We had a great week at ART YARD and hope you did too!
Dennis has been hard at work organizing for the start of programming in J. W. Wakeman PS 6 our partnership school in Jersey City.
As the year begins the school is running remotely but students are engaged and the school community is the as ever a welcoming, inclusive and supportive environment. As the school celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month the school has been spotlighting Hispanic American staff members in the on-line forum.
Teaching Artist Fatima Traore was here this week to lead an exciting session of ART YARD Advanced Studio. Fatima explains her concept: “There are many forms of community and things we see in our community that make it distinct. One common characteristic of a community is service. We all depend on people in our community to help the flow of our day to day lives. Students will create two works of art. The first depicting a place or person in their community that provides a service for them (ex. deli/ grocery store, barbershop, laundromat, cleaners) and the second based on an act of community service we participate in and/or deeply admire (ex. volunteering, donating clothes or non-perishables, charity events, essential workers).”
For artistic and stylistic inspiration Fatima shared with us work by renown public artists Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey and Banksy. She then asked us to create two drawings – the first drawing of place or person that services you in your community, the second drawing depicting act of community service we provide or admire.
Advanced Studio artists worked fast and well. Ideas of the people and placed in our own community included ART YARD on Zoom, the subway, biking in Prospect Park, Trader Joe's, a kitchen in a local restaurant preparing food for donation, the local basketball court, delivery people and even a flock of geese in Long Island City. More than one person super-imposed images atop themselves and many used symbolic imagery to tell the story.
Community actions and activities included delivery people, letter writing and drive for voter registration, the gym teacher teaching classes in the street for elementary school kids, and PS 1 now open for art viewing! Vera is turning her drawings into a print which she plans to work on over the weekend. I will update the recap with those images when her piece is ready!
Sarah’s ART YARD CREATE thread on the topic of illustrated recipes is really interesting. Posts have run the gamut from book references, to other artists, and favored coffee making methods. Later in the dialogue Sarah asked us what three things were always in our kitchen. It was so hard to narrow it down to three. Dennis always has breadcrumbs and Marilyn has raisins. Marie has hot pepper flakes, Sarah has bananas and I have good olive oil at all times!
What is always in YOUR kitchen?
In other art news:
Teaching Artist Marie Roberts has work in Pets of the Pandemic, Alpha 123 Gallery (online) curated by David Cohen.
I am pleased to be next weeks (October 19th) featured artist on the Brooklyn Arts Councils Mutual Aid Art Sale. This sale benefits individual artists and the great work being done by the Brooklyn Arts Council.
Congratulations to Teaching Artist Maia Cruz Palileo who is featured in American Masters and Firelight Media present In the Making, a new documentary short film series following the lives and journeys of eight emerging BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) cultural artists who bring insight and originality to their artistic craft.
And there you have it, some cheer on a rainy Friday afternoon.
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