We began the week in ART YARD Advanced Studio on zoom with a well-planned session examining the American flag led by ART YARD Artist V Tineo.
V summaries: “We embarked on a captivating journey of recontextualizing the American flag through innovative design and thoughtful assemblage. Leveraging the American flag's potent symbolism as a graphic representation of identity, each participant chose to dissect and accentuate distinct facets of American life.
Ed, for instance, crafted a flag articulating our political divisions and stance on global warming, transforming the flag into a visual dialogue on contemporary societal challenges.
Meridith critiqued the American prison system, encapsulating the shadows, solitude, and disarray experienced by those within it.
Compared to Alex Katz's "West 1," a piece emphasizing the emptiness and spatial relationships between shapes, a similar exploration was undertaken by Jane through a watercolor focusing on atmosphere and the conditions in which our lives unfold.
Madison contributed a compelling piece serving as a poster encapsulating America's prioritization of weaponry, both domestically and internationally—a visual commentary on the nation's stance.
Like Madison, I (V) addressed weaponry and atrocities of war in both of my pieces.
Marilyn delved into the essence of the American condition by collaging and assembling elements atop the American flag, incorporating symbols of liberty and prompting contemplation on their universal applicability."
Marilyn further explains: “In my flag, “We the People”, the opening words of the Preamble to the US Constitution, are superimposed on a field of gold stars. These words affirmed that the US exists to serve its citizens and established that the power of the government comes from the people who live in the country, not from those who are in power. The Statue of Liberty is inscribed with words that expressed the ideals that shaped this nation as a land that welcomed immigrants: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses . . . .” Here the Statue of Liberty is presented upside down because the current, fractured political climate fosters the antithesis of what the Statue was intended to represent.”
This week in ART YARD Advanced Studio in person at BWAC Teaching Artist Ajani Russell led us through a painting experience focused on visualization practice.
Ajani recounts: “Before painting, artists looked at works by Martín Ramírez, John Rombola, Paul Gauguin and Florence Settheimer noting how each artist created dimensions, depth and space.
I described pictorial ideas, imagery and emotive content, and then invited the class to draw from imagination and paint scenes based on the sensory experience. They asked questions and provided prompts such as “what are the smells or sounds you may encounter in this space? How does the time of day affect the lighting in this space?” to guide the painters. The most important direction was that each piece must include a plant, more than one person, a window and an animal.
Each artist created a scene imagined the different perspectives of their memories. Various details of objects and lighting invoked the visceral feelings of reality.
The range of paintings were beautiful in palate and composition. Some showed outside looking in and some peered out from within. All of which were a refreshing take on the prompt.”
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Other Art News
ART YARD Artist V Tineo invites us to their performance tomorrow afternoon at Brooklyn College!
Congratulations to ART YARD Artist Karla Prickett who was invited to create new work for the Salina, Kansas Episcopal Church Stations of The Cross exhibition.
Karla elaborates: "Part of my research was watching a lengthy video of archeologists hoping to authenticate the Talpiot tomb in Jerusalem as that of Jesus' family. it was quite interesting!
I received an invitation to participate in a group exhibition which opens February 16 at Salina's Christ Cathedral, Episcopal church. Each artist was asked to select and visually interpret one of the 14 Stations of the Cross (pictures or carvings portraying events in the Passion of Christ). The exhibition will display each artwork alongside the corresponding and permanently installed pictorial in the Church's interior. I selected Station 14 - Jesus is Laid in the Tomb.
The Cathedral will be a very interesting place for the exhibition. It is on the historic registry. Native Stone, 1906 Gothic Revival architecture, built as a commission from a pastor's widow from New York. The architect was from Philadelphia."
ART YARD Supporter Kris Bevilacqua and I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden to see the light show. I figured the displays would be deeply tied to the garden, however they were far more Star Wars-like than I anticipated. We enjoyed the display and the night walk through garden. Perhaps the disorienting nature of the dark paths and somnolent plants of winter made the garden seem unfamiliar and that added to the allure of the display.
♥️🤍💙
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