At the edge of the sea, and suddenly
- frida@artyardbklyn.org
- Jun 20
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 20
AYB Artist Assata Benoit presented a session on Junk Journaling for Advanced Studio on Zoom. She asked us in advance to bring paper ephemera particularly those with text collected from our day or week to create a “journal entry”.
With varying degrees of familiarity on this topic/art form, we all were interested in Assata’s presentation which showed examples from luminaries like Leonardo da Vinci, Frida Kahlo and Carolee Schneemann, along with contemporary artists Isa Genzken and Madi Schwetzz who embrace the practice.
Assata writes: “This lesson plan was as much a new Idea for me as it was for AYB Artists. Although I have studied videos of it time and time again, I consider myself a bit more type A when it comes to journaling.
I was drawn to Junk Journaling because it combines art and literature in a way that we don’t consume in our daily life. We see either art, or illustration, or both on separate pages.
It is my hope that those who joined, as well as myself are able to loosen the reins on what we call expression.”
Aaron chronicled his activities for the week, while writing in a repetitive style so as to mimic the meditative quality of his thoughts during these activities.
Vera B. pours her frustration into a piece that we all related to!
Abriel (bob) used the grease stained brown paper bag as a base for a list of her menu of the day.
Ed and Richie both created time lines that allowed us access to their thought processes.
Assata’s piece serves as a sort of personal introduction, while Karla’s is more like a family introduction using paper ephemera from her child self, father and grandfather.
Adji worked digitally to share the many arts, cultural, social and political ideas on her mind.
Rashidah fesses up to being a bit of a saver of objects, using petals from a months old bouquet and letters snipped from a deflated balloon of the same time period.
Simone, also a saver of paper, bits & bobs, speaks of her love of music.
Rachel got a laugh out of us by fessing up that when faced with no glue, she forgot about tape!, and thus drew portraits of her paper bits from the day!
Leah who is dog sitting at her sister’s apartment realized she needed materials to recycle and thus raided her sisters trash! She pulled out post it notes and labels, and looping mysterious strings. We love the results.
This session fell on the anniversary of my (Meridith) Beloved cat Rik’s death. I had painted a bit during the day and the paper towel background is paint stained remnants from that. The top area is the wrapper on a swank chocolate bar, his name cut and reformed letters from same candy bar. Nicely symbolic for sweet Rik.
AYB Artist Braina (Cammi) Camacho presented her second ever AYB Advanced Studio session, this time in person.
Cammi thoughtfully recounts her process and assesses the session: “For my first in person class I knew I wanted to transform the space given, into a Zen space so we could all focus on what we were about to create. My teaching started before the class as I prepared our tables with tools we would use for class. Tape, books, Exacto knives (for those who would dare) and examples of my favorite poems for the lesson: Creating Shaped Poems: Literally or Figuratively.
I treated the room as if it were my own, set up my tools as if it were my kitchen knives, all at reach and perfectly next to its complimentary color / shape. Rolls of tape placed to form a hexagon, exacta knives all perfectly facing the right, books from smallest to largest, and my paper being perfectly two inches apart on the table. Some call it control freak, I call it ambiance, illusion, theater!
As Ed mentioned to me before presenting my lesson, “The greatest Teachers are entertainers!” And this was encouragement enough to believe in myself and not get stage fright. I hoped from the perfectly placed tools on the table the students would subconsciously start thinking of shape and space and place of arrangement. How does it make them feel? What thoughts start to gather pay so much attention to me but to start wondering, what are we going to do? With different tools laid out, there was no telling. Focusing on the lesson the task was simple, use a poem (one you create or know of) a theme, memory, song, or lyrics and create a poem or words, into a shape. There was also encouragement to destroy books that were brought in or create sculptures out of pages.
Listening to the class I found that it was quieter than usual. People were brainstorming. Maybe my lesson wasn’t as simple as I thought.
Evelyn took advantage of one of the books I brought in Homer's Odyssey, with the added significance that the copy was identical on given to Evelyn by their father!
Mia created multiples mixing mediums of cursive into lines and hidden words that are hidden in an image. Mia always finds a way to create work that’s inspired but true to herself with her signature line work.
Leah started on a frustrated note her first piece a bold statement “IM SORRY WHAT AM I DOING?” Then diving in making poetry from the conversation had in class, brilliant. Placing the quotes on paper, from the areas of the room where they came from. A small but important detail to her piece. This work encapsulates the energy of AYB. Warm, inviting, moving, and accepting. In fact, it reminded me of Evelyn’s portrait of the class woodworking with Rainy last week.
Ajani, Jillian, Cammi and Fisola, made shapes and forms using book pages and created 3D pieces. These reminded of 3D pop up poems I read as kids.
Jillian Nedd, Shaped Poetry l & ll
Kevin celebrated his gratitude to his mother with song lyrics.
Kevin Anderson, Shaped Poem l & ll, I Hope...
Cheyenne, Lilo and Meridith used quotes in their work. Cheyenne repeating the Haiku: at a certain age / every goodbye starts to be / practice for the last
Lilo worked with a poem by Langston Hughes:
Lilo Lewis, Shaped Poem, To a Dead Friend
Meridith inspired by the view out of our studio window shaped Frank O’Hara’s text to the key lines of the Upper New York Bay harbor:
I was listening to a Chopin Nocturne when I woke up and suddenly felt so unalterably great just by the contact with it that I swear that I must have thought I was Homer at the edge of the sea, and suddenly thought of how words in one’s head boom and crash like the sea and do, corny as it sounds, keep ebbing before one “gets” them. The most one can seize is merely a splinter of some magnificent edifice one had just apprehended like that famous submerged cathedral. Someone who didn’t like me could say, 'Sure all you have to do is show him Larry Rivers or the sea and out comes a poem.'
~ Frank O’Hara
View from studio window & Meridith McNeal, Shaped Poem, The Harbor
Something that challenged everyone, including myself was the open-ended nature of assignment. There were so many ideas! So I suppose that is not a bad thing!
Simone’s piece reflected upon of her life as a child in Africa, playing games with her mom and cousins and reading stories. She draws trees that are in water color, orange like the sunset. On top a diagram and within a poem. Using orange and Aacia trees, Simone talked us through her painting explaining how Africa is more than just these two things. Inspired by social media, movies, books, Simone’s took something traditionally seen in Africa and made it complex. Circling her poem with I’m a diagram and written on graph paper. The layering of shapes and lines signal Africa’s diverse culture.
The group was intimate, and we had an enjoyable time analyzing our pieces.
Let me not forget to sing the praises of Ed’s line work on his drawing Bubble Tea accomplished with NO RULER?!”
AYB Art Matters School Programs are completed for the school year. Dennis is tying up loose ends and working with principals planning programming for the fall.
What We Are Reading
This week’s reading, The Buried City: Unearthing the Real Pompeii by Gabriel Zuchtriegel, left me feeling energized, thoughtful, and, honestly, ready to pack a suitcase. Zuchtriegel’s conversational tone is both erudite and engaging—a perfect combination. His passion for archaeology radiates through the pages and made me not only care about Pompeii’s past but genuinely excited about its present and future.
What struck me most was his effort to make Pompeii resonate with locals, students, and non-academics. His mission to transform the site into a vibrant, accessible experience is admirable—and effective. I especially loved reading about the collaborative play performed by high school students in the ancient theater. His genuine enthusiasm for engaging teens, and his clear respect for their creative input, moved me. It’s refreshing to see a leading figure in the field treating young people as collaborators rather than passive learners.
Zuchtriegel also shows deep appreciation for his colleagues and professionals across disciplines. This spirit of mutual respect is reflected throughout the book and adds warmth and humanity to his scholarly insights.
The blend of history, personal reflection, and current academic debate makes The Buried City is a look into ancient lives, as well the evolving identity of a world-famous site.
AYB field trip, anyone?
AYB Artist Vera B. shares photos of a public art installation in Park Slope, Brooklyn:
More progress on my (Meridith) exhibition Peer, a tiny (big) retrospective which will be on view at Small House Gallery in London, November 2025.
Use the arrows to scroll through a few recent images:
Art to See
Get tickets to see AYB Artist Abriel (bob) Gardner perform in ASSEMBLY, a piece which will unfold over three hours through a looping 30-minute score. Each subsequent loop generates into a new stage of the one before it. The evening invites the audience to witness this unfolding of a living network in real time. Viewers are welcome to enter [and exit] at any point during the three-hour performance.
Thursday, June 26, 6-9pm
CPR – Center for Performance Research
361 Manhattan Avenue Brooklyn, NY, 11211
TONIGHT - Friday June 20, 6-8pm
AYB Board Member Cecile Chong invites us to the opening of her solo exhibition
SPHERE NOT The Global Immersive Sensory Experience
Kates-Ferri Projects
561 Grand Street, Manhattan
In Gratitude
We are thrilled that AYB Advanced Studio is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) through the Brooklyn Arts Fund.
AYB Advanced Studio is also made possible with Local Arts Support funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.
THANKS Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC)!!!!
❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜
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