Spring + Summer 2019 Recap

Hello and happy summer! Let's get caught up on what's been happening this year with K.I.D.S. Art Education and our new partner, Art Yard Bklyn.

This spring, we continued our in-school Special Needs Residency with PS 15, After-School program with Extreme Kids & Crew and ongoing Drawing Together workshops. Our new Teaching Artist, Quentin Williamston, led a 12-session lesson for our Residency students based on the books of children's book author Ezra Jack Keats. Students practiced observational drawing, collage and storytelling to bring Keats' stories to life.

Teaching Artist Victoria Calabro led an exploratory, hands-on 10-week program with Extreme Kids & Crew and had a blast as usual! The students created 3D and wearable art, experimented with unexpected materials, and worked on collaborative projects.

Drawing Together workshops were inspired by our 2019 exhibitions by Meridith McNeal, Alexander Gorlizki, Mildred Beltre, and our 100 Works on Paper Benefit exhibition.

This year, Kentler is acting as a Fiscal Sponsor for Art Yard Bklyn, a group of Teaching Artists providing arts education to underserved populations. This month, they held a 3-week summer session in the gallery, where students enjoyed daily workshops led by a rotating roster of educators. They went on location throughout Red Hook and created work in the space surrounded by Mildred Beltre's "Science of the Word."

In the fall, we'll be picking up our regular programming once more and will continue working alongside Art Yard to reach thousands of children and families. We're excited to build relationships with longtime and new partners, offer exposure to innovative new exhibitions and add to the growing energy of Red Hook!

Special Needs Residency: Fall 2018

We just wrapped up another season of our Special Needs Residency program at P.S. 15! This year we worked with two ACES classrooms serving K-5 students with a range of intellectual and physical disabilities. Our fall curriculum topics were human bodies (K-2) and architecture (3-5). Teaching Artist Ruth Wetzel led 6 workshops for each classroom.

The younger students participated in individual and group projects on the theme of "all about me." They used drawing, collage, rubbing, printing and storytelling to explore different parts of the human body. Anatomical topics included teeth, fingerprints, faces and skeletons.

The older students worked on larger group projects, such as a woven paper mural of the NYC skyline depicting different times of day. They used the cityscape subject to discuss foreground/background, the positions of the sun and moon, and building structure. They also designed and planted sod beds, and used slotted cardboard to build experimental constructions without a binder like glue or tape.

We're so proud of the ongoing success of this program and hope to keep it going in the spring of 2019! Special thanks to Ruth Wetzel, our PS15 classroom teachers, Vice Principal Julie Cavanagh, and interns Lindsay Casale and Rebecca Young for their amazing assistance!

Drawing Together: Spring 2018

Last night we opened a new installation: Temple, by Jarrod Beck. The show consists of immersive "textile-drawings" created in India earlier this year. The works are based on drawings of a figure building and interacting with a temple, so aspects of landscape, architecture, and human interaction are present in the exhibition. It's very colorful and atmospheric -- the perfect setting for an exploratory art workshop!

At this morning's Drawing Together, families responded to Jarrod's pieces by creating textured assemblages. They also looked at images of western Indian clothing. Using cut paper, felt and appliqués, they designed patterns from shapes and colors inspired by the geometry of traditional Indian textiles. They made nature-inspired drawings, faces and figures, jewelry-like arrangements, and abstract compositions.

At the end of the program, children and their caregivers gathered around and presented their work to the group. They asked questions about one another's drawings and discussed other types of artwork they'd like to make using the same principals. We love to see how participants of all ages are inspired by the exhibitions on view here at Kentler, and how differently each person applies that inspiration! Next week, we'll be making stamps and printing onto felts and fabrics.

Thanks to all of the families who have joined us at Drawing Together this year, and to artist Jarrod Beck for providing such a rich environment for experimentation, wonder and creation!