Please join us Friday November 8, 6-8pm for the AYB Art Words Benefit in the Gallery at 180 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Come party with NYC's most creative, spirited, compelling and talented individuals!
The evening will feature poetry readings by AYB artists Reg Lewis and Delphine Levenson, live acoustic music by Jules Lorenzo and Liv Collins of Joopi, and Gem Omoh. DJ Abby will be keeping things lively throughout the evening.
On view will be "Read Between The Lines" 50 paintings by AYB artists, available for purchase with a live silent auction of work by AYB director Meridith McNeal.
We will enjoy delicious food by Aita, beverages by Brooklyn Seltzer Boys, Critter Cookies, and Jan D'Amore Wine.
Tickets now available through Eventbrite.
A tasty start to the week in Advanced Studio on Zoom as we created art about recipes with ART YARD Artist Ajani Russell.
As an aperitivo Ajani shared examples of cookbook illustrations as well as artists who create work about recipes. They instructed us to work with a favorite personal recipe, which many of us went for...
Ed stealing the Funniest in Show blue ribbon with “A Recipe for Disaster”.
Travis took a trip down memory lane with his grandmothers Haitian fish stew, as Karla put it from “Head to Tail”! We loved the meandering trajectory and his animated drawing style.
Going the next step with personification, Lila’s list of ingredients for Boba, becomes an animated cast of characters.
Ajani’s ghoulish cake with witchy hands protruding and melting candles is on point for the season!
We agreed that Simone's Borscht painting is so lovely that it would make a great soup label!
Karla, Abriel (bob) and I (Meridith) went a traditional route, both in staples in our cooking repertoire and in using signature styles to depict a summer salad, classic baked sweet potato, and pasta with fresh tomato and hot pepper oil (respectively.).
For those stumped for a menu, Ajani provided some rather weird sounding dishes such as Neah’s Grasshopper Pie and Adji’s Monkey Bread.
Aaron won the Classic Brooklyn Award with his simply and perfect BaconEgg&Cheese on a Roll! (Yes, that is all one word.)
And for dessert? Delphine’s famous Key Lime Pie and Chaela’s Crème Brule!
Delphine explains: "I decided to do a key lime pie because I used to make them all the time with my family and their own of my favorite pies to bake. I was going to add steps on the plate that the slice is sitting on and it’s still very much in progress.
Compliments to Ajani, thank you so much for teaching this lesson, I always appreciate how your lessons are so creative! I hope to see if not all, most of you tomorrow at AYB, thank you!"
In Advanced Studio in person in our studio at BWAC working with ART YARD Artist Neah Gray we enjoyed a session titled Posters, Perspective & Positive Affirmations, inspired by her work with posters, positive affirmations and bold designs. Participants explore themes like distortion and perspective through text, color, space and composition.
Neah summarizes: “This week I led a class titled Posters, Perspective and Positive Affirmations inspired by my own designs & art brand, PHAZE SHOP. PHAZE is an inspirational art shop based in Brooklyn, NY that offers posters & stickers with powerful affirmations, aimed to inspire, uplift and support our communities. It's important for Black and marginalized people to find ways to affirm themselves in a society that may not do so often.
By offering bold colorful, powerful posters for homes and safe spaces, hosting community events, and donating to local nonprofits, my goal through PHAZE is to help our communities find motivation and power within their lives to positively transform the way they think, feel and experience themselves.
Use arrows to scroll through images of the class in session.
It brought me so much joy to offer a piece of positivity and good vibes to everyone who attended. The goal of the class was to choose a positive affirmation and create a “poster” for the affirmation. At the end, all our posters created a beautiful “affirmation wall”. My favorite part of the class was seeing which affirmation each student chose. I feel like each affirmation allowed me to get to know and understand each person better. Something about the affirmation they chose spoke to them, or currently resonates, and it was exciting to see what empowers them.
Our class started with a fun presentation of our class themes, touching on Pop Art, Graphic Design, Feminist Art, Activist & Political Posters. We looked at artwork from artists like Morgan Harper Nichols, Jade Purple Brown, Faith Ringgold and Corita Kent (artwork shown in that order below).
We investigated the ideas of Perspective, Distortion, Composition, Space, Text and Color as we discussed artists like Banksy, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Picasso, and Yayoi Kusama. We also passed around posters from PHAZE, which served as a source of inspiration for the “affirmation wall” we created in class. I wanted students to think of bold designs, colorful palettes, distortion of text and intentional decisions with composition & space and they excelled in all aspects.
Adji’s “dripping” colors, Dom’s bold yellow rays and Mich’s amazing sunset and cat are just a few examples of students whose work uses color as a main way to communicate and invoke feelings and energy into their artwork.
It was an honor to teach my first art class, especially with ART YARD BKLYN. As I continue to grow and change as an artist and person, it’s been very clear that my current calling and “phaze” involves me diving head first into my artistry and helping others along their artistic journey. Thank you so much to Meridith and the RT YARD BKLYN community for welcoming me with open arms. It was the highlight of my summer and divine intervention that I found AYB. I look forward to continuing to be a part of this wonderful community."
Critique is a really important part of our art making ritual. We share with open hearts and honesty. In this session I asked Chace a junior high student who attends with his mother Shellorne what it felt like to be in class. This eloquent young artist replied “In the strokes of our brushes and the colors we choose, I see more than just art - I see the joy of creating memories with my mom, one canvas at a time.” At which point Liv piped in “Oh Chace! We Love You! We are so glad you are part of our Advanced Studio family!!” And then Neah said: “I think I am going to cry, this fills my heart with joy.”
Other Art News
Kudos to AYB Board Member Cecile Chong on having work in another stellar exhibition! Cecile invites us all to the opening of TerraTextl this evening at WHITEBOX, 9 Avenue B, New York, NY.
AYB Teaching Artist Iviva Olenick invites us to her artist talk for Stitchcraft: Threading Reproductive Justice, Resilience and Change, a culmination of a year of translating herbalism research into a new series of artist books. Friday, October 17, 6-7:30pm @ Center for Book Arts
Iviva explains: “At the artist talk, I will delve into some of the techniques and research behind the books. Select books will be available for audience members to gently peruse. I will also debut a new participatory, wearable book. You won’t want to miss that–I will need audience assistance to activate the book!”
Some reports from our studios: Liana and I (Meridith) are both nearing completion on new pieces.
TJ is studying hard back at Spelman College, but still finding time to paint!
TJ Edgar, Sky with Truck and Blue Fish, watercolor on paper
Shellorne tried out a new medium – watercolor colored pencils – to great effect!
Book Reviews
As we are ensconced in the AYB Year of Literacy, I think it fitting to share my enthusiastic recommendations for a few art related books I’ve recently enjoyed! All are available at the Brooklyn Public Library.
§ A Short Life in a Strange World: Birth to Death in 42 Panels by Toby Ferris (Harper, 2020). Á la the equally fantastic Edmund de Waal’s, The Hare With The Amber Eyes (Pacador, 2011) this book is part memoir, part art history, and full on art enthusiast with its deep and immersive examination of the work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the most influential and important artist of Northern Renaissance painting.
§ Turner: The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner by Franny Moyle (Viking, 2016) is a bit histrionic in tone, underscored by a rather bombastic reading of the audio book version. It was as if I could HEAR exclamation points throughout. That aside it is worth the read and chock full of details about the life of J. M. W Turner, one of Britain's most admired landscape painter most certainly ahead of his time.
§ Camille Pissarro: The Audacity of Impressionism by Anka Nuhlstein (Other Press, 2023) is one of those biographies that brings the person into clear focus. Factoring in his steadfast familial ties with his birth family as well as his wife and many children (all of whom he trained as artists), and his deep friendships with other artists, Pissarro was a complex and generous person as well as a talented artist.
REMINDER tomorrow Saturday Oct. 5, 3-5pm we have a special field trip. With Iviva we will tour Prospect Park, Brooklyn, learning about local native, naturalized, wild and cultivated flora. In honor of the year of literacy, we will focus on the names of plants—Latin or “scientific” names, and colloquial names.
Some schedules have changed, and a couple of places for the trip are now available! Sign up ASAP!!
Please bring your sketchbooks and favorite drawing tools!
🧡♥️💛
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