One or two things
- frida@artyardbklyn.org
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
September is here—in all its hot, rainy, muggy Brooklyn glory! And with it comes that feeling of a new beginning. Many AYB Artists are heading back to school, both as teachers and as students, and for those of us in education, it’s time for a fresh start.
I was texting with AYB Artist Reg Lewis yesterday, and he perfectly captured the September spirit when he wrote: “This is going to be a pivotal year, indeed. Actually excited about getting started.” I love that! And I hope a little of that excitement is finding its way to all of you, too.
Meanwhile, AYB Artists have been making, drawing, reading, wandering, exhibiting, exploring—and generally keeping their eyes open for interesting things. We’ve got works in progress, clouds and moons, Langston Hughes, figure drawings, a new Magical Things painting (inspired by a very nice tin of olive oil!), exhibitions near and far, books we recommend, and some excellent opportunities.
So here’s what the AYB crew has been up to as we head into September.
New Artwork and Work in Progress
Ardelia Lovelace has a new painting underway, a portrait of Langston Hughes painted on canvas stapled to wood.
Jazz Guillet is on a roll with her cloud pieces! She shares her latest drawings:
I (Meridith) picked up some olive oil this week. I always check the back for the details about the harvest dates and when that all passed muster put it in my cart. It wasn’t until I was home that I spied the front panel of the tin. I love the Opera Collection image and sat down to make a new Magical Things painting almost as soon as the groceries were in the cupboard!
Kevin Anderson has been “trying to learn how to make stylized portraits, while also understanding human anatomy.” He shares a new landscape and two portraits in progress, including a self-portrait.
Kevin Anderson, landscape, self-portrait in progress and portrait in progress.
Adji Ngathe Kebe is excited to "be back to working on this painting!"
Lila Green shares a photograph explaining “This was a photo I took of the moon from the window of a hibachi restaurant during my daughter Nylah’s birthday 🎉 celebration!”
Marie Roberts updates us on this week’s observational figure drawings. Working from the model now that school is back in session.
Marie Roberts, Figure Drawings
Karla Prickett had a great run with her exhibition Two Studios: The Brooklyn Exchange III! She writes: “The show was well received and the text cards with each piece were read with engaging interest. Viewers seemed to really like reading about the lesson and then seeing the resulting expression!”
Florian Kiniffo-Neven du Mont reports in: "We went to the Studio Museum of Harlem with Sanjay and friends for his last day in NY."
Flo adds: "And I’ve been sketching people while on my commutes in the NY subway and on my way to the south of France". My immediate reply: "Ed is going to flip over these!!"
Florian Kiniffo-Neven du Mont, Subway Portrait Sketches, 2026
What We Are Reading
Christine Willis reports: “I just finished Olivia Laing’s A Trip to Echo Springs - On Writing and Drinking (Picador, 2014). Another type of reckoning, yet this angle on creative types, specifically the American male canon of writers and their relationships with alcohol. Both a historical and insightful read, in a conversational tone Laing captures while traveling across the country researching these writer’s lives - Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, Cheever, Berryman and Carver.”
Abriel (bob) Gardner messages: “I have been nannying this week so have read Goodnight Moon about 20 times. Plus I found a book of Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems: Volume One (Beacon Press, 1992) on the street and have been reading a little bit of it each night. This is one of my favorites:”
New and Selected Poems book cover and page detail. Photo by Abriel (bob) Gardner
We have a few AYB science fiction fans, and while Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler (HarperCollins, 2025) by Susana M. Morris is certainly a great read for them, I (Meridith) think this wonderfully enthusiastic and deeply researched portrait of award-winning writer Octavia E. Butler can be appreciated by everyone.
Morris situates Butler’s remarkable life within the cultural and political forces that shaped her thinking, from the Civil Rights and Black Power movements to women’s liberation, and queer rights. As a trailblazer who became the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Butler imagined futures that placed Black women at the center while asking urgent questions about power, violence, hierarchy, climate chaos, family, faith, and the fate of the American project.
Butler comes across as a complicated, determined human being. She wrote because she felt she had to. Her “positive obsession” was the refusal to stop creating despite fear, doubt, and a literary world that rarely imagined someone like her at its center. Positive Obsession is a fascinating and timely read.
Exhibitions to See
Candy Heiland is pleased to have two pieces on view in Exclaim! On view at BWAC at The Whale (14 53rd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn) through October 18, 2026.
Christine Willis enthuses: “The Lost World: The Art of Minnie Evans at the Whitney Museum through Jan 10, 2027 is a beautiful show. All I can say is she must have had the box of crayons with the built in sharpener! Really , to see it as a reckoning with the forces of nature and the spiritual world that it inhabits.”
Leah Eliopulos is excited to share: “We took a trip out east this past weekend to Amagansett and went to Galerie Sardine where they had paintings by Japanese artist Susumu Kamijo and works by Nigerian artist Tonia Nneji.
Photos of artwork by Susumu Kamijo & Tonia Nneji from Galerie Sardine by Leah Eliopulos.
Nayarit Tineo was in Canada last week, where she visited Casa Loma in Toronto, a Gothic Revival mansion and garden now serving as a historic house museum. True to her architectural training, Nayarit exclaims: “Craftsmanship meets design and art!”
Casa Loma architectural details. Photos by Nayarit Tineo.
Nayarit also visited LEE HOAG: evoke an exhibition of mixed-media sculptures which transform ordinary objects into poetic, unexpected forms on view at the RIT Art Space, Rochester, NY. Driven by Surrealist ideas and a fascination with material, texture, and transformation, Hoag creates works that invite curiosity and spark viewers to imagine their own narratives.
Installation images from LEE HOAG: evoke. Photos by Nayarit Tineo. (Use arrows to scroll images)
Opportunities
Attention East New Yorkers!
Ty Fletcher shares this opportunity noting that there are scholarships available and priority to the neighborhood denizens. Ty writes: “The NY Sign Museum is doing two sessions of their Sign Painting workshop. It's 2-day long and costs around $795. They are offering 4 scholarships to those who are passionate about typography and signage. Priority is given to those who live around the neighborhood (East New York/Brownsville).
Here is a link to the page as well as the application. It's due on Sep 18th at 11:59.
Attention Gowanus-based Artists!
Kyra Trippens-Richan alerts us to an Open Call for installation work at the 4th. Ave/9th St. station.
Evelyn Beliveau has an exciting opportunity to bring to our attention: “I recently shared online that I'm accepting portrait commissions this fall.
Painting portraits has always been a beloved practice of mine, dating all the way back to my first set of acrylic paints (swipe to the end for a high-school-era painting video!). I love spending time with all the details that come together to convey a person's unique presence, and I'd be delighted to make a painting for an AYB friend this year!”
SAVE THE DATE!!
Join Saturday, September 26 from 6-8pm for the opening Ajani Russell: Drawing The Line at The Gallery at 180 Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn.
The exhibition explores line as a record of experience and a way of making the internal world visible. Working primarily on paper, Ajani’s drawings move between observation, memory, dreams, and the fantastical, preserving fleeting encounters and emotional states through pressure, rhythm, smudges, and accumulation.
Drawing The Line marks a meaningful continuation of Ajani’s long relationship with ART YARD BKLYN, where they first participated as an elementary school-aged student and where they continued as an artist, teaching artist, and board member.
Let the semester begin!
Advanced Studio sessions resume Monday, September 14 on zoom with Assata Benoit, and Tuesday September 15 in person with Evelyn Beliveau. Registration will open on our website at Sunday Sept 13 at 5pm!
Comments