AM & Chevy Sonic Urban Art Project

A few weeks ago I worked on this amazing #urbanart project for @Chevylife painting a brand new Chevy #Sonic. I was teamed up with  Zoo York Pro Skaters Rodney Torres and Eli Reed for a collaborative project showcasing art and skate culture. With inspiration from Rodney and Eli, I created a cityscape wrapped around the car with Flushing Meadows Unisphere in Queens on the hood. The project was so much fun gave me the opportunity to rock out on a new surface. The crew I worked with were real cool and I got to vibe out and enjoy the process.

Check out the flicks and footage below.

Part 1

Part 2

Thanks to Christian Driggs and the whole Big Fuel team for doing such a great job!!!!

Flushing Meadows Corona Park- Shooting Rodney & Eli talk about Maloof Skate Park.

Eli Reed talking about his experiences as a skater.

Rodney Torres sharing his passion for skating and what building Maloof Park was like for him.

Ready to get down on the car! Got all the inspiration from the prior day at Maloof Park and my research. These cans definitely got me siked when I walked into the studio ready to paint- they were color organized:)

Eli Reed and Rodney Torres after revealing the car to them.

A detail of one of the messages hidden in the cityscape.

For my concept I decided to go with the idea of Rodney and Eli’s experiences with Maloof Park. I wanted to incorporate life living in the city but still showing the borough both me and Rodney come from- Queens. Since we were in the park when it was raining I wanted to include the elements we deal with in NYC.  I was super inspired by the fall colors in the rain. I added that to the design of the car by including warm fall colors. One side of the car had a sun suggesting daytime while the other side showed a moon suggesting night. I also added seasonal shifts into the design- the hood shows a warmer summer/ spring season, the sides show the fall and the gradient with white to the rear of the car suggests a cooler climate- Winter. Surrounded by all these elements we still manage to do what we love, in my case make art and in their case skateboard. The elements challenge us to become better and more passionate about what we do.

It feels so good to be inspired by the smallest things in life- friends, seasons, life experiences; and to be able to share these things in my art with the world is a real dream come true!

Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture panel re-cap

We want to thank Molly Meehan (The Accokeek Foundation/Maryland & Centro Ashe/Costa Rica) and Elissa Blount-Moorhead (Weeksville Society/Brooklyn) for their passionate & inspiring participation on our Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture panel at Sara Lawrence College last week! We’re looking forward to more work together….

LADY PINK: “EVOLUTION” 11.5.11; 6-8pm

Lady Pink – Evolution
November 5 – December 30, 2011

Lady Pink is the first woman in graffiti based art. In her current solo exhibition “Evolution,” Lady Pink re-masters work she once created as public murals. Lady Pink muses on old lettering outlines which have evolved from three decades of writing. To the cultured eye, Lady Pink’s street tag can be identified from the period in which it was deliberately constructed. The colorful POP- surreal canvases today, have her trademark name interwoven throughout the elaborate image, as if to authenticate her mark in art history. Lady Pink’s unique personal vision has been communicated throughout her evolution from subway writer to fine artist.

Sandra Fabara, aka, Lady Pink, was born in Ecuador in 1964, raised in Queens, New York, and studied at the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan. While a student there, she met a group of graffiti artists and began writing at age fifteen. She was soon well known as the only prominent female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Lady Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. She appeared in theaters in the starring role of Rose in Charlie Ahearn’s 1983 film Wild Style and quickly acquired hip-hop, cult figure status. That same year, Lady Pink was featured in the landmark Graffiti exhibition at the West 57th Street Sidney Janis Gallery where she met the elite collectors of the artworld.

Lady Pink’s canvases are in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, New York and the Groningen Museum, Holland. They were featured in the major exhibitions “Art in the Streets” at the LA MOCA and “Graffiti” at the Brooklyn Museum. Lady Pink continues to mature as an artist, selling work internationally and producing ambitious murals commissioned for universities, corporations and institutions. This year, Pink’s art has also been seen on television commercials for the search engine BING.

Woodward Gallery
133 Eldridge Street
New York, NY 10002

Hours of Operation:
Tuesday-Saturday: 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
and by appointment
Directions: Woodward Gallery is located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side between Broome and Delancey Streets
Subways: Take the B or D to Grand St or the F, J, M, or Z to Delancey/Essex Bus: M15 to the corner of Allen and Delancey

“Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture” PANEL DISCUSSION-11.12.11 at 3pm

YOUNITY is hosting a panel discussion on “Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture”. Come check it out!

Please see flier below for more info:

Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture
Saturday, November 12, 2011 3 p.m.
Heimbold Visual Arts Center
Sarah Lawrence College
Kimball Avenue, Yonkers 10708 (Bronxville P.O.)

In conjunction with the art exhibition GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel, on view at the Yonkers Public Library from September 10 – December 4, 2011, the Younity female urban art collective and Sarah Lawrence College present a roundtable discussion on art as a social change agent and its relationship to sustainable agriculture and development. Panelists will contribute and exchange knowledge on current trends in seed exchanges, permaculture, issues in small to medium scale farming, urban agriculture, and artist driven sustainable development projects.

Panelists:
Alice Mizrachi, Artist / Co-founder, Younity Arts, Queens, NY
Co-curator GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel
Elissa Blount Moorhead, Vice Director / Director of Design, Programming and Exhibitions, Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, New York
Molly Meehan, CAES Community Outreach and Education Coordinator, Accokeek Foundation and Community Farm, Accokeek, Maryland
Founder, Centro Ashe, Washington DC / Costa Rica
Moderator:
Diana McClure, Artist/Curator/Writer/Editor, Brooklyn, NY
Co-curator GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel

For directions and parking information please visit: www.slc.edu/directions

YOUNITY Panel Discussion(new)

Younity GODDESShood Exhibition Video Sneak Peak

Catch a glimpse of the latest project!

On view through December 4th at the Yonkers Riverfront Public Library.

Special thanks to our friends from Paris – Elise + Cristo — who produced the video.

“Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture”- YOUNITY x Sarah Lawrence Panel Discussion

 In conjunction with the art exhibition GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel, on view at the Yonkers Public Library from September 10 – December 4, 2011, the Younity female urban art collective and Sarah Lawrence College present a roundtable discussion on art as a social change agent and its relationship to sustainable agriculture and development. Panelists will contribute and exchange knowledge on current trends in seed exchanges, permaculture, issues in small to medium scale farming, urban agriculture, and artist driven sustainable development projects.

Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture

 Saturday, November 12, 2011 3 p.m.

Heimbold Visual Arts Center

Sarah Lawrence College

Kimball Avenue, Yonkers 10708 (Bronxville P.O.)

Panelists:

Alice Mizrachi, Artist / Co-founder, Younity Arts, Queens, NY

Co-curator GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel

Cory Tixier, Founder, Pure Habitat, New York / Permaculturist, New Mexico

Elissa Blount Moorhead, Vice Director / Director of Design, Programming and Exhibitions, Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, New York

Molly Meehan, CAES Community Outreach and Education Coordinator, Accokeek Foundation and Community Farm, Accokeek, Maryland

Founder, Centro Ashe, Washington DC / Costa Rica

 Moderator:

Diana McClure, Artist/Curator/Writer/Editor, Brooklyn, NY

Co-curator GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel

For directions and parking information please visit: www.slc.edu/directions

YOUNITY Panel Discussion(2)

YOUNITY “GODDESShood” recap

SO it’s taken me a week to recover from all my recent shows, but I’m back and ready to rock the next few gigs. Below are some pics from the YOUNITY exhibition in Yonkers. If you didn’t get a chance to go to the opening it’s a stellar show that showcases female urban artists in a sophisticated installation. The neighborhood is beautiful and you can chill by the water and eat lunch at Hudson Cafe after visiting the gallery!

The curators- Diana McClure and Alice Mizrachi

Thanks to Cristobal Diaz for filming the event- video coming soon!

Thanks to Susan Kart for bringing her Sarah Lawrence students and working hard to bring YOUNITY programming to Yonkers!

Thanks to Stephen Force from Yonkers Public Library for supporting our mission and bringing Younity to Yonkers Public Library! Thanks to Yvette for handling PR- love u sweets!

Bringing peoples together with similar life goals feels good- George, Leiann and Jess came thru to support:)

Ok its time to leave- thanks to the crew who really made it happen!

Enjoying the sun after the opening outside on the library steps. RiverFest (block party) was going on during our event so we had to check it out…

Then we went to the Hudson Cafe to get some celebratory drink and food. So nice to eat by the water- it felt like we took a vacation.

Eva, Diana and Clive… lol fun times!

Beautiful sunsets- an excellent way to end a great event!

Thanks to Diana McClure, Marthalicia Matarrita, LMNOP, Swoon, Sofia Maldonado, Krista Franklin, Lady Alezia, Lichiban, Faith 47, Yvette Devito, Samia Grand Pierre, Susan Kart, Stephen Force, Susan Thaler, Marko Jokic, Cristobal Diaz and Elise Herszkowicz  for contributing to the production of this exhibition.

Look out for the rest of YOUNITY’s “GODDESShood” programming this fall including a panel discussion at Sarah Lawrence College and a mural in a local Yonkers high school.

Make sure to sign our guest book when you come see the show!

YOUNITY presents “GODDESShood, our land is our jewel” 9.10.11 Yonkers Riverfront Public Library

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Female Urban Art Collective YOUNITY Presents Exhibition Exploring the Themes

Mother Earth, The Hood, and Sustainable Agriculture in conjunction with

The Yonkers Riverfront Public Library and Sarah Lawrence College

lmnop, Ayiti (detail), mixed media, 2011, approx. 5ft x 2ft

Queens, NY (August 15, 2011)— All female urban art collective, YOUNITY, presents GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel, an art exhibition that will feature 10 artists in conversation with the themes mother earth, the hood and sustainable farming. Opening on Saturday, September 10, from 2pm – 5pm at the Yonkers Riverfront Public Library, during the annual Yonkers Riverfest event, the project utilizes urban art as a platform for visual discourse on sustainable agriculture, food systems, food justice, and mother earth, and closes on Sunday, December 4th, 2011. Additional programming in the City of Yonkers and at Sarah Lawrence College will take place throughout fall 2011, including youth workshops and a panel discussion.

All of the artists in the exhibition, Lichiban, Swoon, Sofia Maldonado, Krista Franklin, Marthalicia, Diana McClure, Faith 47, lmnop, Lady Alezia, and Alice Mizrachi, engage with the theme mother earth or nature, and related concepts, both directly and indirectly in their individual artistic practices. In the context of this exhibition the artists were asked to utilize the idea of the hood as a metaphor for not only local neighborhoods and urban culture, but also land, nature and the natural environment at large.  And, finally, the genesis and inspiration for the exhibition stems from the curators’ discovery of La Via Campesina (The International Peasant Movement) and an intense global movement for land and agricultural rights taking place below the radar.

Krista Franklin, Naomi in the Okra Patch, collage and inclusions in handmade paper 17 1/5″ x 11 1/2″

In the YOUNITY tradition, GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel will include painting, murals, photography, and stencils, as well as video and sculptural objects. The exhibition picks up where YOUNITY’s last exhibition FRESHER!, which addressed consumerism, environmentalism, health, and renewable energy, left off in the fall of 2009. Co-curator Diana McClure says, “With the GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel exhibition we wanted to use the YOUNITY platform as a tool for social change and disseminator of information by bringing visibility to a battle being fought by peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world.  A battle that seems to get lost in mainstream media’s disregard for the economic politics of green living.” With the success of YOUNITY’s premiere exhibit in 2007, The C R O S S O V E R, the second annual Heart and Soul show and book publication in 2008, and FRESHER! in 2009, YOUNITY has become one of the most sought after all-female collectives to date. Co-curator and YOUNITY co-founder Alice Mizrachi says, “After 3 years of annual exhibitions, wall productions, youth workshops, etc. The core YOUNITY production team decided to take a year off in 2010 to explore new ideas and individual creative pursuits.  During that time we’ve all developed and hope to use our growing cultural capital to continue to support female urban artists and address social issues as individuals and a collective.”

For more information on  public programming in conjunction with the GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel exhibition,  including youth workshops led by Co-Curator/Arts Educator Alice Mizrachi for Yonkers youth, and a panel discussion moderated by Co-Curator Diana McClure at Sarah Lawrence College, visit www.theyounity.com.

About YOUNITY: artists Alice Mizrachi and TOOFLY founded YOUNITY in New York City in 2007.  After spending many years involved in the art world, it became evident that urban contemporary women artists did not have a properly organized forum through which to disseminate ideas and showcase work to their contemporaries and the public at large.  The confines of galleries were too rigid and staid and the ‘white cube’ did not lend much room for personal expression and individual style.  So, Alice and TOOFLY decided to: 1) create a place where females could tell their stories in more universal, down-to-earth voices; 2) build a stable community in which they could teach the next generation of women the process of curating exhibitions and successfully spreading artistic ideas; and, 3) allow members to explore their own flavor while retaining their identity within the context of a collective body. YOUNITY is also committed to the documentation and archiving of itself as a community of unique, autonomous participants through exhibitions, new media and publishing.

VIK GETTIN IT IN

CHECK OUT VIK and the project she did with Reebok. DO UR THING GIRL:)

http://www.werclassic.com/en-US/articles/11-06-14/Wonder_Woman.aspx

WE’RE READY TO ROCK!

((( Please join us tomorrow for this wonderful art & designer market )))

:::Gotta Love New York:::

LADIES LOVE PROJECT PRESENTS: SPRING POP-UP SHOP!

Shopping Event Showcases Brazen Art, Avant-Garde Fashion & Hand-Crafted Designs at Gallery 151!

NEW YORK, NY April 8, 2011 — On Saturday, April 9, 2011, the LADIES LOVE PROJECT presents its second POP-UP SHOP at Gallery 151 from 12pm – 8pm. The PROJECT, a brainchild of renowned street artist TOOFLY and sound sensation PattyDukes of the Circa95 duo, highlights some of NYC’s most creative underground artists and designers.  The one-day-only event boasts an intimate, yet brilliantly colorful shopping experience – designed to familiarize consumers, media and tastemakers with artists currently celebrating prominence.

Featured participants Good Wood NYC, Junkprints, The Peralta Project, Cookies -N- Cream (and a host of others), will be exhibiting one of a kind, limited edition, handcrafted pieces just in time for spring! Indie music across all genres will be handled by RephStar (also of Circa95), Miz Metro, Sweetcheeba, and RockSmithTokyo’s Mary $. A live broadcast of the event will be streamed at www.Circa95.com. Complimentary treats will be served by Jenny Kinns Cupcakes, while BFresh Photography & Media will be on deck with event photography.

Gallery 151, a celebrated art space located at 351 Bowery Street, plays host to the eclectic mix of both burgeoning and established talent. Art pieces on canvas, tote bags, jewelry, t-shirts, graffiti, live music—you name it— the LADIES LOVE PROJECT SPRING POP-UP SHOP doesn’t get any more New York than this! A handy fact sheet is included below to showcase a list of participants and their websites.

“Having the LADIES LOVE PROJECT POP-UP SHOP in our space is a perfect fit,” says Laura O’Reilly, Director of Gallery 151. “All of the vendors have styles that honor old New York, yet each demonstrates a unique progression with great, must-have niche items.”

About A Ladies Love Project:

The Ladies Love Project is a collaboration between artists Toofly (www.tooflynyc.com/) PattyDukes & Rephstar (www.circa95.com) and A.Mari of (www.onefokus.org). Aiming to create inspiring environments for women artists where they can celebrate their creative styles in Art, Fashion and Music. Ladies Love Project introduces a model for all women who pay homage to market life around the globe as a staple of community building, and entreprenuership. Ladies Love Project thrives on spreading a positive and empowering message to the community, reaching young women who are inspired by them.

About TOOFLY:

Maria Castillo a.k.a. TOOFLY is an NYC artist, community builder, and entrepreneur. Recognized in the early 90’s for her hard and fluid character style, she gained popularity as one of the few females excelling beyond her peers in the male-dominated graffiti scene. In 2007 she co-founded the international female arts collective, YOUNITY. TOOFLY now runs her successful independent design company, STAY TRU, as she consults, designs, and develops a variety of projects and workshops. Her work has exhibited at many venues such as the Bronx Museum of Art, and can be found on public walls internationally. TOOFLY is featured across media outlets like Graffiti Women, Juxtapoz, Latination TV and Latina Magazine.

About Patty Dukes & Rephstar (Circa95):

Patty Dukes and Rephstar are Co-Founders of Circa ’95,a Hip-Hop music and media group that curates a daily blog, hosts an original web series and features ground-breaking international urban artists. Rhyming seamlessly through English and Spanish, PattyDukes & Rephstar perform all over the U.S. and have graced the stage with artists like Krs-One, Pitbull, Nina Sky and Mala Rodriguez. HBO Latino is currently featuring them in a show called “RoadTrip: NYC” and “Habla Ya”. They are currently hard at work on their untitled debut EP.

About A.Mari:

Allison Maritza is Co-President of F.O.K.U.S. – a non-profit arts organization based in NYC and Ann Arbor, MI. ” I believe there is passion in all that we do, who we are, and where we are coming from and going. For me, art is life; art is a global sanctuary for all of us to learn, share and grow with one another.”

Press Contact:
Shana Louallen
E: ShanaLovesPR@gmail.com
P: 646.359.8448

2011 Events & Exhibitions
April 2nd. Pantheon Exhibition. 20 West 53rd Street, NYC
April 9th – Ladies Love Project Spring Pop-Up Shop- Gallery 151. 350 Bowery, NYC
June 4th – Female Graffiti Jam. Oakland, CA Location TBD