Dream Big
- frida@artyardbklyn.org
- 17 hours ago
- 8 min read
While our school partners are off enjoying spring vacation, we’ve been keeping the creative momentum going full steam ahead at ART YARD BKLYN!
This week, Intern Scarlett Wagner led a thought-provoking Advanced Studio session on Zoom, inviting artists to explore the theme of dreams—from the surreal landscapes of our sleeping minds to our most aspirational visions for the future.
In person, veteran Teaching Artist Rachael Wren helped us celebrate Earth Day with a powerful drawing intensive, guiding participants through a beautiful artistic process—from direct observation of the natural world to imaginative abstraction. It was a grounding and inspiring way to honor the planet through the language of drawing.
Meanwhile, AYB Board Member Tangie Murray and I had one of the most energizing creative brainstorming sessions ever with Josh Carter, Executive Director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. The ideas were flowing as we dreamed up possibilities for a future collaboration! In the words of the brilliant Robin D.G. Kelley in Freedom Dreams:
"Dreaming [allows us] to visualize the future that we want to live in, and harness the necessary tools and resources to actively move that dream toward a reality."
And that’s exactly what we’re doing.
Speaking of dreams becoming reality — in just 8 days, on Saturday, May 3rd from 6–8pm, we’ll be celebrating the opening of our newest exhibition From A to Z at the gallery at 180 Franklin Avenue with a fabulous, art-filled, community-powered party/fundraiser!
It’s going to be a joyful and lively evening featuring:
DJ Abby keeping the beats flowing
Reg Lewis as our charismatic MC
Adji offering insightful tarot readings
Ajani, Evelyn, and Mia drawing portraits on the spot
A raffle of super-fun AYB merch, art and services
On view will be dynamic work created in recent AYB sessions:
Carved Wood Sculptures made in class with Rainy Lehrman
Letterform Paintings made in class with Evelyn Beliveau
A Large-Scale Mural Portrait made in class with Vee Tineo
ASL Watercolor Gestures made in class with Ajani Russell
Zines with made in class Maraya Lopez
We’re using this event as a fundraiser to support future ART YARD BKLYN programming, and we’d love for you to consider becoming a sponsor!
Mark your calendars, gather your friends, and get ready to celebrate the A-to-Z creativity of our amazing ART YARD community.
Advanced Studio on zoom with AYB Intern Scarlett Wagner had participating artists deep diving into the land of dreamy dreams!
Scarlett sums up: “On zoom this week the lesson was on dreamscapes. The lesson covered what a dreamscape is. As the teacher, I wanted the project to be really open ended. I explained how you could either illustrate a dream you actually had or something that you're dreaming of doing. The lesson also explores the concept of surrealism. During the lesson I taught about Salvador Dali and his dreamscapes that he creates. Something else that came to mind when thinking about dreamscapes and surrealism is the story of Alice in Wonderland. This was a story I really enjoyed as a child so I decided to connect it to the lesson. When doing some research on Salvador Dali I actually found that he illustrated an Alice in Wonderland book! The book was really abstract which contrasts well with the semi realistic style of Dali’s work.
This was my first time teaching over zoom and it was a really good experience! It definitely took a bit of time to get used to projecting my screen to others and teaching in that format. I was really happy with the outcome of the lesson. I was really excited to see that all of the artists took the prompt in a different direction."
Karla adds: “Thanks, Scarlett for the most interesting lesson! I combined symbolic elements from past dreams into a very spontaneous and somewhat haunting landscape. The blue layered-like landscape symbolizes my fear of large bodies of water, a work table, a building I'm trying to exit, gauges which assist in solving problems and assessing situations, and a full moon which keeps me from sleeping. Why a red tree with downward branches - the eerie mood of dreams!
Karla compliments: I really liked Pat's piece depicting the stair way in a balcony encounter. The color and circle pattern provides an interesting contrast to the other lines in the drawing.
Vera's work was quite lovely. The figures seem to float in an un-outlined ambiguity. I like the colors and the white spaces which add to the definition of each figure. Nice perspective/depth.
Meridith's composition with the levitating tree at its center creates mystery and calls for explanations! Love Lola's part in the landscape!
Leah's bold color abstraction nails the narrative of having no pictorial dreams but only seeing colors prior to sleep.
Simone piece celebrates her running in the next NYC Marathon. By placing the drawing atop a magazine, she created a conceptual response to the session which brings together many of her interests and aspirations.
Travis explores the symbolic imagery of the lotus in this drawing.
Marilyn flies atop a bird in her painting.
Clementine and Cheyenne extract narratives from their dream journals.
Assata explores astrologically informed visions. We encouraged Assata to take this series to a larger format and she enthusiastically conceded that she was thinking along these lines. We can't wait to see the next work in this series!
Assata Benoit, Dreamscape l & ll
On Tuesday at AYB Advanced Studio in person, teaching artist Rachael Wren led the class in a lesson called Earth Day: Natural Abstraction.
Rachael writes: “To begin, I showed the group a slide presentation about artists whose work was inspired by the natural world, but became more abstract over time. I talked about this progression in the work of Cezanne, Mondrian, and my own paintings.
Paintings by Paul Cézanne
Paintings by Piet Mondrian
Paintings by Rachael Wren
Next, each person selected three natural objects from a variety that were brought in: pinecones, shells, plants, leaves, echinacea, tomato, brussel sprouts, and even a bear skull. Then they did a series of nine quick drawings – they drew each of their objects three times, once in pencil, once in charcoal, and once in ink. Only three minutes was allowed for each drawing. The idea was to work quickly without judgement, letting the hand move with the eye, and trying to capture the characteristics or essence of the objects, without necessarily being naturalistic representations of them.
After the quick drawings, the class had a chance to slow down a little bit. They created viewfinders and looked at their drawings through them, trying to locate interesting compositions. When they found one they liked, they made a new enlargement drawing from it. The edges of their viewfinders became the edges of the new piece of paper, and compositions filled the page, with marks touching all four sides.
Finally, each person returned to the object that was the source of their enlargement drawing, and made another enlarged drawing, this time from the object, rather than a drawing. That led to an understanding of the differences between working from 2d to 2d and 3d to 2d.
A lively critique followed the work session, with everyone amazed at how much work they had done.”
In addition to Earth Day, we celebrated out Aries and Taurus birthdays with quite a feast. Then the evening presented us with a most glorious vista from the studio window!
Other Art News
I’m thrilled to share an exciting project in the works — I’ll be exhibiting a miniature retrospective of my (Meridith) paintings this fall at Small House Gallery I & II in London! That’s right — miniature watercolor versions of my Windowphilia paintings from Rome, Venice, Brooklyn, and London, along with an installation of Magical Things.
After a delightful Zoom meeting with the Gallery Director/Curator/Artist Eldi Dundee, I began envisioning my installation in earnest. It quickly became clear that a model of the gallery spaces would help me organize and visualize the exhibition.
ART YARD Artist Quentin Williamston enthusiastically led the design and build process of our gallery maquette. I’ve painted the model’s floor using the paint from my cellar floor — and the model has paper stairs to help the space feel more like the real Small House Galleries in London.
On the ground floor of Gallery II, I’ll be creating a reception and office area, complete with signage and a mini-mini dollhouse. Upstairs in the garret? Gallery storage — naturally. And topping off Gallery I will be a mini version of my studio, lovingly inhabited by none other than a tiny version of my Beloved Rik and that little firecracker Charles Wallace. Because, of course — what is a studio without cats?
Right now, I’ve got printouts of paintings taped in place (an artist’s blueprint in progress!), and I'm carefully re-creating each one in watercolor, to scale. I’ve already finished the first painting of a Magical Things installation, based on my exhibition Things That Happened at the Sugar Hill Museum — and I’m so excited to keep going.
I can’t wait to share more as it comes together.
AYB Artist Sigrid Dolan currently enrolled in Hampshire College is enjoying spring, live music, adventures with friends, and her classes! She worked on a large scale collaborative piece which was a challenge but turned out well, and sent an image of a recent self portrait in which she is sporting a new bobbed hair style!
What We Are Reading
This week I immersed myself in Keith Haring: Journals (Penguin Audio, 2022) —a powerful, intimate, and deeply inspiring listen, available as an audiobook from Penguin Audio (I borrowed it from Brooklyn Public Library). With a compelling introduction written and read by another AYB favorite artist Shepard Fairey, the tone is set from the start: this is not just a book, it's a transmission of creative spirit.
Listening to Haring's own words unfold is a remarkable experience. His writing is exuberant, clear, funny, tough, and erudite—much like his art. What struck me most was his ability to move between the day-to-day (late nights at Paradise Garage, organizing his studio, spontaneous street murals) and the deeply contemplative. His thoughts on art history, gallery practice, and the commodification of culture are sharp and unflinching. And yet, there's always joy. Always a sense that art is magic—and must be shared.
As the journal entries progress, so does the weight of Haring’s awareness of AIDS and mortality. Still, he is determined: “Work is all I have and art is more important than life.”.
Haring's voice—so honest, funny, and profoundly human—resonates with everything we strive for at AYB: making art accessible, connecting it to life, and believing in the power of creativity to build community. This audiobook feels like a conversation, like flipping through an artist’s sketchbook while they tell you stories late into the night. It’s a celebration of Haring’s life and legacy, yes—but also a blueprint for what it means to live artfully, fully, and with purpose.
Highly recommended for your next listen!
Again, thank you to everyone who has and will be sponsoring our event next week! We are deeply grateful for your support!
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