We had a fantastic artist's reception for our exhibition Well Read at Black Rock Books in Bridgeport! The artworks on view explore censorship, freedom of expression, and the profound impact of literature. As part of the AYB Year of Literacy, this exhibition connects directly to the ongoing epidemic of book bans across the country.

Many AYB artists, family and friends made the trek up to the event. We were met with a warm and welcoming cozy little shop, delicious treats provided by local vendors organized by AYB Artists Liv and Rose, plus exciting intelligent conversation!

Black Rock Books co-owner Meg Flynn writes: “Thank you for bringing your talented artists and for all your help facilitating such a special event. We are proud to have hosted an important (and clearly, all too timely) conversation about free speech and censorship, and look forward to continuing to do so through March and beyond, of course. As I was reflecting post-opening, I felt it marked a new chapter for us in the shop and really emphasized for me what more we can be doing in the space in terms of intentional, active political conversation. I look forward to seeing where it goes from here. And, I would be remiss if I did not mention that I loved getting a chance to chat with the artists, and feel we were able to expand our community to include some wonderful new folks.”

If you are in Bridgeport, you must stop in to Black Rock Books, in addition to our exhibition you will find a well selected array of books, beautifully displayed. In short, exactly what a community book store should be!
In Advanced Studio on zoom this week we created depictions of objects in our everyday midst with Assata Benoit in a session entitled The Ordinary.
Assata explains: “The goal of this week’s lesson plan was to be as effortless as possible. In contrast to last week’s lesson on repetition - with 4 categories and many artistic examples - this week’s topic focused on using subjects within the artist’s everyday life.

The literary device I decided to focus on was “Personification - A figure of speech that gives human characteristics to non-human things. It can be used to describe animals, plants, or inanimate objects.” Class attendees selected an inanimate object with sentiment value & bring it to life through watercolor (or color in general).
I drew inspiration from New Yorker covers, our resident artist Meridith McNeal, and a newer artist I came across named Kaylan Tamia. In many of these examples I appreciated the simplicity of the subjects. Often times they were nothing out of the ordinary, i.e. a handbag or a windowsill, but the intricacies of the brush work gave the pieces personality.

The class wowed me with their pieces - each one embodied the artists description, like Abriel’s “most perfect strawberry ever” showing off its leaves, and Rachel’s fennel saying “yeah I’m here after 5 days so what”. They have personalities!














At the same time, AYB is busy with our AYB Art Matters school partnerships!
Managing Director Dennis Buonagura reports: “Tuesday I went out to PS 6 to prepare our room for our first cycle this week. Flavia Berindoague will teach and her lesson covers the art of Maurice Sendak and his most known work "Where The Wild Things Are" - in conjunction with our Year of Literacy.

I am happy to have Gem, Clementine, and Scarlett assist me and Flavia as there's always a ton to do. Remember - there's no sink in our art room and when the lesson is watercolor or acrylic paint, running back and forth to the bathroom sink is a chore. Not to mention washing brushes.

I visited the library (and our gallery - which is currently bare and just waiting for the installation of our next exhibit!)) and checked in with Nadene Bracken (the librarian) who graciously put a copy of "Where The Wild Things Are" for AYB to use during this first cycle.

It was nice to receive a warm welcome (as always) by all teaching, security, and administrative staff.
Tuesday Evening Advanced Studio met in person at our studio at BWAC for the final session on acrylic glazing with Ed Rath.
Sunset at the studio and Advanced Studio in session
Ed recaps: “On our final day of the Acrylic Glazing course, two newcomers jumped right in, gridding off their paper and executing carefully shaded black and white representations of the Mona Lisa. We were impressed with their beautiful work.



Returning participants got right to work. Some started under-painting with pale thin washes, while others started with bold, high contrast colors. Either way, the rough-in colors can be adjusted through glazing with darker colors, or by lightening with Zinc White. After the secondary glazing was complete, we switched over to small brushes to articulate the fine details. We extended the session to allow participants to polish their final images.














At critique, the variety of color glazes drew many complements, as did the variety of soft and hard edges. The array of finished paintings revealed the individuality of each artist. Of particular interest is the variety of treatments of the trim on the blouse and the weaving of the threads.
Leah commented that she found a new respect for the Mona Lisa from studying is so intensely.
Some of the things we learned about the Mona Lisa:
1. The varnishes and paints used in this masterpiece have darkened over the centuries. We may never really know how the color looked originally. Any further attempts at restoration are likely to change the painting forever, so it is unlikely the stewards of the painting will allow this to happen.
2. It was noted that Mona Lisa has no eyebrows or eyelashes. Based on a copy of the painting now in Spain, the eyebrows and lashes were probably washed off from over-zealous cleaning.
3. Several Art-Yard participants, through careful observation, noticed that Mona Lisa is wearing a translucent veil. It seems, because of its subtle execution, we take it in as a liminal experience before becoming aware of its existence perceptually.
4. Working on our paintings for four sessions gave us extra time to digest the depth of Leonardo’s most famous portrait.
5. Leonardo worked on the painting for decades and never delivered it to the original patron. It became a kind of obsession for him. Some scholars feel it evolved into a self-portrait. The painting remains a mystery on many levels, but we all agree it is a timeless classic in the Western Canon.
Next time you are in Paris – be sure to visit the Louvre and see the painting in person.

Dennis and his stellar team of Teaching Artists Evelyn Beliveau, Marina Soliman, Leo Emabat, and Intern Scarlett Wagner had another successful day at ART YARD Art Matters at PS 17 on Wednesday.

Evelyn sums up: Colors abound at PS 17 as students continue their artworks inspired by Keith Haring. Dennis, Leo, Scarlett, and I (Evelyn) were happy to see all our classes again. In our Grade 4 class, most students had finished their sharpie outlines and were ready to introduce color to their “Jersey City is Book Country” posters. We explored the color wheel and talked about complementary colors, then each student chose two pairs of complementary colors to use.

Grade 6 students are almost finished with their name pieces (in fact, some students finished this week and started a second piece!). They recalled the instruction from last time about how to use the brush-tipped markers—slowly and carefully, with light pressure, in order to fill spaces evenly and preserve the markers for future students’ use—and brought their patterns of interlocking shapes to life.
Student name pieces by Eden and Julianna
Students in Grades 1 and 2 are very enthusiastic about their pieces, with some students eager to show off their completed works to their classroom teacher. Many students are close to finishing their sets of 4 comic panels, filled with dancing characters and invented settings. The biggest challenge was reuniting each student with the particular colors of marker they had used last week; with a team effort, and a good chance for students to practice sharing markers with their classmates, we got everyone set up with their colors and settled in to work. At critique, students complimented one another’s color use and character poses—a day full of complements AND compliments!


Dennis reports: Our after-school students at PS 17 are working very hard and little do these grade schoolers realize that they are learning at a college level. Teaching Artist Marina Soliman uses smart demonstrations and some ‘hints’ to help them to understand light, shadows, drawing, and how to create the proper shading.

Using a small box lined with white paper, various objects, and an iPhone flashlight, Marina offered various presentations - teaching students to draw cones, cubes, cylinders, and balls with lighting hitting the objects from assorted angles.
Marina, Leo and PS17 students at work

Nathleen brought her ‘homework’ to class to share with us - she practiced over the past week and did tremendously well.

With the assistance of Leo and Scarlett, each student progressed at their own pace and are anxious for next week’s drawing steps.
Today was yet another exciting day in the school. Dennis reports: "At PS 6, one of our partnership schools In Jersey City, we began a new cycle of lessons with Teaching Artist Flavia Berindoague which were inspired by the works of Maurice Sendak (focusing on his most well-known book “Where The Wild Things Are’). Each class opened with a student offering a brief synopsis of the story.


Flavia smartly created variations of the lesson plan which allowed for 3 different formats of work by the 3 different classes. Fifth graders (1st class) drew scenarios and characters - in the Sendak style; the 2nd class of fifth graders used large sized paper to draw book wrappers of fantasy scenarios; and the third grade artists drew “wild” characters in portrait orientation.
Their works include many “wild things” such as giant friendly monsters, a flowerpot with a bird’s bill, aliens, dragons, lots of varieties of flying creatures … and some made themselves into monsters and such.
Of course the first day covers pencil drawings/drafts but students will move on to watercolors next week.
Vocabulary words discussed were vertical, horizontal, landscape, and portrait - with lots of demonstrations to elaborate. One 3rd grader seemed way ahead of all of us with her vocabulary - when she told the story of her drawing, she said that her wild things were TELEPORTED to another word. She needs to start teaching ME new vocabulary worlds.
As always, the classroom teachers at PS 6 are gigantically supportive of their students works and offer a lot of assistance when needed.
Flavia was assisted today by Gem Mercado and Scarlett Wagner - both great assets!



Other Art News
Congratulations to AYB Board Member Cecile Chong on her work being featured in The Latinx Project out of NYU. Click to read the full article.

I (Meridith) am pleased to have work in Sounds Like Art an exhibition organized by Next Gallery in Lakewood CO.

Artist’s love to see their work beautifully framed, and hanging in situ at the collector’s home! Look how great AYB Artist Liv Collin’s painting looks on these deep green walls in the decorative antique-gold frame. Wow!

AYB Artist Leah Eliopulos writes: “My afternoon at The Franklin Parrasch Gallery. When Meridith compared my art to Forrest Bess in critique and then sent me an article by John Yau titled "The Divided Being of Forrest Bess" showcasing his pieces in the gallery on E 66th, NYC, I knew I had to go see it.

Despite the arctic weather and students swarming around the Hunter college area, when I was buzzed into the gallery the chaos of the city halted, and I was greeted by the warmth of the art radiating off of the walls. The first floor was sculptures, paintings, none of Forrest Bess yet. Signs on the right wall indicated it was beyond the top of the staircase. I made my way up to the second floor to see Dr. Jack Weinberg's 10 piece collection. The first thing I noticed was the size of his pieces. All relatively small, with bulbous frames that somehow complimented each work of art. The textures of his unique brush stroke, the color palette, the story told on each one was special. You can feel the conflicting emotion, sometimes tension and pain in the pieces. There is something so grotesquely beautiful about Bess's work. Having spent a couple hours there, the comforting feeling from the gallery and the light shining through the south facing floor-length windows, I could've spent the entirety of the afternoon lounging there. If you're in the area I would recommend you stop by The Franklin Parrasch Gallery (19 East 66th Street, Lenox Hill, Manhattan) and see for yourself.
Forrest Bess, Installation photos by Leah Eliopulos
Artist Opportunity
Our good friends at Kentler International Drawing Space are hosting a juried exhibition this summer (6/14 - 7/20), with juror Samantha Friedman, Curator of Drawings and Prints, MoMA. The exhibition is called NEW DRAWINGS, and they are inviting artists from all over the world to submit drawings no more than 2 years old for consideration.

There is a $35 application fee, and the application is listed on CaFE.
💖🩷♥️🧡❤️💗

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