AYB Advanced Studio on Zoom rang in the new year in a contemplative manner. The poetry of Pablo Neruda provided the philosophical continent, and I (Meridith) took my inspiration for the format this session from a collaborative poem project I participated in during the pandemic.
In that instance Curator Lisa Gold asked me to create a piece which included a word I would be assigned. Working in a square format all of the artists’ works would then be put together to form a poem. This is the piece I created:
To inject a bit of playfulness into the session, I did not share the actual poem in advanced with participating artists. Instead we started by looking at the gorgeous artwork of Chilean artist and children’s book illustrator Paloma Valdivia.
I explained that we would be creating a Poetic Word Quilt of sorts with a poem from Neruda’s posthumously published Book of Questions.
I sent a single word to each artists through the zoom chat. They were tasked with presenting that word (and punctuation, if applicable) in a square format, so that the word is legible. This lead to some funny conversation – such as Neah certain that I had not sent a word, although I had! She figured the word “in” was a typo. Ha, no.
“Donde termina el arco iris,en tu alma o en el horizonte?”
“Where does the rainbow end,in your soul or on the horizon?”
Pablo Neruda
The Book Of Questions (1974)
Artwork by (in order): Marilyn August, Adji Kebe, Lila Green, Karla Prickett
Clementine Finn, Neah Gray, Vera Brown, Travis Pereira
Meridith McNeal, Richie Lee Chong, Leah Eliopoulos, Ajula Van Ness-Otunnu
AYB Artist Ed Rath presented a four part series for Advanced Studio in person on acrylic glazing techniques.
Ed recounts: “We looked at several reproductions of Leonardo di Vinci’s Mona Lisa, in both black and white and color. A discussion ensued about how Leonardo combined contour line drawing with carefully gradated shading to develop the softness of the portrait. We reviewed the use of a gray-scale to identify the gray values of the major shapes in the painting.
Each participant created a line drawing on paper of the Mona Lisa using gridded paper referencing a gridded photocopy of the Mona Lisa. The purpose of this exercise was to aid in matching as accurately as possible the composition of Leonardo’s painting
Next, we added shading to the line drawing to add depth to the form and an aura of soft light.
At critique, we noted various strategies used by individuals in approaching this iconic image.
AYB Advanced Studio took a field trip to MoMA to see Vital Signs: Artists and the Body. An exhibition of over 100 works by artists who question what it means to be an individual within a larger society—and how socially sustained categories such as gender, race, and sexual identity are rooted in abstraction. Ajani and I were both excited to find many of our teachers were included in the exhibition.
Highlights from our visit to Vital Signs
While we were there we also popped in to see Life Dances On Robert Frank in Dialogue. Filled with photos of old NY and artworld luminaries this is work that pulls you in to get a closer look!
Photos by Robert Frank
AYB Art Matters School Partnerships are back in action!
Managing Director Dennis Buonagura reports: On Monday Teaching Artist/Muralist Giannina Gutierrez and I met with Principal Brower at PS 17 in Jersey City to finalize planning for the murals in the school's library and game room. I brought my expandable metal tape measure but Gia beat me to taking measurements with a fancy laser measuring tool! Lots of ideas and images were shared during the session and we have agreed on a contemporary design with repeated patterns. Gia's working on drafts this week.
Dr. Brower took us on a tour of the new Technology Innovation Lab and showed us how the 3D printers operate. We learned that PS 17 was the recipient of this incredible state of the art lab courtesy of Verizon - and were happy to see that our murals in the school yard (designed and executed by Gia together with last year's after school students) were featured in Verizon’s marketing campaigns.
Verizon posters featuring AYB murals at PS 17
Dennis adds: “On Wednesday our new semester at PS 17, one of our partnership schools in Jersey City, got off to an excellent start . Teaching Artist Evelyn Beliveau created variations of a Keith Haring lesson - specifically suited for 1st and 2nd graders, 4th graders, and finally 6th graders. As always, her step by step and well timed presentations gave students the opportunity to learn about the artist, create their own pieces in his style, and think about how to relate their own work to our theme of literacy.
1st and 2nd graders started drafts of figures in joyous forms (running, dancing, flying) while 4th grades drew out plans for Haring-like posters of "Jersey City Is Book Country" (with Evelyn's demonstration of block/bubble lettering) - and 6th graders created pieces using the letters of their first names with geometric and interlocking shapes.
Next week - students will add black marker and ultimately colored (brush-tipped) marker to complete their works.
Critiques resulted in smart observations and with lots of compliments.
Evelyn was assisted by Lionel Emabat and Marina Soliman (who will lead our after school classes - start date yet to be announced) - both great assets to set-up, clean-up, crowd control, and student encouragement.”
Other Art News
We are pleased to report that AYB Artists Vera Brown, Free Inside, Meridith McNeal, and Marie Roberts have artwork (shown below) included in ARTISTS’ PROTEST: in Words & Images! an exhibition at the Dunoon Museum of Contemporary Art, 18 Ferry Brae, Dunoon, Scotland.
Dunoon MOCA Curator Kathy Bruce writes: “We believe art has the power to change society. It can influence the way we think and act as individuals and as a society. We must make our voices heard in the political world today!”
AYB Poet & supporter Diana Rickard is in Edinburgh, Scotland with friends. She sent this image with the caption: “Me looking at my phone in the lobby of the National Portrait Gallery.”
AYB Artist Ajani Russell shares images of a “delicious soup I artfully made and Jasper John’s painting with a bite taken out of it (from Vital Signs at the MoMA.)”
Soup, Jasper Johns and Museum signage, photos by Ajani Russell
I (Meridith) finished a new painting of the view from my iced window onto the snow in my back garden.
AYB Artist Gem Mercado went to see “Turkey Saved My Life, Baldwin in Istanbul 1961-71,” featuring photos by Sedat Pakay a Turkish photographer who spent 10 years photographing Baldwin while he was in exile in Istanbul. On view at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library at 10 Grand Army Plaza through Feb. 28, 2025. Admission is free.
Gem reviews the exhibition: “Sedat Pekay’s photographs of James Baldwin had a through line that stuck with me: Baldwin’s smile.
Smiling James Baldwin, photos by Sedat Pekay on view at BPL Grand Army Plaza
In search of refuge from the tumultuous happenings back home in the US, Baldwin sought a refreshing oasis in Istanbul- and the ever present joy on his face in Pekay’s portraits makes it clear that he found it and then some. The photographs convey a gorgeous simplicity, and the comfort they radiate shows us the close friendship shared by Baldwin and Pekay. Living life without the inhibitions that clouded his mind in the US led Baldwin to create some of his most iconic texts, one of them being The Fire Next Time.
Seeing Baldwin captured so naturally while exuding a lust for life was incredibly inspiring. It reminded me that my own desire to travel stems from more than just wanting to see the world- it holds the potential to influence my creativity in ways I cannot yet imagine."
Bridging the above art exhibit at BPL and the book review category below -- last fall I (Meridith) read and enjoyed James Baldwin's Turkish Decade: Erotics of Exile by Magdalena J. Zaborowska. A little academic and clunky in its prose but fascinating in content and the photographs are fabulous!
What We Are Reading
At Diana’s recommendation I read Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott (J. Cape & H. Smith 1929; reissued McNally Editions 2023). It turns out there is quite a buzz about this reprint. From what I glean, the insights into the feminist politics of the day (1927) are what most are enthusiastically examining. Perhaps also the re-discovery of author Ursula Parrot, who had quite a tumultuous life in and out of the public eye.
I found the characters not particularly likable and never really got into the narrative except for one ancillary plot line I found quite interesting to contemplate – a woman who has suffered an accident which has left half of her face disfigured is introduced to an artist who makes her a wardrobe of masks, each conveying different emotion. The complexity of what the masks might look like ignited my imagination.
As for reprints of books that give insight on the NYC of the past, one that I would love to see back in circulation is: Sold to the Ladies! or The Incredible but True Adventures of Three Girls on a Barge by Dorothy Bennet astronomer, author, book publisher (publisher and friend of artist Edward Gorey), and anthropologist who restored an old barge on the Gowanus Canal in 1937. This book isn’t in print, but I did find a PDF on line!
AYB Teaching Artist Maraya Lopez shares:
Artist studio sublet:Available February 1-December 2025.
Share with an acrylic painter.
Space available is 175sq feet, no windows.
Cool basement space, industrial building with other artists.
Dumbo, NYC
Serous inquiries please contact: Lucasberd@gmail.com
$500 includes all utilities and internet
Save The Date
We hope you will join us in Bridgeport, CT on Saturday January 25, 4-6pm for the Artists’ Reception of Well Read, our exhibition responding to the practice of banning books in the United States. On view from January 1 – March 28, 2025 at Black Rock Books, 3030 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport, CT, this exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the importance of intellectual freedom and the significant role that literature plays in shaping society.
We are pleased that the exhibition has garnered some local press in FairfieldAfterDark.com and the CT Examiner!
Thanks for reading!
💗❤️♥️🩷🤎
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