Author Archives: jmodrak

“Imaginary Fossils” Workshop as part of Escuelita en Casa’s Anniversary Celebration at the Queens Museum on April 24th

Event: “Imaginary Fossils” Workshop as part of Escuelita en Casa’s Anniversary Celebration at the Queens Museum, Parade and Ceremony
Imaginary Fossils Workshop Date and Time: Sunday, April 24, 2022, 12:30-2:00 PM
Program Timeline: April 24, 2022 from 12:30-4:00 PM
12:30-2:00 PM Imaginary Fossils Workshop Queens Museum
2:30-3:00 PM Parade around Unisphere
3:00-3:30 PM Land Ceremony and Remarks at Endangered Fossils
Location: The Queens Museum and Unisphere, Flushing Meadows Corona Park
The Queens Museum: Workshop and Processional Details

Ancestral Future evokes the urgency into taking action to preserve our present planet to future generations. We take a glance into Ancestral Civilizations to learn about the relationship they had with our now endangered planet.
The celebration will start with an Imaginary Fossils Art Workshop led by artist Judith Modrak hosted at the Queens Museum, followed by a parade around the Unisphere to finish with an offering to our planet’s fragility represented by Judith Modrak’s sculpture: Endangered Fossils.
It will be an honor to see you there to celebrate the future we are creating. We will have music, dance and an ancestral ceremony from the Aztecs.
~Escuelita en Casa

Earth Week Celebration
Thursday, April 21 through Sunday, April 24
Each day from 12:30-2:00pm families are invited to drop in for a celebration of Earth Week with a variety of art-making activities. Activities will focus on eco-conscious art projects and reusable materials.
Join us in a culminating celebration on Sunday, April 24th. In this workshop families are invited to imagine and create future fossils inspired by real fossils. Special guest, Judith Modrak will join us on this program to tell us about the inspiration for her artwork “Endangered Fossils”, located just outside the Queens Museum.
Families will have the opportunity to participate in an Earth Day Processional Parade (2:30-3:00pm) after the workshop, ending with an offering to our planet’s fragility represented by Judith Modrak’s sculpture (3:30pm).
~Queens Museum

Fósiles en peligro de extinción representa una excavación arqueológica figurada del gran registro fósil del estado de Nueva York. Las esculturas están inspiradas en los trilobites, braquiópodos y crinoideos que florecieron durante el período Devónico, hace 400 millones de años. Estos organismos similares al cangrejo, la almeja y la estrella de mar vivían en ambientes marinos muy similares a los arrecifes de coral de hoy en día. El proyecto reflexiona sobre el origen del ecosistema que habitamos y nuestro papel, relación y responsabilidad con ese medio ambiente a la luz del catastrófico cambio climático y las pandemias mundiales.

The Listening Tour Screening @ The Local in LIC on March 19th

Event: The Listening Tour Screening at The Local in LIC
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2022
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: 1302 44th Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101
Editorial and Direction: Efrain Gantus and Donald Preston Cato
Related Video: “Judith and Friends”, filmed at Modrak’s public artwork, “Endangered Fossils”, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park as part of The Listening Tour


On March 19, 2020 Queens World became the first festival in the world to jump on line in response to the pandemic. Over the next 24 months, our Resilience was tested again and again. Now two years later, we have another global crisis. We all need good news.

We have listened to community members and recorded their thoughts about Hope and Resilience for a project we call The Listening Tour. There are nine videos completed with more in the pipeline.

When finished, the videos will be archived in the Queens Memory Project, a program of the Queens Public Library.

On March 19, we invite you to a gathering to share these messages of Hope on the anniversary of the day we connected with a world that was suddenly shut down.

It is time to listen. Let’s start with members in our own community.