We began the week in AYB Advanced Studio on zoom thinking about Banned Books, an important, if fraught, tangent for our Year of Literacy. If you’ve been a dedicated AYB Recap reader you will recall that the last two years many of us have participated in the Banned Book Trading Card project at the Valley Stream Library.
Fast forward to our Art Word bracelet making session last month, I was thrilled to meet Meg Flynn owner of Black Rock Books, a community focused shop in Bridgeport, CT. I suggested to Meg that we would love to install a book-centric exhibition in her space, Meg enthusiastically agreed, suggesting we focus on banned books specifically. The exhibition will take place in January – March, 2025.
In preparation for our artmaking I (Meridith) led a discussion about censorship and the epidemic of banned books sweeping the country. After reviewing a long list of banned books, including books many of us had read and enjoyed, we got started illustrating this topic.
I shared images of Rirkrit Tiravanija installation at PS 1, trading cards (see above) and artworks by Candy Heiland, Eden-Nicole Moore, Fatima Traore, Marie Roberts, Evelyn Beliveau and me. If you google Banned Books in US 2024, there are so many lists it will make you weep. I put one of the lists in the presentation and, boy, did that have us talking. Seriously -- almost everything Toni Morrison ever wrote, books we all were assigned to read in public school and a host of our childhood favorites including titles by Shel Silverstein and Maurice Sendak.
Our discussion during critique was profound and moving. I asked participating artists to write a bit about their selected book to share in this recap.
Ed illustrated a scene from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 in which the fire department gets sent out to a house to remove and burn the books that were hidden in that house. In Bradbury’s dystopian future, ALL BOOKS were BANNED and publicly burned as a form of mind control over the citizens.
I (Meridith) showed a cover of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? a children’s book featuring a picture of a large bear. Evidently the author of this book has a similar name as another author who has written a book titled Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation, so the powers that be at a school board in Texas decided this book should be BANNED. After all, is not the brown bear a covert symbol of Communist Russia? Better to be safe than sorry.
Liv made an illustration based on one of her favorite pre-teen books by Judy Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me. Margaret. As anyone see, with a title like that this book must be subversive, it must be BANNED immediately.
Abriel (bob) chose a great book, A Wrinkle in Time. Some people can’t handle such a read, so it too has been BANNED.
Abriel (bob) explains: “I chose A Wrinkle in Time as my banned book inspiration. I don’t remember the story too well but I remember whenever I read it as a child it gave me a great sense of comfort. This book introduced me to thoughts and ideas of what is beyond this realm and what reality can be. I tried to capture the essence of how a Wrinkle in Time made me feel and tried depict what a wrinkle in time looks and feels like to me. (This work is still in progress)
Vera and Lila both chose I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. To illustrate the idea of being oppressed and held down, Lila’s drawing shows the book itself locked in a birdcage, while Vera drew the bird singing, resulting in the disintegration of the bird cage from the power of the birdsong, and an escape to freedom.
Vera shares: “I wanted to create a piece that captured what happens when one is allowed to “sing” or speak their truth. The notes from the bird’s song cause the bars to disintegrate. Once the notes are allowed to emerge, life (color) which always existed within, fills the bird and the environment.”
Lila had us enthralled as she discussed the nuance of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Her thoughtful written explanation:
Title: The Caging of Experiences
Artist: Lila Green
Depiction: A grand, ornate birdcage sits prominently against a stark white backdrop. Inside, a small, brightly colored book, titled I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The book, a symbol of Maya Angelou's powerful autobiography, appears trapped and confined. The cage's intricate design suggests both beauty and imprisonment, mirroring the complexity of Angelou's experiences.
Interpretation: The painting serves as a visual metaphor for the censorship and suppression of marginalized voices. The book's confinement within the cage represents the silencing of Angelou's narrative and the experiences of others who have faced similar challenges. The banning of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in Alabama and Castle Rock, Colorado highlights the fear and prejudice that can lead to the suppression of knowledge and understanding. By depicting the book as a caged bird, the artist underscores the importance of freedom of expression and the power of storytelling to connect individuals and foster empathy.
Adji chose Paradise by Toni Morrison. Jacob chose Beloved by Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison is one of the best writers around, but her frankness in writing about racial issues was too hard for some bureaucrats to handle, so her works have been BANNED in some areas of the country.
Adji writes: “My piece is dedicated to Marcellus Williams and inmate who was on death row and murdered by lethal injection even though he was proven to be innocent. I was thinking about Toni Morrison’s Paradise and how it was banned in Texas prisons because they feared it would cause a riot.
Jacob tells us: “Toni Morrison's Beloved has been banned in many high schools due its depictions of violence, infanticide, and sexual assault. I was required to read this book in my AP English class in my senior year of high school. I think the book is the best written book I've ever read, and aks readers to consider many provocative questions.
In the book, there is a scene where Sethe, Denver, and Beloved go ice skating together. The family owns three ice skates (not three pairs). Beloved wears one pair of ice skates, while Denver skates with just the third skate. While this detail was not crucial to the plot of the book, it stuck with me ever since I read it.”
Travis created a beautiful illustration of a the deeply affirming, Julian is a Mermaid. How the powers that be find this lovely book a threat to today's youth is truly mind boggling.
Travis recaps: “This banned children’s book, “Julian is a Mermaid”, transported me back to my childhood wonder for mermaids and its beautiful message of self-expression. It stirred something deep within, a reminder of how powerful creativity can be in telling our stories. Now, more than ever, I feel called to weave themes of identity, freedom, and transformation into my art.
What hidden parts of yourself are yearning to be seen?
We welcomed AYB Supporter and bracelet maker Rose Albin to her first Advanced Studio session! Rose picked The Giving Tree as her favorite banned book. Her delightful drawing show an excited child looking up to catch a falling apple. Everyone in the Zoom session loved this drawing. It’s hard to understand why this book is BANNED.
Mich and Neah are still working on their pieces, check back soon for updates. I think these will be excellent completed artworks! Mich illustrated the book Speak which is about sexual violence and narrates an assault that took place in an American high school. BANNED – considered too violent for students.
Mich shares a meaningful quote by Laurie Halse Anderson the author Speak: “When you read, you develop empathy. When you read, you develop your soul. When you read a book, you connect with the page, you connect with yourself. And if you share a book, you connect with another person.”
Neah chose To Kill a Mocking Bird for its irony. Evidently this story offended someone on some committee in some school district somewhere, so it was BANNED.
Neah explains: "I chose the book To Kill A Mockingbird in my piece, with a phone above the book, taking a picture of it. I read this book during middle school and found my original copy. There is a saying that goes, “It’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird”. Mockingbirds are usually peaceful birds that sing & cause no harm. It’s a sin to kill one because of it’s innocence, and I thought that was ironic because it seems like a sin to ban important books that cause no harm to people. The phone is a nod to our digital age, and how much we view the world through the lens of our phone screens, even books nowadays, when it was once something we had to enjoy physically."
Jane illustrated the cover of her old copy of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. One of the great stylists in English literature, Nabokov’s satiric allegory comments on the difference between American and European culture through the use of personification. It was considered obscene and perverse on publication and was immediately BANNED.
Jane tells the personal narrative about the title she selected to depict: "I bought this book when I first went to Europe after I graduated college. I think I bought it the first day in London for 2.5 pounds.
During the later part of our trip, I was traveling with a group of people to promote a movie in Berlin, and someone borrowed it–who kept it in his pocket for a couple of weeks. I made sure to get it back – and it has made the move with me to every home I’ve lived in since then – and there have been quite a few."
Karla made a fantastic collage using imagery from old Sears & Robuck catalogs from the early twentieth century, a time when most people acquired books by ordering from a catalog.
Karla who is visiting her granddaughter in Kansas City emails with her thoughts: “Recently I read of a small town Kansas Library facing threats of closure from its very conservative City Council. The librarian striving with all her might to keep it open. The target of the threat were books in the teen section of the library that included LGBTQ+ subject matter. Seeing the lengthy lists of “banned books” in Meridith’s lesson overwhelmingly evokes disbelief! So many titles of amazing books often on the required reading lists of educational institutions at all levels. Freedom of expression should be just that!
I decided to pull images from 1910 to create a symbolic expression of the politic and nature of this conservative censorship! A reprint of an early 1900’s Sears catalog provided the collage elements! Titled “Consumers Guide” a horse-drawn wagon full of books available by mail await selection - their titles become allegory for current issues facing threats to personal freedoms. Even the horse is wearing blinders and a harness with the word NO incorporated. Two male figures in business attire are standing under the Book Department sign, one directly under the word ART. They stand upon the pens and ink of authors with magnifying glass and scissors; waiting to surgically apply retractions and restrictions! A mantra below the cart of books declares “We Furnish Only Such Books About Omissions!” Such thoughtful sharing…seeing the expressions referencing favorite books and hearing what those books meant to each artist. Ed’s piece along with mine addressed actions taken toward censoring. His visual of public book burning is both historic reference and statement about contemporary conservative and judgmental ideology.”
This was an inspiring session which really went deep into important topics. I had some lovely follow up conversations. In fact, Travis wrote me to say, “Thank you Meridith! AYB zoom classes give me such a great start to the week—being around other artists is so inspiring, and it reminds me to have fun with life!”
We had a fantastic session on Tuesday with Teaching Artist Rainy Lehrman in Advanced Studio in person at our studio at BWAC. Rainy is a friend of AYB Artists Jane Huntington and Maraya Lopez (they all attended grad school at Pratt). Her woodworking studio is down the hall from BWAC, so it was not quite so challenging to haul the supplies we used for class which included lumber, tools, brooms, samples, a projector, and more!
Rainy recaps the session: “Students learn to “read the grain” this week using local New York City Lindenwood, otherwise known as American Basswood. The wood was generously donated by Tri-Lox, an urban Lumbermill in Greenpoint Brooklyn. In 2023, Tri-lox worked with the parks department to create a pilot program that salvaged intentionally feld and storm damaged trees milling them into usable lumber instead of paying to put it in landfills.
We looked to the artist Hugh Hayden, a contemporary woodworker and sculptor to see examples of work that uses grain direction to expose the material nature of wood as he makes a larger commentary on American culture, concepts of masculinity and African American identity.
The spokeshaves, a hand tool traditionally used to shape the spokes of wooden wheels, was our tool of the choice as it is easy to access and safe to handle for beginning woodworkers.
We utilized the unique space in BWAC to clamp our wood direction to the building and pinwheeled around massive columns as we worked the Linden wood. AYB Artists were thrilled and surprised at the satisfaction experienced while simply paring and shaping our dimensional lumber into smooth, curved, thorn-like forms.
Participants experience the “chatter of the tool across the surface of the wood and learned to angle the blade so the wood peeled back like a breaking wave. As students were able to identify tear-out, they quickly mastered the spokeshave, learning to pull it to their bodies or push away, in order to read the grain. Chatoyance, or “the cat's eye” was observed, revealing itself through tiger stripes, and birds-eye across the surface of the wood. We made real headway in part one of this two-part class”
Managing Director Dennis Buonagura reports: We are close to a start date at PS 17 (our partnership school in Jersey City) - the first cycle of lessons will be based on the works of Keith Haring. The afterschool program starts a bit later - date yet to be announced. In the meantime, the plans for the library mural are in full force.
AYB teaching artist/muralist Giannina ("Gia") Guitterez designs for the library mural at PS 17 have been offered to the school's principal for review. The school gave us keywords to work with - some of which were: abstract, learning, education, teamwork, colorful, bright - and more.
The designs are influenced by the adventures and elements that books inspire which allow us to explore without physically leaving and therefore dare to dream.
Mural design drafts by Gia Guitterez
Gia says: "I feel that the tree inspired design would look great on the larger wall and have some of the elements roll on to the adjacent wall, incorporating bold, abstract shapes similar to what I painted outside".
Other Art News
Ed Rath reports that a piece he made in Advanced Studio will be included in a portraiture exhibition at M55 Gallery, 548 W. 28th St, # 634, in Chelsea opening Saturday, October 19, 5-8pm.
What We Are Reading
Something Close to Music (David Zwirner Books, 2022), a selection of short essays and poems about artists by John Ashbery is a lovely little volume. The book also contains play lists of esoteric music from Ashbery’s record collection. John Cage is about the only musician I recognize on the list and I found I lacked the sophistication to appreciate pieces I sampled.
Ashbery is a renown poet and exceptionally insightful art critic, however, in the first essay he describes his childhood ambition to become painter, perhaps a factor in his resonance with visual art. His posse at college included artist Edward Gorey and poet Frank O’Hara (what a trio!) and not unsurprisingly his artist selections are familiar friends. There is a poignance in the collection as one senses the comradery and exchange with his community.
In “On Val Lewton” Ashbery hilariously describes Lewton’s low budget now cult classic horror films. He hones in on “The Seventh Victim” which he first learned of from Edward Gorey, who “recounted its plot in his unforgettable delivery, constantly interrupted by strangulated giggles and gasps.” I laughed out loud as I read:
“Particularly memorable is the Fourteenth Street station of the IRT subway, where Mary boards a train at night and is soon fleeing from two formally dressed revelers who are supporting the corpse of a murdered man. She dines with a poet, Jason, and a lawyer, Gregory Ward (who turns out to be Jacqueline's husband; he is played by Hugh Beaumont, the future Ward Cleaver of the sixties sitcom Leave It to Beaver), in a Perry Street Italian restaurant called the Dante, which features a mural copied from Henry Holiday's famous painting of Dante's first encounter with Beatrice along the Arno. Beatrice in the mural is a dead-ringer for Mary, but, as usual, this coincidence is left unexplored, while red herrings continue to pile up.”
Perhaps we should have a screening!
!!!! PROMO WINNER !!!!
We have been promoting AYB Art Words Benefit ticket sales on our Instagram with fun prize packages. This week Teaching Artist Rainy Lehrman won the package of cool Joopi merch.
Keep an eye out on Instagram for more promotional fun…the next package will include the coolest notebook ever, featuring art by Gem Mercado!
Speaking of our favorite band, join us TONIGHT, Friday October 18, 7:30-9:30pm at Berry Park, 4 Berry Street, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to celebrate the release of Joopi’s new EP:
♥️🍒❤️
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