May Bronx Trolley Tour

The Spring tour on the Bronx Trolley, on May 2nd was exciting, and the weather was wonderful. The Bronx Trolley tour is a regular monthly chance to see the latest art exhibits and get a feeling for the opportunities and richness of the Bronx. Local residents mixed with tourists from France and other countries to see what the Bronx has to offer.

At the start of the Trolley, at the Longwood Gallery, Hostos College, visitors got to butterfly greeting cards. This is on the theme of the Big Read campaign to promote reading, which features the book “The Time of the Butterfly.” It sounds like a children’s book, but it is about four sisters who resisted the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic during the last century. The art workshop was led by Fran Marino of the Bronx Council on the Arts. I got a chance to use cardboard and different colors of crepe paper to make cute little butterflies, and then pin them on a colorful design that I made on a greeting card.

After this, I hopped on the Bronx Trolley bus to the next stop, the Bronx Museum, showing the Baseball in the Bronx exhibit that I reported on last week. The next stop was Pregones Theater at 571-575 Walton Avenue. A lively party was going on, presided over by Pregones’ Jorge Merced and Rosalba Rolon. People chatted or drank while waiting for a showing of 10 short films. The big attraction in the lobby was a photo exhibit, entitled Transiciones (Transitions) by Tony Rocco. Photos varied from stark archival black and white to more colorful displays. The photo “Dad” shows an expressive and worn-down man, taken in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1990. The stark photos contrasted against the bright acrylic on canvas work “Gurasalem” by Pablo Marcano Garcia, a 2005 gift to the theater on its inauguration. This is an abstract crucifixion-type icon with blotches of color, as large as life.