This is not a small voice
- frida@artyardbklyn.org
- Feb 27
- 17 min read
We are thrilled to share exciting news in this week’s ART YARD BKLYN recap: we have received a generous grant from the Ellis L. Phillips Foundation to support AYB’s Teacher Training Program for the coming year.
This recognition is particularly meaningful to us. ART YARD BKLYN has a long and proud history of nurturing, training, and supporting artists. Teacher training has always been embedded in AYB’s programming and leadership structure—it’s part of who we are.
This week alone, we see powerful examples of that commitment in action. Teaching Artists Fatima Traore and Evelyn Beliveau both joined us first as participating artists and have grown into key members of our stellar cadre of expert educators, this week teaching in Advanced Studio, and our ART YARD Art Matters in the School respectively. We were also wowed by Leah Eliopoulos, a longtime Advanced Studio artist, who led her inaugural session as a Teaching Artist this week with a wonderfully evocative session.
Alongside this wonderful announcement and these programmatic successes, we’re excited to share excellent Other Art News and new opportunities with our community.
Thank you, as always, for your continued interest in and support of ART YARD BKLYN.
Sonia Sanchez, This is not a small voice (excerpt), 1995
This week Advanced Studio on zoom AYB Artist Leah Eliopulos taught her very first session!!
Leah summarizes her experience with this session: “When I was brainstorming for this lesson I knew I wanted something simple and straightforward that the artists could dive into right away without overthinking it too much. I’ve always had a fascination with the color blue and so I took that inspiration into my research and intuitively went from there. My objective for this lesson was more so for the artists to get out of their conscious mind and tap into their subconscious. I believe this is where magic forms.
This was my first time teaching as a AYB artist/student and I was so grateful for the support we have to make these lessons come to life. I didn't know how the artists would respond to the meditative segment of the lesson but I believe it was successful in allowing them to flow into their subconscious mind to pull out these creative concepts. I was impressed by the diversity of the artist's interpretations of this blue theme.
Most humans have an emotional response, feeling, thought when certain colors come to mind and I was curious to see how the artists would respond to a lesson only revolving around one color. Because of its rarity in nature, and also the color I most associate with my childhood, I figured it was the perfect color to dive into. I challenged the artists to not overthink the objective and to dive into what was invoked from their 5 minutes of meditating on the color blue.”
Advanced Studio critiques are emotionally, intellectually and artistically engaged dialogues. We listen deeply to each other as we share our work. Here are insights shared by the artists participating in Leah’s session:
Karla adds: “I have never been a fan of blue!! And I didn’t know blueprints were Prussian Blue!! I thought the lesson was really great! Results as well!!”
Flo continues with this thread: “I recently caught myself saying that I wasn’t a big fan of the colour blue and I’m glad this class brought me back to sanity.
I really enjoyed the starting the practical part of the class with a meditation. It allowed me to connect with the colour Blue in a deep and quite mystical way, unknowingly calling up on to the spirit of “Mami Wata” to evoke my conscious and unconscious resonance to music, slavery, faith and my heritage. It was a BLUEtiful class”
Lila writes eloquently about the piece she created in this session:
Shades of the Islam: A Blue Ramadan
This piece was born from a place of stillness during our AYB meditation on the color blue. As I sat with the color, my mind didn’t drift toward the sky or the sea, but toward the deep, resonant history of Islam.
I began thinking about the traditional palette we often associate with the faith, (the creams, the greens, and the golds) but then I remembered a ceramic plate I brought home from Morocco when I was thirteen. I remembered the way those same intricate, "Moorish" blues wove themselves through the architecture and pottery of Portugal. There is a specific, royal vibe in that blue that connects continents and centuries.
Lately, that blue has followed me into the present. Observing the Iftar celebrations this year, I’ve been struck by a sea of blue. While Muslimina fashion is celebrated for many things, my attraction to it has always been less about the concept of modesty and more about the sheer richness, the weight of the fabrics, the intricate drapes, and the luminous beauty of the women themselves.
My artwork is a fusion of fashion and faith. It centers on the modern Muslim woman, draped in the various shades of blue I’ve seen gracing the streets and gatherings this season. Celebrating the fabric in the way light hits silk and cotton in shades ranging from Mediterranean cyan to deep midnight. The background features the geometric precision of Islamic tile-work, bridging the gap between that Moroccan plate from my childhood and the living art of the present. Traditional symbols of Ramadan, the lanterns and the crescent, frame the subjects, grounding the fashion in a moment of spiritual reflection.
This piece is a celebration of the "Blue Ramadan", a tribute to the elegance, history, and vibrant presence of Muslim women in our global community."
Impressing us all with his explanation and use of watercolor, Richie explains: “My meditation manifested as a rumination for the near future, in which I have a skeptical belief in a greater force that oversees the world. It takes on a vision from an open field as a drastic change to the world can be seen from there by that greater force supposedly by next Easter.”
Marilyn recounts: “I started with the eye and didn’t get very far before I realized I wasn’t going to get it anywhere finished, so I wet another piece of paper and just worked with different colors of blue and a little red. That went quickly, so I returned to the eye and filled in the iris.”
Marilyn J. August, Blues
Attending Advanced Studio for the first time, Hannah went with an intuitive response. We loved thier line work and beautiful use of colored pencil and pastel on tracing paper.
Cheyenne shares: "After meditation I decided to paint intuitively, and overall very loose and relaxed while continuing think about how the color made me feel, almost like water and allow the piece to form itself - & this was the result!”
Kevin "was so amazed by the care and heart that Leah had put into her lesson. Content and vision allowed me to create a piece that was centered around joy and creation.
After the scheduled meditation, I opened my eyes as night had begun to fall. I took notice that the land of white snow was turning into a cool and calming blue. I remembered being in awe at the snow that had fallen earlier in the day, and wanted to replicate that in this piece. Specifically, from the perspective of a bird I had seen that day, showing it waiting out the storm.
Overall, this was a beautiful first lesson, from a visionary AYB veteran. This lesson brought a smile to my face.”
Aaron worked in “Oil on paper. This was a technique study. I focused on color mixing, blending, and building form with placement instead of outlining shapes.”
Always one to make superb literary connections, Adji explains: “As I was meditating on the color blue, I realized I didn’t have an affinity for the color. I chose blue whenever there wasn’t something in my favorite color, which is green. However, I did have a book by Maggie Nelson called Bluets, which I cherished. I loved how Maggie Nelson used the color blue to explore themes of desire, love, relationships, and grief. I remembered reading the book on the Subway and being so transfixed, I kept missing my stops. When I picked up the book to paint it for the class, the Metro card I was using at the time fell out. I learned a couple months ago the MTA was getting rid of the Metrocard, and I was devastated. I thought I had thrown out all the ones I’ve kept over the years, and here was one, stuck in a book. It felt lucky. A piece of memory for the sentimental.”
Rashidah expounds: “While meditating on the color blue as Leah suggested doing before working on our piece, my mind focused on calm, while my mind's eye pictured the water. I always feel calm at the beach, hearing the turbulence of the water as the waves roll to shore, so I decided to draw a seascape. Night at the beach is even a more serene time for me, so I depicted the moon in three perspectives, with the intent to make it feel as if it were jumping out at the viewer. I also decided to draw some tulips to further romanticize the feeling of being surrounded by nature.”
Nayarit created three responses to her meditation on blue, explaining that she chose to focus on the positive as did Dami.
Nayarit Tineo, Blues l, ll,& lll
I (Meridith) started the meditation listening to Miles Davis Kind of Blue (Columbia Records, 1959). Which got me thinking about Pearl Cleage’s powerful essay Mad at Miles: A Blackwoman's Guide to Truth (Cleage Group, 1990). After deeming the album the ultimate of seduction records, she lambasts the jazz legend for his self-described (Miles: The Autobiography, Simon & Schuster 1989) abusive treatment of women. Mad at Miles challenges the cultural silence surrounding domestic violence, forcing readers to reconcile admiration for his art with his actions.
As a visual manifestation and symbolic representation of these ideas, I landed on the blue glass bottles often unearthed in urban archeological digs upon which are embossed the words "not to be taken" echoing Cleage’s message.
With a video response, deep with content, Maraya explains: “"Bellini Blues" was inspired by my close observation and awe of Giovanni Bellini’s use of ultramarine blue while standing guard at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the video, familiar objects are carefully placed toallude to one of Bellini’s compositions. For example, the Armato Ice Service bag replaces the Virgin Mary, and the plate on the wall—crafted by local artist Emilie Lemakis—is a playful macabre representation of death, foreshadowing the demise of the baby Jesus. The abrupt crushing of ice in the video is symbolic of the violence running through our country as a result of the hate crimes the ICE federal agency is currently inflicting on innocent people and communities, leaving me in a state of "Bellini Blues."
The mountains of snow in NYC compelled us to hold this week’s Advanced Studio usually in person on zoom. AYB Artist Fatima Traore was back with an interesting perspective on migration!
Fatima sums up: "On Tuesday, Art Yard went virtual and I (Fatima) had the pleasure of leading a lesson titled Between Vessels: Migration of Self. In this session, I invited participants to consider how identity can migrate across forms. In many cultures, reincarnation suggests that while bodies change, something essential continues. Migration also involves leaving one place and entering another — often transformed, but never entirely new. I asked each artist to imagine a past or future life while intentionally carrying at least one essential part of their current self into a new existence. The challenge was to design a transformed self — human or non-human — that demonstrates both change and continuity, examining what is lost, what is chosen, and what endures.
To help generate ideas and compositions from both conceptual and technical standpoints, we looked at the work of Remedios Varo, Anna-Carien Goosen, and our very own Meridith McNeal. Each artist approaches transformation, symbolism, and scale in unique ways, offering rich examples of how narrative and identity can be embedded into visual language.
The results varied widely, yet there were interesting overlaps in concept and approach, which made for a dynamic critique.
Jacob reflected on Judaism and the tradition of being named after the deceased, exploring lineage and identity through a return to the past.
Maya incorporated a rainbow into her piece, illustrating a reflection of her current self offering a bowl of cereal to her younger self — a tender moment bridging time and care.
Flow illustrated the transfer of life from mother to son and moon to sun, weaving in layered symbolism: cats, eyes, ears, turtles, and candle clocks marking the passage of time.
Meridith continued her miniature dollhouse series through self-portraiture. She shared the original inspiration behind a large-scale painting and the evolution of its varied renditions as it transformed into miniature form, expanding her narrative world through scale.
Meridith McNeal, Between Vessels: Migration of Self (several permutations)
Leah illustrated herself as a fish, expressing how she feels most free and in tune while submerged in water.
Sebastian connected the various places he has lived with different versions of himself, using “hair stories” alongside corresponding nature scenes. A theme of nature — trees in particular — organically emerged across several works.
Evelyn followed after Varo with a semi-surrealist self-portrait that mixed scales. They illustrated a network of trees and mycelium growing from the “hill” at the top of their head, reflecting on life cycles and the return of energy to the ecosystem through decomposition. The essential element they chose to keep was connectedness.
JP also centered a tree in his composition but emphasized his brain as the core value he would carry forward — prioritizing knowledge and awareness.
Adji transformed the traditional structure of a tree into something personal and symbolic, focusing on sustaining relationships with other living things.
In my own piece, I (Fatima) also illustrated a tree in full bloom during the fall — my favorite season. I kept Blackness at the center, with leaves shaped like a curly fro and my self-portrait interwoven into the bark. I thought about the five senses and imagined the tree as a home for others — rooted, vibrant, and sustaining even in a season associated with transition.
As I reflect on this lesson and its varied outcomes, I’m reminded of how my teaching journey began. I started through in our previous incarnation and then continued (on the planning committee!) as we began ART YARD BKLYN immediately after college — first as a summer intern, then as a teaching artist for young children, accompanying Dennis Buonagura into public schools across NYC and NJ, learning to teach virtually during the pandemic, leading my own classrooms and afterschool programs, and now managing my own team of visual arts teachers. Each step has prepared me for the next.
Through these experiences, I’ve learned how to set both technical and conceptual parameters within each medium across grade levels and ages. I’ve grown more confident in guiding critique, holding space for vulnerability, and encouraging artists to trust their ideas. I am always astounded by how a single prompt can spark entirely different bodies of work — how one idea can branch outward like the trees that kept appearing in our session.
None of this would be possible without the support and fluidity of AYB and its fearless leaders, Meridith McNeal and Dennis Buonagura. This lesson was not just about migration within artwork, but a reminder of my own migration as a teaching artist — evolving, expanding, and carrying forward what endures.”
Evelyn Beliveau reports on ART YARD Art Matters at PS 17: “Across starfields and snowfields, our PS 17 students are traveling through the Year of Migration with gusto! Dennis, Simone, and I (Evelyn) led students in our two in-progress lesson cycles: Exploring Outer Space (Grades 4 and 7) and Snow Tracks (Grades 1 and 2).
Many of our students’ invented spacecraft took to the skies this week, as students finished adding color and began to cut and collage their drawings onto black paper. Inspired by the work of Moebius (Jean Giraud, 1938-2012), we are focusing on creating smooth color gradients using colored pencils during this lesson cycle. We viewed examples of Moebius’s sci-fi comics and illustrations, and students created their own designs. Color gradients appear in the colorful casings of rocket ships, carefully shaped flames spouting from engines, and planets' rings.
Those that completed the collage step with time to spare took on the final step of this project, adding space phenomena like planets and stars to their compositions. We viewed images on https://esawebb.org/ for inspiration, and students used either colored pencil on white drawing paper (cutting out with scissors and collaging with glue sticks) or colored pencil directly on the black paper to add these elements.
Our younger students made great progress on their artworks inspired by animal tracks in the snow—especially relevant given the snow days this week! They gleefully reported snow-day activities, like building snowmen or staying indoors and watching movies. For this project, most students had completed pencil outlines of a path of the tracks of the Sparrow, Gray Squirrel, or White-Tailed Deer last week. Both classes worked in grayscale but with different media: Grade 1 shaded with white charcoal pencils on black paper (filling in the snow around the tracks and leaving the tracks dark), while Grade 2 painted in the tracks with Payne’s Gray watercolor on white watercolor paper.
These two different approaches led to beautiful contrasting effects—Grade 1 artworks highlighted students’ energetic shading and a powdery snow effect from the charcoal pencils, while artworks by Grade 2 students had a calligraphic, ink-like effect, suggesting the delicate nature of prints in snow. We had a new student in our Grade 2 class, Salman, who jumped right in with the help of his classmates and completed a beautiful piece. We are very proud of all our students.
Evelyn reflects upon their work with our school partnerships: “Six years ago, as a young artist fresh out of undergrad and new to Brooklyn, I taught my first lesson cycle at one of our partner schools, PS 6 in Jersey City. Since then, AYB has fueled my growth as a teacher--Meridith and Dennis have genuinely believed in me, prompting me to successfully take on projects I'm not sure I would have had the confidence to lead otherwise. That is a quality the best teachers share, in my opinion, and I try to emulate it in the classroom, helping my own students reach their potential by showing them I believe in them, too.
Now I feel confident at the head of a classroom. I've worked with students in kindergarten through grade 8, along with intergenerational groups of Advanced Studio and Summer session participants. I've taught drawing and painting in a variety of modes, from portraiture (at the heart of my own practice) to wall-size collaborative pieces, with forays into costume and prop design at one of our schools, and mural-painting at a school outside of AYB. I've learned a great deal about pacing, gauging understanding, and engaging different age levels, both through developing and teaching my own lessons and learning from fellow Teaching Artists at Advanced Studio and Summer Session. Thinking back with gratitude as I plan my next lesson cycle for PS 6 and take on a new special project at another partner school, PS 17!”
Dennis reports on today’s session of ART YARD Art Matters at PS 6: “Following Teaching Artist Nick Tardiff’s excellent instructions, students at PS 6, our partnership school in Jersey City, moved forward into the 2nd week of their animation project.
Nick, assisted by Simone, revisited the presentation and asked students to create 2 thumbnail sketches as ideas for the backgrounds of their migrating animals.
Nick's prompt sheet, Simone working with students, and students hard at work.
Some used the photos Nick provided, as inspiration to create the natural habitats for their penguins, dolphins, and wildebeests - while other created fantasy habitats (mint chocolate ice cream mountains, iPhone repairs centers for dolphins, M&M snow falls, and “rainbowlandia”). There were igloos, lemonade oceans, and a land where it rains only money!
They transferred their designs to their works and added color with either colored pencils or oil pastels or both. The results are bright and vivid.
It surely seems that our teacher training program proved positive. Nick and I worked together, both in person and via email, over the past few weeks. He attended a lesson taught by another teaching to see how things operate - which was valuable. We discussed lesson planning, presentations, supplies, students ages and abilities - etc. Timing and organization are essential and our preparation for this cycle really helped to make it a success.”
Other Art News
Congratulations to AYB Artist TJ Edgar on the inclusion of her photograph in “Rejoice, Resist, Rest: Images of Black Liberation” on view at Atlanta Contemporary through May 17, 2026! TJ shares, “I was very glad my work got picked for this exhibition! I did an interview for an article about it—here is the link!”
TJ visits the exhibition, and Taryn Edgar, N + J, from the series "Black Love: Reignighted", 2025
AYB Artist Lilo Lewis flew from Paris to be with their family in Trinidad encountered this exuberant exhibition celebrating Carnival at Piarco International Airport.
As the airport signage reminds visitors, Carnival is often called “the greatest show, party and street parade in the world,” a sense-awakening celebration rooted in history and alive with the diverse, colorful culture of the Caribbean. The festivities begin with J’ouvert at 4:00 a.m., when revelers cover themselves in mud, powder, and paint before sunrise. The spectacle of mas follows, with masqueraders filling the streets in dazzling costumes of feathers, beads, and sequins, alongside traditional characters such as the Midnight Robber, Pierrot Grenade, and the towering Moko Jumbie.
Carnival exhibition at the Piarco International Airport. Photos by Lilo Lewis.
AYB Artist Travis Pereira reports: “I went to DIA Beacon and was so excited to see the spider sculpture from Louise Bourgeois. Crawled under (could not resist). I was moved! So my vibe. They had other sculptures. She is THAT GIRL.”
Travis contemplates Louise Bourgeois, Crouching Spider at DIA Beacon
Standing beneath Bourgeois’s monumental spider — specifically Crouching Spider (2003) — is not just an art viewing moment. It’s an encounter. The steel legs arc overhead like a cathedral of tension, delicate yet unyielding. You are one with the artwork. Watched. Protected. Threatened. All at once.
The spider — protector and predator, weaver and watcher — holds that charged duality Bourgeois returned to again and again. Under it, you feel the psychological architecture she built over seven decades. It is maternal and menacing. Intimate and immense.
I (Meridith) just finished Knife-Woman: The Life of Louise Bourgeois by Marie-Laure Bernadac (Yale University Press, 2025).
Billed as the fullest account to date of one of the most influential artists of the last century, it is unquestionably comprehensive. It is also, in my experience, a huge hulking door-stopper of a book that has been sitting on my coffee table for about a month while I slogged through it at a snail’s pace — and I LOVE her work. I LOVE a biography.
A few evenings ago I forced myself to sit down and read with focus, determined to figure out what wasn’t clicking. What I’ve concluded is this: it’s the writing. The prose feels convoluted and lacking clarity. The timeline flits about. The language is ponderous, circuitous, and at times oddly phrased. Perhaps it suffers from an awkward or overly literal translation from the French?
Book cover, and Louise Bourgeois artwork depicted in the book (🩵!!)
Listen to AYB Artists Jules Lorenzo and Gem Mercado play live music 9:30pm at Berlin on Sunday March 1st https://www.ticketweb.com/event/sunday-saari-rocky-billop-berlin-tickets/14074974
If you are in LA next week, AYB Artist Abriel (bob) Gardner is performing in a durational dance project called After Lived. Bob shares that she is excited about this project and explains that Durational Dance is a performance art form where movements are sustained over long, often non-linear periods, focusing on endurance, repetition, and the transformation of both performer and audience over time.
AYB Artist Maraya Lopez has a message for you, and hopes you will subscribe to her latest project!
“Hello everyone! I am currently working on a project called “3 Pointz Brooklyn: Part 3: Border Patrol”. I'll be live-streaming my 34 mile walk/patrol of the perimeter of Brooklyn for Dumbo Open Studios on April 18th. I’m trying to lock in 10 more subscribers to be able to stream on YouTube and I'm almost there! I welcome your support and hope you follow along on the virtual patrol! Thank you for looking 👀 Subscribe at this link and learn about the project.”
AYB on view in Philadelphia – we are included in The Art of Free Assembly opening March 5th at The National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia.
“The Art of Free Assembly, will allow visitors to experience how artists have captured the intimate moments of gathering that make even the most everyday and commonplace examples of assembly so meaningful. Through their lens, see how this spirit of assembly across generations inspires dialogue and a shared appreciation for the ability to gather.” (from the exhibition press material)
Meridith McNeal, The Portrait Ouroboros, 2025, photograph, 31x26” and screenshot from museum website.
AYB Artist Lenika Silva, co-curator with Jacob Rath of Hold Dear reports: "After many months of anticipation, the installation of our Hold Dear exhibition at Small House Gallery in London is finally coming to life. Despite some transport mishaps, we managed to curate a show that will beautifully showcase our miniature artwork. We are honored to share our stories of migration and counting down the days to our debut!"
❤️🔥 with love and gratitude,
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