When Dennis first suggested this year’s theme of Literacy, I immediately thought of the work of Mel Bochner (1940-2025). Many AYB students have been familiar with his work since we visited his exhibition Strong Language at the Jewish Museum in 2014.
With the aim to celebrate a life of remarkable artmaking, in this week’s Advanced Studio session on zoom I (Meridith) presented a lesson entitled Seeing Words about Mel Bochner’s work exploring his fascination with language.
Bochner wrote: “My work doesn’t address political issues directly. In works like ‘Exasperations’” — a series of etchings of phrases one might utter when exasperated, like “So What” — “I want the meaning to dawn on the viewer, not bludgeon them. But, at the same time, I do agree with Charlie Chaplin: ‘If it isn’t funny, it isn’t art.’” True to his word, we had quite a few laughs as we perused these paintings!
In 1966 Bochner began playing with language, making word “portraits” of his friends. He portrayed Eva Hesse as the word “wrap,” which he wrote in the middle of a circular sheet of graph paper, with synonyms for the word swirling around it. We loved this word portrait, and several of us were doubly excited as we recently saw Eva Hesse’s work in Vital Signs: Artists and the Body on a field trip to Moma.
I rolled the project out incrementally. First I had everyone make three expansive word/phrase lists for the words: joy, friend, and art. Then I asked folks edit one of the lists to make connections.
Mel Bockner (left) Assata Benoit, Edited Word list (right)
Finally, we created a text based but painterly artwork inspired by the work of Mel Bochner which embodies the meaning of a selected word or phrase or stems conceptually from our selected text. Additionally I asked artists to carefully consider their method, color, composition, legibility, and content.
For my (Meridith) piece I built my piece from the phrase well read, surrounded by words for the effects of being well read. The inconsistent size of the rainbow circles and sizes standing in for the diversity of the AYB community.
Also working with concentric circles and a rainbow palette, Travis tells us: “My piece was inspired by the ripples of raindrops, with each circle containing words that stay within a shared theme. The words—ranging from love and laughter to the present, the unknown, and truth—were all drawn from the idea of joy.”
Clementine explains: “For my Mel Bochner piece I picked the word "beloved" because I like how it is both a title and an action (to be loved). I liked how Bochner used repetition throughout his work and wanted to draw inspiration from that.”
Rachael writes: My work is called sunshine. While working on the painting, I was thinking about the word home and love came through in the work.
Vera B. recounts: “I chose this phrase as a way to join the two word lists created from the terms, friend and joy. Presence is required to fully enjoy both. I used oils pastels for each block of color. Instead of tracing the letters with pencil, I used a stencil and scissors to scrape away the oil pastel. The plan was to do something creative to obscure or disrupt the word “be,” to capture the difficulty with learning how to be, in a society that pushes doing. I’m still thinking about how to do that.”
Abriel (bob) really got into the materials. “My phrase was derived from the word Art. To me art is “Anything You Want”. As I began painting out the phrase I started to feel the painterly effect. It was interesting painting words and seeing how the line blurred between calligraphy, drawing, writing, painting and overall design. The possibilities felt endless at certain point. I would love to try this on a bigger canvas and really dial into the painterliness of it all.”
Adji quips: “I took the three words ‘art,´ ´friend,´ and ´love’ and I tried to find the common thread between them. I realized when I feel like I’ve lost my sense of self or my footing in the world, it is these three things that anchors me back. This lesson was really important because words have power. Mel Bochner said ‘’ The first thing power corrupts is language,’’ and that’s purposeful. To corrupt people’s ability to express or verbalize is to render them powerless.”
Richie creates a specialized font for his piece.
Cammi describes her ideas and work: “I decided to take more of a collage approach. Instead of using only words to describe what I find Joy in , I used things that have brought me joy. The sea critters pictures come from a scrap book I was gifted from my grandmother in Ecuador. The specific fish in the picture are Local fishes in Ecuador . Then I used real flowers gifted to me by my mother before she left to Ecuador. I love Ecuador and flowers and of course my mother :). Finally I decided to write in lipstick (I love all things beauty and my job as an MUA) all things that are important to me and I think more people should consider. Empathy being one word i used and Slow. Both of these words represent how I wish to live.”
Karla selected: “Ideas from my list of words under Art. Ideas seem to be the springboard for developing concepts, trying new things, or determining a response. I was inspired by the lesson to layer lettering and to use multiple colors. I had the "idea" To print the word backwards and in different directions. I added the category word, "ART" in thin, white line and various sizes to create more visual depth.
Karla would also like to compliment Scarlett’s horizontal piece with words vaguely visible which she thought that was a beautiful piece! Scarlett explains “my piece deals with relationships and love. I focused on the three primary colors and three words that describe love.”
Marylin writes: "Meridith’s lesson introduced me to the fascinating work of Mel Bochner and some of the ways he creates art around words. Given the words joy, friend, and art to choose from, I selected “joy" and the word “smile” as a subset. In the spirit of Bochner, I first drew a smiling mouth and repeatedly filled it with the word smile, using a rainbow palette, which is joyful to me."
Lila completed her piece Word Clouds working with the PowerPoint after the session. Lila comments: "The lesson was nice and clear with the directions. Very thoughtful. I wanted to go with high frequency words, which generate feel-good thoughts. I incorporated bright colors to do the same visually."
In Advanced Studio in person we celebrated the Vernal Equinox with AYB Artist Adji Kebe presenting a lesson on the Tarot. Adji showed her exemplary talent as a teacher with superb preparation which included a well-researched presentation, several decks of cards for reference and prepared the papers for our work cut to size with the title of one of the major arcana penciled but placed face down. Thus in selecting our paper, we were also selecting a card.
Adji summarizes: “I was nervous, but also excited to teach my first class at ART YARD BKLYN. I’m a special education teacher, and I teach 4th grade. I’ve never taught adults, but a friend reminded me, I could always teach to people’s inner child. I wanted to do a class on tarot to usher in the new year based on the Spring Equinox.
Everyone got to choose a card from the Major Arcana, such as The High Priestess or The Emperor, to illustrate the overall theme of their new year. Some asked questions they wanted answers to before they picked their cards, and others were open to whatever message the cards had to offer. I was blown away by the creativity, beauty, and vulnerability of AYB artists. Everyone was so supportive and eager to engage with one another.”
Cheyenne Riviera, The Magician, Asiana Billie, The High Priestess, Margaret Hardigg, The Empress
Ed Rath, The Emperor, Grace Webb, The Lovers, Meridith McNeal, The Chariot
Neah Gray, Strength, Mich Goenawan, The Hermit, Leslie Enofe, Wheel of Fortune
Adji Kebe, Justice, Jacob Rath, The Hanged Man, Clementine Finn, Death
Liv Collins, Temperance, Abriel Abdullah, The Tower, Rachael Elliott, The Star
Emma McMurray, The Moon, Sabryn Ferchichi, The Sun, Adji Diop, Judgement
My after-class texts were exuberant! Cheyenne: “😍😍😍. I loved this class so much!!!”, Margaret: “Thank you!! We had such a wonderful time.”, and Jacob shared his earlier Tarot inspired artwork made in a session exploring duality with Reg.
AYB Art Matters school partnerships are flourishing!
Dennis reports: “So much going on at PS 17, our partnership school in Jersey City, that we found ourselves there on a Tuesday this week (in addition to our regular Wednesdays).
Teaching artist Leo Emabat worked closely with the teachers who will coach (and costume) the students who were selected to participate in the school's upcoming Women's History Month event.
The school provided us with a list of women who will be honored and Leo has already begun designing and drafting 'plaques' (which are going to be 24 inch round disks) relative to each person.
Students will participate in designing and painting them. More to come.
Teaching Artist Evelyn Beliveau tells us what happened on Wednesday: “This was the final week of Meeting a Dragon at PS 17. Students finished adding color to their artwork and conducted a critique. We were pleased to welcome our interns back from spring break for a full team in the classroom: Scarlett, Clementine, Leo, Dennis, and myself (Evelyn)!
Students have spent about a month on this project: learning about dragons, poses, and composition (foreground, middle ground, and background); creating pencil drawings incorporating all of these elements; and using watercolor paints to complete the scenes. Grades 4 and 6 had begun using watercolor last week, so they jumped right in. Many students finished their artwork, and we’ll have a makeup session for the meticulous workers who need a bit more time.
For Grades 1 and 2, today was the first day using watercolor. We went over the step-by-step process (including the all-important step of rinsing the brush to avoid muddying the paint set) and some tips and tricks for neat and effective painting. Students dove in with vibrant color choices and worked on controlling their brushwork to match their careful drawings.
During critique, we noted the many similarities and differences across the finished pieces, including the shape of the dragon (including the number of spirals and loops!) and the direction it faces, the pose of the person and which emotion is implied, and background color choices that illuminate blue skies, gray stormclouds, or red and yellow sunsets. Students also gave compliments about the dragon paintings that spoke to them and the work ethic of their fellow students.
Dennis wraps up: “During Wednesday's after school session at PS 17, Teaching Artist Marina Soliman continued demonstrating and guiding students in still life drawing and watercolor techniques. After last week's "healthy" subjects (kiwis, watermelons, oranges, etc.), Marina moved forward with cupcakes, much to the students' delight.
Seems that each week, our class grows by a student or two (with more expected on April 9th, as per the school's AP) so Marina recaps prior lessons to bring all students up to date with all others. We're strategizing on how to allow those students who've been in the program from day one to move forward a bit faster - maybe breakout groups or working with other members of our PS 17 team (Leo, Clementine, Scarlett).
Check out this week's works!
Also at PS 17, Teaching Artist/Muralist Gianna (Gia) Gutierrez continued her gigantic task of painting the library mural - it's a process, to say the least. Here's a new photo showing detail close up. Gia expects to complete this project in about 2 weeks - first waiting for the school's principal's further suggestions/requests.
Today in the schools Dennis recaps: “Lots of color was added to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students' Wayang puppets this week at PS 6, our partnership school in Jersey City.
Teaching Artist Lionel (Leo) Emabat guided students through the completion of their puppet drawings (in profile - and with arms and legs drawn separately) and demonstrated the proper usage of the brush tipped markers. He assigned each student a limited palette (altho hard to control students from borrowing colors out of their palettes when seated at the same table - especially in one of our larger classes of 42 students) - some even began cutting and assembling.
Students saw images of puppets that Leo created as well as more illustrations of puppets from literature. Leo was assisted today by Clementine and Scarlett.
At the end of today's classes, I stayed for a bit with students from prior cycles who needed time to finish their pieces (Sendak paintings and comic strips) for a make-up session. Also, during this time, Lianna worked on her portrait of Maurice Sendak - an "extra credit" activity that she volunteered to do, which will make a lovely addition to our exhibit.”
Other Art News
OPPORTUNITY: If you have not done so already, you should really apply to Valley Cottage Library's 2025 Banned Book Trading Card and exhibition open call!!!
The first-ever Brooklyn SeltzerFest honoring the carbonated drink’s history in the five boroughs – featuring tastings, antique syphons and a national egg cream competition – sold out in Brooklyn on Sunday, with over 600 attendees coming together to celebrate the pop-ular drink. ~ New York Post
More Fizz a pop-up exhibition of AYB co-founder and director Meridith McNeal's paintings created the perfect inspiration for artmaking with Brooklyn Seltzerfest participants of all ages! AYB artists Richie Lee Chong, Tangie Murray, Marley Haynes, Diana Rickard, Neah Gray, Shellorne Smith and Chace Mondesir worked hard all day long to encourage and inspire. It was a great day with a great team, sharing what we love: ART!
Use arrows to scroll images of paintings and artists.
JOIN US FOR THE RECEPTION on Saturday, March 22, 2-4pm at BWAC in Red Hook!
Reading Music is an exhibition by ART YARD BKLYN (AYB) artists that examines ways to capture the energy and feeling of music in visual art. Expanding on our Year of Literacy theme, the works here explore the connection between the worlds of music and art, showing how one can inspire and inform the other.
On view is artwork by Evelyn Beliveau, Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Cecile Chong, Free Inside, Reg Lewis, Ardelia (Dede) Lovelace, Meridith McNeal, Ed Rath, Ajani Russell, and Vee Tineo.
The exhibition also includes Resonating Chamber, a mural created for this exhibition by Evelyn Beliveau, Keenan Conley, Neah Gray, Mich Goenawan, Adji Ngathe Kebe, Mia Lew, Xingze Li, Elizabeth Morales Romero, Maria Polanco, Ed Rath, Jacob Rath, Ajani Russell, Liana St. Bernard and Grace Webb.
See you tomorrow for the artists reception for Reading Music!
🧡💜💛🩵💚🩷❤️💙
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