It’s the beginning of AAP NYC’s second full week of classes and a lot has happened. We art students have all moved into our respective residences, in either apartments near our Wall Street area studio, the West Village (where I currently live), Midtown Manhattan, or other locations including Harlem, Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Long Island. Everyday we adjust more to the rush of the Big Apple, the epicenter of the art world in which we now call home.
The days are extremely different than the ones at Cornell in Ithaca. B.F.A. students have four courses that we all take together, either additional studio time or an internship, and of course there is the entire city at our disposal.
In our first course of the week with Masha Panteleyeva, we dove into the historical rise of the metropolis that is now New York City by focusing on its art and architectural developments.
In our studio class with Beverly Semmes, we began our move into the new space on 26 Broadway, reestablished our creative realms after winter break by working with clay, and listened to a ceramics lecture by artist Ann Agee.
In Linda Norden’s seminar, we have been discussing two artists: Kerry James Marshall, who recently showed his paintings at the Met Breuer and Arthur Jafa, whose video was displayed at Gavin Brown. This class has so far helped heighten our observational and critical skills as artists in NYC.
Lastly, in Jane Benson‘s NYC Seminar, we had a jam packed adventure in Brooklyn visiting two artist studios: Ellen Harvey and Blane De St. Croix. Our visits were a window into their exhilarating lives, witnessing their projects, developments, work space, and most of all, hearing stories of the long yet rewarding hike of being an artist.
Everyday is new and unique. From AAP NYC art classes to art classes and opportunities outside of Cornell to museum visiting and gallery hopping, every single one of us 14 B.F.A. students is taking advantage of the everyday experience of being a New York City artist. We are all very excited about all the people we will meet, art we will see and make, and the many more experiences that will come.
