Chinese contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural sets the tone for our work this week!
Teaching Artist Claudia Alvarez presented this week’s ART YARD Advanced Studio session titled Night Falls. Participating artists envisioned and designed Protest posters/images to raise awareness and promote necessary change.
Claudia instructed participating artists to select a relevant phrase as a starting point for example: I Can’t Breathe, BLACK LIVES MATTER, Equal Justice, Equality for All, We Stand Against Racism, Solidarity, etc.. Then to Combine your phrase with an image. Or use the word or phrase to inspire an artwork.
Claudia displayed and discussed Banksy’s Game Changer as an example.
Along with other examples of relevant strong poster images.
Claudia added that we could use a photo reference or an image symbolic of the world today and that we should consider employing symbolic color in the piece.
Below are samples of artwork created in this ART YARD Advanced Studio session. For a look at more of the work visit our Gallery page:
This week's CREATE: Good Morning was started by Sarah Gumgumji.
Sarah began the thread saying: "I like getting up early in the morning. Starting my day with yoga, for 10 minutes to breathe and set my intentions for the day, then I make my coffee using Moka pot "old Italian way." Morning coffee is a must for me, as I am sure it is for others."
Sarah asks us to add to the conversation with the following questions: "Do you love coffee? What does your cup look like? What is your must-have drink in the morning or at any time of the day?"
Catherine de Zagon pipes in: "Coffee is a big deal in our house. We have a few 😜 moka machines and an espresso machine - we order our coffee from an artisanal roaster in Sicily."
Ed shares: ”My go-to beverage all day long. Keeps me steady.”
Quentin Williamston's morning beverage, almost gone:
Marie Roberts illustrates her morning rituals:
And Dennis tells this story: “Growing up, coffee was a big deal in our house. We drank coffee as little kids. When we visited friends, we had coffee with their parents - we always sat in the kitchen. Family stories say that our grandmother gave us coffee in our baby bottles. My mother used a Pyrex glass coffee pot for decades. I'm pretty sure she said it was a wedding gift (1946). I remember her always saying" "Let me put the pot up". That was lingo for making coffee and putting out cakes and cookies. When my father passed away, my mother 'modernized' and started using an electric percolator (it was fine ... but nothing like the stovetop glass pot). I protested (of course) and she said that the glass pot required too much cleaning and care (she was retired and had a dishwasher - really?). So, I rescued the pot and carried it home on the subway - and we now use it every day. Of course, my mother was right - it DOES require a lot of cleaning and care to avoid chipping or breaking. We carefully wash it and store it in the cupboard after each use. We like and sometimes use a French Press but somehow the coffee seems to stay hot longer when made in the stove top pot. Now, I complain about having to wash that pot too - I guess we eventually do become our mothers.”
This CREATE topic is still active, why don't you add in your own photos, artwork and stories!?
We miss our students from ART YARD partnership school, PS 6, in Jersey City - but we're tremendously proud of the work they're doing at home by keeping up with their studies, including ART. Many students including ART YARD Docent Sravani Karumuri reach out to others with messages of support and encouragement, issues of social justice, their feelings about America, and impassioned pleas for all to VOTE and to partake in the 2020 Census. We can't wait to get back to our friends in Jersey City.
Please check out our opening TOMORROW Saturday, June 13 on Kentler's Website!
In Reflection: Selections from the Kentler Flatfiles A virtual exhibition curated by ART YARD BKLYN Advanced Studio Senior Curators: Kevin Anderson, Evelyn Beliveau, Vera Tineo, Fatima Traore, Quentin Williamston Artists: Stephanie Brody-Lederman, Nina Buxenbaum, Karni Dorell, Susan Dunkerley-Maguire, Pauline Galiana, Richard Gins, Joanne Howard, LUCE, Meridith McNeal, Portia Munson, Stephen Negrycz, Katsutoshi Yuasa, Emna Zghal
June 13 - July 31, 2020
A brochure with an essay by the senior curators will accompany the exhibition. Interviews with artists and other materials will be released on Kentler's website throughout the exhibition.
The curators are working on a video discussing the artwork they have selected. This is a still from Fatima's input in the video:
I hope that you too are exercising your power to act through your creativity!
