Little clown, my heart Spangled again and lopsided

Feb 14, 20192 min read

Updated: Feb 14, 2019

Little clown, my heart Spangled again and lopsided, Handstands and Peking pirouettes, Backflips snapping open like A carpenter's hinged ruler,

~ Sandra Cisneros

We celebrated Valentine’s Day at HEARTS Gallery @ PS770 in Crown Heights Brooklyn!

We completed the installation of our upcoming exhibition by hanging labels and signage. While Intern Kyra Novick prepared several portfolios of artwork and organized supplies, Dennis and I trained our new staff of Docents – a truly top-notch team of fifteen kindergarten - fifth graders.

Dennis and I explained and demonstrated important professional skills such as voice projection, enunciation, eye contact, the power of speaking with a smile on your face and tricks on how to keep from fidgeting. Docents practiced as a group and helped each other by sharing tips and encouragement.

The wide range of ages meant that there was at least one person who worked on any particular project included in the exhibition. The exhibiting artists were thus able to give us insight into the inspiration, materials and methods used.

In mixed-aged groups of three the Docents practiced giving tours.

You are cordially invited to join us for the opening reception of Transformations at ART YARD’s HEARTS Gallery @ PS770 on Thursday February 28th from 8:30-11am.

Earlier this week 6th graders at MS 226 in So. Ozone Park Queens continued with their elaborate zentangle projects - many adding further repeated patterns while others tried some new designs. Teaching artist Glendalys Medina gave students various options with one being totally out of the norm for zentangle pieces; she offered colored pencils to bring a different approach to the already textured patterns.

Students learned the art term juxtaposition (and discussed its' meaning grammatically - two patterns or designs placed close together with contrasting effects). Several included juxtaposing contrasts in their works.

During the school's after-school program, Glendalys led the students in watercolor paint techniques which helped them to complete their exquisite corpse works. Those pieces have taken on new forms and no longer appear to be patch work by the addition of environment as background.