learning to see
Earlier this week, I posted some small sketches as an end of year studio sale and fundraiser for Bed-Stuy Strong and ISCP and wanted to share a little more about my connection to these two groups.
Bed-Stuy Strong is a neighborhood mutual aid network I have participated in since March thanks to a flyer posted outside a subway station. I’ve been donating, making some deliveries, and, lately, making calls to connect neighbors with groceries thanks to Bed-Stuy Strong’s organizers over the past eight months of the coronavirus crisis. I’m consistently amazed and moved by the love and support of my neighbors in this community.
ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) is an arts org in Brooklyn which provides residencies for artists and curators from around the world as well as hosting exhibitions and public programs. It’s what brought me to New York in 2016 for a summer internship after finishing my BFA! Since then, I’ve stayed connected through volunteering at events and attending open studio nights.
To keep it simple everything is listed for $30 ($20 donated per sketch). Let me know if you have questions, or click here to read more. My big (!) goal is to raise $300 for each organization by the end of the year, and I’ll continue adding some more sketches to the sale page.
Three of my meditation drawings which together reflect upon the phrase “open heart” are included in Darkest Before Dawn: Art in a Time of Uncertainty at Ethan Cohen KuBe, opening this Sunday.
Click here to schedule a visit either during the opening reception on November 1st, or throughout the duration of the exhibition. If you do visit, please let me know what you thought (comment below or send an email).
please note: admission is free; registration is required in order to ensure social distancing in the galleries
Artist-curator Mel Reese included my drawing let there be warmth, let there be light in this edition of Art In Res’ Weekly Curation, Abstract Thoughts. She writes,
“The beauty… is in the imperfection, the moments when we can spot the hand of the artist in the perpetual loop.”
This drawing is available for sale via Art In Res, which allows you to pay in monthly installments if desired. I will contribute 50% of my proceeds from the sale of this piece to Brooklyn Defender Services.
Last week, I answered these questions for an instagram feature curated by artist and teacher Veronica Aranda.
I am a visual artist who makes paintings and drawings, and enjoys playing around in other mediums when given the opportunity. I have been keeping journals and sketchbooks since I was a child, and consider daily writing or sketching to be a crucial part of my practice. My work uses observation of patterns as a framework for considering attention, embodiment, and communion.
Art is learning to see more clearly, and responding in a generative way. I think about “learning to see” in the senses of honing my skills of observation, growing in the ability to remain connected to the present moment, and of paying attention to reality in the world and in myself, even (particularly!) when it’s difficult. For me, this is a spiritual practice.
This week, I’ve found inspiration in: cherry tomatoes ripening in our container garden, the book “Enduring Lives: Portraits of Women and Faith in Action” by Carol Lee Flinders, colleagues across the museum field who continue to call leaders to account for institutional racism and unfair labor practices, writings on pregnancy by Amy Bornman and Caitlin Metz, and conversations with a dear friend about the false divide between art and craft.
