september 16 - october 9, 2021
the way we see it
meridith mcneal and art yard students
OPENING RECEPTION: sunday, september 19, 4-6PM
The Way We See It is an exhibition of Inside Outside Windowphilia paintings by the artist Meridith McNeal, together with paintings inspired by her work, created by participants in the ART YARD Summer Session 2021.
Through a multitude of ways of looking through, and at windows, both open and closed, the exhibition is dedicated to windows and their metaphors. With her series Inside Outside Windowphilia Meridith McNeal continues to explore the terrifying idea of being on one side or the other of incarceration. These ink and watercolor life-size paintings play with reflections and layers of external and internal space. As the co-founder with Dennis Buonagura of ART YARD, an organization that offers art education for kids, teens and adults, Ms. McNeal has a passionate commitment to bringing the pleasure of creativity through art making to people in underserved communities.
Exhibiting ART YARD Artists: Kevin Anderson, Sigrid Dolan, Robin Grant, Sarah Gumgumji, Reg Lewis, August Levenson, Delphine Levenson, Elizabeth Morales, Zahir Prudent, Jacob Rath, Akash Wilmont
With additional artwork by: Marilyn August, Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Zeke Brokaw, Pat Larash, Karla Prickett, Ed Rath, Marie Roberts, Nayarit Tineo
ART YARD Summer Session 2021, kicked off our new thematic year which explores the critical and highly relevant theme to heal and restore. Participants learned about contemporary artists who explore this theme in their work, especially in terms of civic responsibility and social justice. Summer Session 2021 took place for three weeks from July 5-23, 2021 on Zoom. We held the last week “in person” for a limited number of participants to comply with safe social distancing protocol at Salon on Kingston, a community performance space in Crown Heights, Brooklyn where, inspired by Meridith’s Inside Outside Windowphilia, participants learned a variety of watercolor techniques and how to approach creating large-format paintings. Classes were taught by Meridith McNeal, and Teaching Artist Reg Lewis, with Managing Director Dennis Buonagura providing administrative oversight. The program served students of all ages.
ART YARD BKLYN offers art education programs for kids, teens, adults, and practicing artists, providing direct access to contemporary visual art. Art is a holistic endeavor that allows us to delve into any topic imaginable. The practice of learning, creating, thinking, and discussing art nourishes people of all ages in body, mind, heart, and spirit. In addition, through the act of looking outside oneself, the creative act fosters a sense of civic responsibility and an awareness of social justice. Our instructors are a stylistically, culturally, and generationally diverse group of working artists. Each lesson is developed by a different teaching artist which allows us to delve deeply into our art-making practice because each instructor brings her/his unique vision and methods to our students.
Brooklyn-based artist Meridith McNeal has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome in the spring of 2008, the spring of 2009, summer 2010, spring of 2013, summer 2014 and in the spring 2017. Her work is represented by Figureworks Gallery in Brooklyn, New York and in the Flat Files of Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY and Embrace Creatives, Detroit, MI. Her recent solo exhibitions include Portrait of My Mother at Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn; Grand Windows at 705 Driggs in Brooklyn, Inside Outside Windowphilia, Figureworks, Brooklyn, NY; The View from Here at FiveMyles Gallery in Brooklyn, NY and In Reflection, Torre Truglia, Sperlonga, Italy. Currently on view is her site-specific exhibition French Windows in Port Chester, NY and More French Windows in Norwalk, CT.
GALLERY HOURS:
Thursday - Sunday, 1 - 6pm, or by appointment. Please email hanne@fivemyles.org, or call 718-783-4438.
DIRECTIONS:
Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
FiveMyles is in part supported by the New York State Council for the Arts, Public Funds from the New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Council Member Laurie Cumbo, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, the Perlemeter Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Joseph Robert Foundation, and the William Talbott Hillman Foundation.