Artist Paul Anthony Smith

Paul Anthony Smith Artist from St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica was a part of Concealed: Selections from the Permanent Collection. As stated on the Studio Museum website, Concealed "includes works by modern and contemporary artists that address masking as art and performance. “Masking” is broadly defined in art history as the presence of one or more fully costumed spirits, ancestors or other characters, and includes the key elements of disguise, concealment and embodiment or transformation. Masking and masquerades are practiced globally and are particularly associated with African cultures. Although the works differ in size, media and approach to masking, each incorporates concealment and evokes masking practices to access African-American or African identity. Artists in this exhibition reference extant rituals, create new practices or incorporate traditional rituals, such as embodiment, into their work."
- See more at: http://www.studiomuseum.org/exhibition/concealed-selections-the-permanent-collection#sthash.44V4wD0P.dpuf

For a Target Free Sunday Hands on workshop participants were asked to conceal pre-existing portraits however they wanted. With the inspiration of Paul Anthony Smith's work entitled Woman #51, oil pastels, paper, tape, markers and glue participants masked their images.

Woman #51 by Paul Anthony Smith

Weeksville Creative Arts Workshop

Her aunt brought her to the program and they worked on this collage together. Family art time together! 

June 13, 2015 I was honored to facilitate a creative arts workshop for families entitled Cityscapes. Families were encouraged to think about community and the parts that make a community successful. I have facilitated this workshop before for other institutions/non-profits but what made working with Weeksville Heritage Center so special is the history of Weeksville. 
As posted to their website, "Weeksville Heritage Center (WHC), Brooklyn’s largest African-American cultural institution, is a multidisciplinary museum dedicated to preserving the history of the 19th century African American community of Weeksville, Brooklyn - one of America’s first free black communities.  Using a contemporary lens, we activate this unique history through the presentation of innovative, vanguard and experimental programs.  Weeksville advances its mission through history, preservation, visual and performing arts, ecology and the built environment." and their mission is to, "To document, preserve and interpret the history of free African American communities in Weeksville, Brooklyn and beyond and to create and inspire innovative, contemporary uses of African American history through education, the arts, and civic engagement."
Having children think about their urban landscape, and the integral parts that make it function as well as their own individual function in the hustle and bustle of a busy city landscape is important for the child and the community in which they live. I believe community is such a complicated system with so many parts it is important to have all the pieces contemplate its part in order to thrive and progress. 
 As stated on Wikipedia, "Weeksville was named after James Weeks, a stevedore and African-American ex-slave^[1] from Virginia, who in 1838 (just 11 years after the abolition of slavery in New York State)^[2] bought a plot of land from Henry C. Thompson (another free African-American) in the Ninth Ward of central Brooklyn. The City of New York confuses^[3] Weeks with a man of the same name who lived 1776-1863.^[4]

The village itself was established by a group of African-American land investors and political activists, and covered an area in the borough's eastern Bedford Hills area, bounded by present-day Fulton Street, East New York Avenue, Ralph Avenue and Troy Avenue.^[5] A 1906 article in the New York Age recalling the earlier period noted that James Weeks "owned a handsome dwelling at Schenectady and Atlantic Avenues."

By the 1850s, Weeksville had more than 500 residents from all over the East Coast (as well as two people born in Africa). Almost 40 percent of residents were southern-born. Nearly one-third of the men over 21 owned land; in antebellum New York, unlike in New England, non-white men had to own real property (to the value of $250) and pay taxes on it to qualify as voters.^[6] The village had its own churches (including Bethel Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Berean Missionary Baptist Church), a school ("Colored School no. 2", now P.S. 243), a cemetery, and an old age home.^[7] Weeksville had one of the first African-American newspapers, the Freedman's Torchlight, and in the 1860s became the national headquarters of the African Civilization Society and the Howard Orphan Asylum. In addition, the Colored School was the first such school in the U.S. to integrate both its staff and its students.^[8]

During the violent New York Draft Riots of 1863, the community served as a refuge for many African-Americans who fled fromManhattan.

After the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge and as New York City grew and expanded, Weeksville gradually became part ofCrown Heights, and memory of the village was largely forgotten."

Time for more pictures!!!

Authors Night with TMALS

One of my favorite parts of teaching art is working with a school for more than a year. I get to see the children grow and as they develop I get  to witness the influence that teaching them about art has on their lives as students. 
I have been working with Thurgood Marshall lower academy for 4 or 5 years now and most of the students I currently teach I have known since Kindergarten (two of them I knew in pre-k because I had taught at Mary Walton Early Childhood Center and they now attend TMALS). 

I am so proud of all of my students and hope they know throughout their lives I will always remember the time we spent and cherish the art and memories we made together. 
This collection of photos is from their recent culmination event the school holds every year called, Authos Night. 

All of the classes pick an author and/or an illustrator to feature and display their research, art and ideas. This year I displayed the magazines that the students developed with me during the 8 weeks. 

During the 8 weeks we looked at the Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art exhibit at the Studio Museum in Harlem and I broke down the three weeks into 7 lessons that encouraged discussion around magazines (the 8th week was used to complete, fix and/or edit their magazines). 

We discussed the use of magazines, their covers, content and images. We talked about how contemporary artists use magazines for art, how politicians use magazines for political advertisements and marketers develop product advertisements. We discussed articles and the differences between fact and fiction. We did research on famous African Americans, wrote brief bios and designed fashion and advertising ads. 

At the end, every student had their very own magazine to reflect upon filled with information, facts, opinions, ideas and art. I always am very excited and happy to see them open their magazines and remember the work that they made. It was a great school year!

The New Whitney with my Kids

For the first time in a long time my daughter requested to go to an art museum and I was excited and a little apprehensive about how they were going to behave. It had been a while since we have ventured out to an art museum and I wasn't sure if I should create an agenda for our trip.
I had told her about my visit to the new Whitney upon its grand re-opening in its new downtown Manhattan space in the meat-packing district and she had been wanting to go ever since.
When we arrived downtown our first task was to eat and we found a lovely diner to sit down and enjoy a late lunch together. After we ate we continued our journey to the museum.
My son was excited to recognize the High Line that is conveniently next to the new Whitney. We had a nighttime adventure on the High Line about a year ago.

When we got to the new Whitney they were amazed to its size and beauty. As stated on their website,"Designed by architect Renzo Piano and situated between the High Line and the Hudson River, the Whitney's new building vastly increases the Museum’s exhibition and programming space, offering the most expansive display ever of its unsurpassed collection of modern and contemporary American art."

After we gained entry a gentleman near the registers asked my children and I if we would like to have the electronic guide. At first I wanted one as well but than thought it would be best to depend on them to give me information about the art and I was so glad that I did. I truly enjoyed hearing their interpretations of what they were hearing and it became a game to find pieces of art with the accompanying audio information.

We had a great time and a productive and informative visit.

 My daughter poses by one of her favorite artist's work, Andy Warhol

My son's favorite artwork at the New Whitney. Title and artist name below. 

Another Favorite for my son and daughter. 

The New Whitney has beautiful outdoor spaces.