That much further into our weird & wonderful world
- frida@artyardbklyn.org
- Jul 31
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 31
This last week of July has been one of tying up ends: paperwork, following up, planning, and storage closet organization. The stellar team of Evelyn, Delphine, and Ajani joined me at 180 Franklin on Tuesday evening to complete the job that Kevin, Chris, and Briana began in June. We purchased a metal shelving unit and additional bins, and then we got to work. I concur with Evelyn, who sent our group text the photos below, adding, “Yeah!!!! Thrilled with how this went. Thank you all!”
Storage closet organization!! Photos Evelyn Beliveau.
Other Art News
Marie Roberts shares: “I was invited to a graduation party at Ruby’s featuring some of my old friends from the Freakshow, including Jelly Boy, Rob Romeo, Insectavora, and Dick. I made some drawings, as I usually do, but found myself thinking of M and Jacob's AYB Summer lesson in drawing moving people. This time I didn't overwork or worry about the quick sketches, just recorded and moved on. The AYB lesson was useful.”
Marie Roberts, Drawings from Moving People
Travis Pereira checks in from Florida: “ I finished that Ferris wheel piece from last week, (left side paper is cold press and right side is hot press paper):
“I started another piece. It’s an in-progress self-portrait of me holding a silver tray (paint palette 🎨)… idk where I’m going with it… it will be watercolor.” Travis already received enthusiastic compliments on the actual paint palette when we included photos of that utilitarian sculpture in the spring.
Travis Pereira, Self Portrait in Progress, watercolor and Sea Shell Palette, Mixed Media
I (Meridith) completed a new Magical Things July painting. The works in this mini-tangent are all directly related to this month. The new one is based on an image of very tall, brilliantly colored zinnias in my garden. I planted seeds harvested and then given to me by AYB artist Jenn Dodson! The color is spectacular. A few people asked about the wood ground—that is my deck after one of those tropical deluges we have been favored with all summer. Fatima wrote me this morning: “LOVE. That purple in the wood is everything.”
Adji Ngathe Kebe has been working hard in the ceramics studio. “This is a vase that I glazed recently, and I’ve been working on these berry washers, but they haven’t been glazed yet.”
Adji Ngathe Kebe, Glazed Vase and Berry Washers in progress
You all will be excited to know that, in keeping with our Drawing the Line theme, Adji will be teaching a coil-building ceramics session this fall!
Exhibitions Near and Far
Dennis Buonagura shares: “While in Milwaukee last weekend, I spotted an Art-O-Mat machine in our hotel lobby. These are retired cigarette machines, repurposed (by Clark Whittington) which dispense original works of art. There were handmade stickers, pieces of jewelry, and mystery choices - I opted for a mystery selection and scored this excellent piece by Julie Frey. What a great take-home souvenir.
Art-O-Matic and work by Julie Frey. Photos by Dennis Buonagura
The Saint Kate Hotel is touted as an arts hotel and has several exhibition spaces and even an artist in residence. Our room had a Kiki Smith and there was an Alex Katz above the reception desk. I chatted for a bit with Julia Bradfish, the artist in residence, who explained how she was selected and showed me her art making process (she creates 3D paper sculptures to use as models for her paintings). She's got a large and bright studio for her year-long residency and participates in curating and tours of the hotel's exhibitions. Our room had a beautiful view of City Hall - and even the tiles in the shower were custom designed by a local artist, Linda Lindner.
Kiki Smith, Alex Katz, Julia Bradfish and Linda Lindner at The Saint Kate Hotel. Photos by Dennis Buongura.
The Milwaukee Art Museum is the town's crowning glory - designed by architect Santiago Calatrava (known to NYers as the creator of the Oculus - down at World Trade Center and above the PATH train station). Our time was limited on this trip so, although we've been to the museum many times before, we did not visit this time around. I guess Milwaukee is kind of like the French Riviera of the Midwest - so many gorgeous places to visit, like the Pabst Mansion, Villa Terrace Museum and Gardens, Charles Allis Art Museum, and my favorite - Ten Chimneys (a short drive outside of Milwaukee), the landmarked estate of Broadway legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
There are great river walks with public art along the way - and lots and lots of beer, pretzels, pierogi, and polka music!
It's hard to walk around town (if you're of a certain age!) and not hear the theme song to "Laverne and Shirley" over and over in your brain (and even harder to get it OUT of your brain)! "SCHLEMIEL! SCHLEMAZEL! HASENFEFFER INCORPORATED!"
Karla Prickett writes from Kansas: “I have been recouping from the mounting and framing of my current exhibit, "Two Studios: The Brooklyn Exchange III," delivering a self-portrait to a collective show of 142 artists, "Look At Us Now" at the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, KS through October, 18, 2026 and delivering another work to an invitational show, "Figures of Speech," at the Lincoln Kansas Art Center.”
Karla’s piece pictured abovd, "Things From Life," Mixed Media Assemblage 2024-2026 (One man's trash is another man's treasure) included in "Figures of Speech" Was created in AY Advanced Studio Zoom with Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow.
Eden-Nicole Moore sends plenty of photos and writes: “Goedendag! Good day – a sleepless day, no less! It seems since arriving in Groningen, The Netherlands for my graduate degree, my sleep schedule wakes me up at midnight!
Eden in Zwolle
So, having been awake for eight hours already, I took an 8AM train into the nearby city of Zwolle. The weather on this hour long train ride was gray and foggy, and even though my reasons for visiting were purely bureaucratic (immigration documents, yadda yadda), that doesn’t mean the tiny town was not without treasure!
First, I ended up sat in Van De Velde Boeken — a bookstore formed inside of a 14th century Church. I sat with my chai in the café, surrounded by Dutch books (which I could sort of understand!) and Dutch conversations (which I could absolutely not!)
In fact, I found it quite amusing that I could read the Latin on the church entrance more easily than I could the Dutch. Still there was nothing quite like journaling under the light of full chandeliers and stained glass windows.
Zwolle seems to have created a running trend of converting ancient churches into art spaces, as the very same happened with Academiehuis Grote Kerk — or, the Great Church Academy House. Free to enter, the space is dedicated to educating and sharing art with anyone that passes through. It truly encapsulated art as a social gesture, with a piano anybody was welcome to play, multiple different art exhibits sat beside a book exchange, old conservatory paintings, and a beautiful Gothic interior. The art varied from comics about queer exploration through clothing, paintings of forest, black and white prints of train riders, a tribute to burlesque made out of vintage fabrics, and historical documents on Gothic architecture. Some of these images were the very same that we saw at The Met together just a few weeks ago!
Art on view at Academiehuis Grote Kerk. Photos by Eden-Nicole Moore.
My last stop was the Museum De Fundatie, or the Foundation Museum. Four floors and seemingly the town’s biggest attraction, it explored all sorts of Dutch artistry.
Of course, I was struck by seeing a Van Gogh in person, but whereas the Vincent van Gogh Museum is focused on him as a singular artist, and other museums like the MOMA, place his art away from everyone else, this experience gave me the new perspective of seeing Van Gogh in conversation with other artists from his homeland. Not only were there paintings of his contemporaries showing similar brush strokes, there were paintings from the 1920s with direct references to his work, and even a modern piece on the top floor with screens metaphorically representing artists as wilting sunflowers, with a light that tracked the viewer to represent the Sun.
Van Gogh and contemporary sunflower piece. Photos by Eden-Nicole Moore.
There were many other pieces – like a small installation on prayer alters and a really cool room with tiny pieces you could view through a magnifying glass called Bibolets. This room had an amazing use of camera and light projection that made it so looking at one of the glasses meant I could see myself and all of the people behind me coming in simultaneously. It defies photography or verbal description.
However, the main highlight was a floor-sized exhibit on Dutch Artist Jan Cremer (1940-2024). Not only was his art shown, but different quotes, photographs of many other figures he’d met throughout the years, and a visual depiction of his thought process.
Here it’s shown that Cremer would use his typewriter to describe as many paintings as he could think of, then cut them out and bind them together into a suitcase collectively. I thought that was incredibly cool way of organizing thoughts.
At the end was a room where patrons were invited to use red and blue string to attach words they associated with Cremer and his art, parallel to abort displaying small visitor-drawn pictures in tribute to him. “I fight with paint, sometimes I win.” - Jan Cremer
My thought was that going to Zwolle for the purpose of visa stuff on a rainy day would make the town burdensome, and although my lack of Dutch did lead to some awkward moments, it was still proof that you can find the best of art anywhere and everywhere.”
Looks like Jazz Guillet is headed out to the beach. She sent this photo of "On and Off the Boardwalk" series of laminated glass panels created by artist Ingo Fast for the MTA Beach 67th Street station in Arverne, New York earlier today!
I had a text from Mia Lew as she was “walking around Chelsea and saw an Alice Baber included in Making Space: American Women Artists and The Century of Change and it reminded me that you read that biography on her (Gail Levin, Alice Baber: An Artist's Triumph Over Tragedy, Simon & Schuster, 2026). It feels very dancerly. On view at It’s at Lincoln Glenn Gallery, 542 West 24th Street New York, NY through August 22nd.
Hot tip from Mia - “I don’t know if you saw Leonora Carrington: The Shape of Dreams exhibition at L’Space Gallery, 524 W 19th St. New York, NY, was extended until August 14th
“The delicacy, the magic, all maintain, with the extra gift of being to walk around them and see Carrington’s mind at work from all angles—such a bonus to enter that much further into her weird and wonderful world.” (See recap from June 26 for our full review!)
🌞🌸💖
PS: Send in your art updates for next week. Cheyenne and Briana promise a review from their museum hopping adventure!
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