Public Art
In 2016, I worked as a Teaching Artist for LEAP (Learning through Expanded Arts Programs) for a program entitled Public Art. Through a full semester as visiting art educator for public schools in Brookly, Queens, and the Bronx, I taught NYC middle school youth the history and importance of the discourse between public art and urban spaces. Through an exploration of contemporary artists engaging communities through their work (learning about artists such as Christo, Steve Powers, JR, amongst others) and discussing relevant socio-economic issues, youth learned how to express their concerns and calls for action through art making.
The program culminated in each class designing a “mural” to be painted onto a standard public school cafeteria table. That cafeteria table would then be installed in a public park somewhere close to their school, effectively becoming a public work of art itself that would engage their local communities about issues that directly affect them and their peers.
The images in this gallery represent the tables from all three schools I taught at, ranging from sketches to the finished tables. Issues tackled in these works of public art are animal cruelty, drug trade in local parks, gun violence, affordable health care, and immigration rights.