fair—system of allotting apartments and workspaces. Sometimes a break-up meant that the artist who was originally granted the apartment was the one who had to move out, leaving behind the partner who was not an artist. There seems to have been some bitterness about how choice units were allocated, too. The largest spaces went to the families with the most children, but dynamics shifted—couples divorced or were widowed, and children grew up, yet “there are a number of single people, some of whom have stopped being productive, who nevertheless have a huge two-bedroom,” Armstrong said.

Decades after he had settled into Westbeth, sculptor Jonathan Bauch, 78, found himself in such a tangled situation. In the 1960s, he was struggling to work on his art while balancing a full-time graphic design job. He spent his free moments demonstrating with the Art Workers Coalition and running a co-op gallery, the Museum Project of Living Artists, with Marcia Tucker. Despite his activities, Bauch wasn’t able to get his foot in the door of a commercial gallery and “wasn’t confident” about the work he was making at the time, so he quickly gave up on marketing it.

For Jonathan Bauch, “Westbeth was a savior. To afford a studio, I would have had to work full-time.” At 78, he has the freedom to work on his steel sculptures five days a week in a studio in the building that he shares with another resident. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Bauch found refuge at Westbeth. “It was like a dream come true,” he said. “For the same amount of rent I was paying in the East Village, I tripled the space.” (When Westbeth opened in 1970, rents were $100 a month for single residents—a bit more than $650 today, factoring in inflation—and slightly more for families.) He told his girlfriend Barbara, a psychology student, about the housing complex. She immediately commanded him to “call the office and tell them you’re getting married.” Bauch demurred, but she cannily insisted. “Don’t worry about it,” she assured him. “If we don’t get married, we’ll still have a bigger apartment.” They moved in December 1969, a week before the new year, and got married not long after.

Bauch’s art practice resumed “big time,” and he was able to freelance as a graphic designer part-time to make ends meet. He found acceptance for his work at Westbeth’s co-op gallery, where he has exhibited since its second show, and was pleased to find that “everyone was young and full of piss and vinegar.” He was content there until 1990, when his marriage broke up. His lawyers advised him to leave the apartment to his wife—who still lives there today—and his daughter. So he moved to Brooklyn, where he could afford an apartment with an extra bedroom for his daughter to visit.

Bauch was down on his luck; the computer had phased him out of the graphic design field, which wasn’t as lucrative as it used to be, anyway. Instead, he said, “I compromised in order to have more time for art” by driving a taxi four days a week. A year after he moved, Bauch reapplied to Westbeth. He waited for 10 years, and in 2000, something amazing happened: He received a new apartment.

At 92 years old, Gloria Miguel, a Kuna/Rappahannock elder, continues to perform with Spiderwoman Theater. The company, which she founded with her sisters in the mid-1970s, produces plays about women’s and indigenous issues. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Today, Bauch shares a studio space in the building with another resident, where he has his own torches and plasma cutters. He works on his sculpture there five days per week, and his apartment is practically booby-trapped with spiky, metal configurations on the floor and walls. In 2010, he finally obtained representation, from Carter Burden Gallery. “There was chemistry,” he said. He’s had several solo shows there, which was “very exciting at first. Now it’s comfortable.” Bauch frequently visits his daughter, a choreographer, and her two children, ages five and four. They moved into Westbeth six months ago from Brooklyn after a 15-year wait for an apartment to open up.

Frankly, it’s a miracle that Bauch and his daughter were both able to return to Westbeth after leaving. The competition for these spaces is unduly fierce. Clearly, the artists at Westbeth require more than a short-term housing solution to build their careers, and as the city’s real estate prices soared in the 1980s and ’90s, artists clung to their Westbeth apartments evermore tightly (plus, there were no bylaws the board could use to evict them). Some artists have handed their apartments down to children and grandchildren (though subletting to non-artists has also been known to occur). By 2006, the waitlist was officially closed due to the incredible wait times and high demand, and between 2015 and 2018, only 20 new tenants and their families were admitted.

As a society, we have an urgent, moral obligation to address how artists can live safely and thrive creatively.

Alison Armstrong, who teaches several days a week at the School of Visual Arts, briefly served on the admissions committee for visual arts residents, a harrowing task that included vetting the seriousness of an applicant’s need and artistic aspirations. WARC committees, separated by discipline—from music and performance to visual arts and writing—verify that applicants were indeed artists, a denomination determined by the portion of income derived from the sale of their work. Their rent is determined by income.

“We had a lot of people up in years who were trying to get in,” Armstrong said, “or we had people who had been on the list for 25 years and they weren’t even painting anymore,” and so were no longer eligible. “It was hard for the younger people to get on the list,” she explained, “because they were all blocked by these people who had put themselves on the list years ago and were still waiting.”

As the founder of the percussion ensemble Women of the Calabash, Madeleine Yayodele Nelson performed for eminent world leaders, including Barack Obama, in a quest to popularize music from Africa and the African diaspora. Nelson passed away last September at age 69; she joined Westbeth in 1982. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Armstrong was a relatively late addition to Westbeth—she moved in when she was almost 40 years old, in 1981—but the unfolding events of her life allowed her to circumvent waitlist purgatory. She was working towards a master of literature degree at Oxford University when her cousin William Anthony, a painter and illustrator who has lived at Westbeth since it opened, suggested she put her name on the list. “I said, ‘I’m never coming back to America,’” Armstrong recalled, so she ignored the request. But her health and a teenage son drew her back to Ohio before she finally moved to New York to study at NYU, camping out with cousin Bill until he found her a sublet at Westbeth.

Soon after, she married an architectural historian who lived down the hall and moved into his small, one-bedroom apartment, even though, as a mother with a child of the opposite sex, she was entitled to a much bigger place. After she left her husband in the late 1980s, Armstrong squatted in her windowless basement studio for two years while he retained his space upstairs. She spent over 30 years on the in-house waitlist, biding her time on the noisy and dirty ground floor before her current one-bedroom apartment on the eighth floor became available while she was serving on the tenants’ council.

As the city’s real estate prices soared in the 1980s and ’90s, artists clung to their Westbeth apartments ever more tightly.

As someone who has spent years living in some of the most inhospitable spaces Westbeth has to offer, Armstrong has carefully considered some of the deficiencies of young Richard Meier’s design. Because he included so few studio spaces in the building, Meier conceived of the apartments as dual live-work spaces. But he didn’t account for the often hazardous realities of artmaking.

If you’re a potter or a painter living next to your cans of turpentine, Armstrong said, “you could die of toxic fumes, which has happened.” The apartments are not equipped with utility sinks, so “we have to wash our equipment where we cook our food.” She also feels that the act of writing is misunderstood by the general Westbeth population: “Some painters say, ‘You’re a writer, you don’t need any space at all,’” she griped. “But you need bookshelves, file cabinets, desks—plural—where you can have a clear mind.” Although she’s published a wide range of books and is now at work on a collection of nonfiction essays, Armstrong’s current setup sometimes makes it difficult to concentrate. “As you can see, I have things all over the place,” she gestured, her cat Felix stirring on her lap. “I write behind the bookcase.” Still, she admits that she’s been the “happiest living here than any other time in New York City.”

Octogenarian actress-turned-writer Carol Hebald’s extensive book collection bounds her living room, which is also her office. She’s lived at Westbeth since 1991, and has published a memoir, a novella collection, a novel, and four books of poetry. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Each resident has radically different thoughts about the nature of success, ideas that have shifted as they’ve aged. Bob Gruen, a pioneer of rock photography, is a self-proclaimed “Westbeth legend,” and agrees that he’s “a success story.” That’s a bit of an understatement. In the ’70s, Gruen cut his teeth capturing performances by Bob Dylan, the Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Blondie, Led Zeppelin, the Who, David Bowie, and anyone else who wandered through downtown New York. He also served as John Lennon’s personal photographer while the former Beatle lived around the corner, on Bank Street, with Yoko Ono, and his shot of Lennon wearing a New York City T-shirt has become iconic (one of his portraits of Lennon was recently turned into a commemorative postage stamp). Okay, so Gruen’s a big, important artist—but despite his notoriety, he never made a lot of money from his work, and still relies on the rent-controlled apartment he’s lived in for almost 50 years.

Gruen applied for a Westbeth space in 1967. “There were fewer than 400 apartments, and 1,000 names on the list,” he remembered. He found out he got one on Christmas Eve in 1969 and moved in with his first wife—also an artist—and his son in January 1970, right when the building opened. Even so, there were only four units left, and none of the eight photography studios remained. He took the only one with a window, retrofitting a darkroom in the 800-square-foot apartment, which cost only $125 per month.

Although he lacked space, Gruen’s acceptance to Westbeth offered the up-and-coming artist something far more valuable: “You’re certified by the U.S. government as an artist when you sign the lease,” he explained. That confirmation “gave me the confidence and freedom to be an artist.” But it’s really the circumstances of Westbeth that allowed him to have the career he ultimately built for himself. When he first started out, Gruen paid the bills by taking baby pictures. Moving into Westbeth enabled him to quit his day job and build up his music contacts, which “took about four or five years,” he said, certainly a longer timeframe than Westbeth’s creators would have thought necessary. (He laughed thinking about a recent chance encounter with Richard Meier, who joked, “You were supposed to move out!”)

Rock photographer Bob Gruen’s famous 1974 portrait of John Lennon overlooks an apartment crammed with 50 years’ worth of negatives—an archive his wife, Elizabeth Gregory-Gruen, is painstakingly working to organize. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

The building management was also exceptionally accommodating. They understood that many artists couldn’t rely on a weekly paycheck, and were lenient about rent being late. “The only way to get kicked out of Westbeth is feet first,” Gruen said. The building’s residents also appreciated the unconventionality of an artists’ lifestyle. During the day, Gruen worked in the darkroom he built in his current apartment, which he moved into in 1975 and shares with his second wife, Elizabeth Gregory-Gruen, a fashion designer, artist, and manager of his archives. He went out to the East Village clubs all night. “No one cared,” he said appreciatively. Yet not everyone was accustomed to such a free-spirited place. Gruen remembered the first time Lennon came over for coffee. The rockstar had trouble finding the apartment, which is located down a convoluted maze of corridors, so he went around knocking on everyone’s doors. When he finally got to Gruen, Lennon couldn’t help but say, “Man, you’ve got some weird neighbors.”

Living at Westbeth is “a completely different life from the American standard, which is you get a job, and then you retire, and you play golf or something like that,” Dowling said. Most of the artists I spoke with agreed that being an artist can be taxing. It’s a “feast and famine situation,” Gruen said; a job that requires “sacrifice” in order to “love something enough to lose money,” according to Bauch. Yet every person I spoke with also cited Westbeth as a savior, especially as they age.

Latvian dancer and choreographer Vija Vetra, who will turn 96 on February 6th, stands in her front entry hall, surrounded by her artwork and posters from past performances. Vetra continues to conduct yoga and dance classes from her Westbeth studio. Photo by Frankie Alduino.

Today, the sense of community has never been stronger. These days, Westbeth offers free senior wellness classes like yoga, singing, sound healing, and improvisational acting. In the elevator, posters advertise Westbeth Movie Night and seminars on how to digitize your archives. But the greatest change is among the tenants. “I think people begin to relax a bit as they age,” Dowling opined. “The competitive thing isn’t necessary anymore.” That’s not to say residents are resting on their laurels: “No matter how old they are, everybody in this building is creative right up to the end,” he continued. “People are still working the day before they die.”

What are young artists lured by the dream of the New York art world to do without similar opportunities? While steadfastly managed by a public board of directors, this radical housing initiative remains a unique bastion, promising affordable live-work spaces to artists in perpetuity. But while Westbeth may have started as a leg-up for aspiring artists, in many ways, it now seems to be a life raft for older people in a hyper-gentrifying city. While rents are no longer as bargain-bin as they were in the 1970s, relative to the area, they remain a steal; since 2011, units are not rent-controlled, but rather rent-stabilized, and prices today range from $700 to $4,000 per month.

The failure of the board to enforce the five-year limit on Westbeth residencies has effectively squeezed a new generation out of the same kind of support. The board, however, has plans to reopen the waitlist in the near future, this time with an eye toward diversity—they’re working with organizations like the Harlem Arts Alliance—and a cap on rental periods. (Westbeth, surprisingly, does not track the demographics of its residents, but it’s safe to say that the community is not reflective of New York City’s population.)

“No matter how old they are, everybody in this building is creative right up to the end. People are still working the day before they die.”

In the meantime, it seems foolish to rely on additional solutions from the American government, which generally has never much seen the point in putting dollars behind the arts; in fact, as soon as the Nixon administration assumed office in 1968, the National Endowment of the Arts halted all financial support after the renovation was completed, and Westbeth only continued through the generosity of the Kaplan Fund. Westbeth could easily be a one-off utopian project, considered starry-eyed and impractical, at least in the limited imaginations of our politicians.

As a society, we have an urgent, moral obligation to address how artists can live safely and thrive creatively in cities that have become increasingly hostile to their survival. The deadly 2016 Ghost Ship fire—in which an Oakland warehouse co-opted by artists went up in flames, killing 36 people—was a horrific reminder that when artists can’t find affordable housing, they turn to dangerous solutions. It’s a comforting reminder that Westbeth, with its thick concrete walls, is fireproof. There’s a dedicated staff on call, and a grant-funded social worker who comes in several days a week. In times of disaster, like when elderly tenants were stranded during Hurricane Sandy, residents and staff pulled together to bring them supplies.

Ultimately, Westbeth forces us to consider why it’s so difficult to value the function of artists in society. The work of an artist isn’t always about productivity, and we don’t always see the results of this creative labor. “Imagining is something you do,” Gruen clarified, “not something that happens. It’s the job of the artist to daydream.” This might seem quaint, but Gruen knows that “being successful doesn’t necessarily mean fame or gallery representation. It is simply having the time and space to work.”

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Where Broadway Fans Wear the Crowns and the Tentacles

On any other weekend, a gaggle of teenagers belting songs from “Hadestown” in the hallway of the New York Hilton Midtown would raise some eyebrows.

But for three days that ended Sunday, they were in the right place. More than 5,000 others — including several Beetlejuices, a handful of Heathers and the rare Dolly — made the pilgrimage to New York for the fifth annual BroadwayCon, a haven for the most passionate musical theater fans.

Some arrived in full character for the event, where attendees can meet and take photos with the stars of their favorite shows. Passes range from $80 for one day to $1,000 for a full weekend platinum pass with extra perks.

When fans weren’t doing their own dramatic hallway renditions of musical numbers, here’s what they were up to.

Which witch will win?

For Nyssa Sara Lee, dressing up as Ursula — the evil sea witch from “The Little Mermaid” — wasn’t just about putting on a costume. It was a test of endurance.

What was it like to waltz through the convention in a 35-pound ensemble, hefting aloft a web of tentacles 15 1/2 feet wide?

Two words: “It hurts.”

“I almost passed out yesterday because I got super hot,” added the 26-year-old cosplayer from Salt Lake City. “If I’m running, or if I lift it up too much — I even have ice packs to put on my spine on the base of my neck, because it’s a workout.”

But the four months she spent creating the costume, and the physical hurdles it took to wear it, were worth the effort, she said. Cosplay — dressing up in character, a big component of fan conventions like BroadwayCon and others — brings her joy. Wowing other admirers doesn’t hurt, either. Nyssa Sara Lee (a name she uses on everything but legal documents, she said) strapped on the tentacles both Saturday and Sunday and spent much of the weekend posing for photos.

And Sunday afternoon was her chance to show it off on the main stage at the convention’s annual cosplay contest. The competition was tough: Nyssa Sara Lee was up against another Ursula, a tiny Angel Schunard from “Rent” and all four gods from “Once on this Island.”

A Deer Evan Hansen was also in the running — a centaur-esque play on “Dear Evan Hansen,” with the title character’s signature blue polo for a torso and a rear end of the woodland animal.

“I’m not in it to win it,” Nyssa Sara Lee said in an interview before the contest. “I would love the recognition. But my payout is literally just having people say, ‘Thank you for doing this.’”

The judges, including Fredi Walker-Browne of the original “Rent” cast, agreed. Nyssa Sara Lee took first place, winning a pass for next year’s BroadwayCon.

‘Six’ gets the royal treatment

The screams at BroadwayCon’s “Six” singalong weren’t typical theater cheers. This wasn’t the raucous standing ovation a cast gets on opening night. These were full Beyoncé-at-Coachella screams. The screams you hear when a queen of pop — or six — steps onstage before several hundred superfans.

“Six” doesn’t begin performances on Broadway for another month, but the girl-power British musical about the wives of Henry VIII had an outsize presence at the convention, including a dance workshop led by the show’s choreographer, Carrie-Anne Ingrouille.

Tanya Heath, 31, arrived on Saturday as Catherine of Aragon, wearing a black and gold dress a friend lent her for New Year’s Eve and a spiked crown she made at 2 a.m. that morning.

She was a royal army of one compared to the six high school seniors from New Jersey, who held a sleepover Friday night to finalize the outfits for their group cosplay. They became obsessed with the show thanks to its cast album.

“They have the lovability of a jukebox musical,” said Rachael Mishkind, the group’s Jane Seymour, “but with the originality of a regular Broadway show.”

Young women inspired by the show’s feminist message are at the heart of its fan base, but Aisling Kruger, the group’s Anna of Cleves, thinks the audience may be expanding.

“My dad’s really into British history,” she said. “He’ll hear it and be like, ‘Oh! Jane Seymour!’ and get really into it.”

All business at the swap

Jayda Lipstein, 15, knew she had a jewel in her hands, and she wasn’t going to part with it easily.

She was holding court with fellow Playbill collectors in a small conference room on Saturday afternoon. And her 2008 “In the Heights” program, featuring the full original Broadway cast listed inside, was in high demand.

One girl wanted to swap a “Come From Away” signed by the original cast. Another offered to throw in 20 bucks and a “Beetlejuice.” When that didn’t work, she upped the ante: How about her whole stack? A “Jersey Boys”? A “Mean Girls”?

Lipstein stood firm. But around her, sentimentality reigned. Jarod Engle, 19, was on the lookout for special colorful editions of the Playbill for “Beetlejuice,” a show he hasn’t seen yet. Brianna Boucher, 17, sitting in the fluffy pink tulle of her “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Veruca Salt costume, said she would trade anything for a “Bring It On,” a musical she loves but also never got to see.

Back at Lipstein’s table, Claudia Emanuele, a 21-year-old writer from Connecticut, joked that she would “trade you my whole soul” for the “In the Heights.” She shares a name with the musical’s treasured abuela character — and when Emanuele saw the show, she said, it marked the first time she heard her name pronounced correctly onstage.

In a room packed with fans who barter for nostalgia, Lipstein’s all-business mentality was an outlier.

As other collectors learned, to their chagrin, she doesn’t even have any emotional connection to “In the Heights.” She acquired the program by pure luck, hidden in a box in her grandparents’ basement.

“Everyone wants it,” she said, coolly appraising the room. She concluded that she might be better off just selling it to the highest bidder on eBay.

‘Mary Paw-Pins’ and more

Amid the Playbill handbags, the crocheted Broadway character dolls, the paintings on sheet music and the pink-painted “Mean Girl” shoes, there was Melissa Crabtree, at a table lined with cats.

Not “Cats,” the show, but images of her own gray-striped cat, Mabel, turned into souvenirs that commemorate a whole array of Broadway shows.

It was Crabtree’s first time in New York, and her first time at BroadwayCon — where the maze of vendor booths stretched across two floors.

At Crabtree’s table, there were stickers of cats dressed as characters from “Hamilton” and “Hadestown.” Enamel pins depicting stage manager cats with tiny feline headsets. Miniature buttons with frazzled cats announcing a dire warning: “It’s tech week.”

Mabel “doesn’t let me dress her up,” Crabtree said. Instead, she started illustrating a round, cartoon Mabel, happily clad in Broadway costumes. Mabel appears as all six wives of Henry VIII from “Six” and dons the flowery island garb of “Once on This Island.” There are even Lighting Crew Mabel and Sound Crew Mabel, who each sport an ensemble fit for running the show behind the scenes.

Crabtree, a Chicago-based actor, started drawing theater-centric stickers three years ago to put in her planner, and the shop grew from there, her husband, Jon, said. While she interacted with customers, he sat nearby, using a button maker to quickly craft reinforcements.

Every sticker set even has its own Mabel-inspired pun, from “Mary Paw-Pins” to “Licked” — pronounced, of course, with two syllables, like “Wicked.”

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