January 27-February 17, 2018
Opening Reception: February 1, 7-9pm
Performance by Cook Thugless: February 7, 8:30pm (Freddy’s Bar, 627 5th Ave, Brooklyn)
Gallery open by appointment. Contact to visit: contact@opensourcegallery.org
Open Source Gallery presents In Practice, our first annual teaching artists group show. This exhibition will focus on the work of teaching artists from our arts education branch, KoKo NYC.
Supporting arts education has been a cornerstone of Open Source Gallery’s mission since the beginning. In 2007, executive director Monika Wuhrer began Open Source along with the arts education after school program, KoKo NYC. One of the unique draws of this program is that all classes are taught by a diverse group of teaching artists living and working in New York City. The integration of art and education is a focal point in all aspects of Open Source and KoKo combined. Our teaching artists come from a variety of personal and artistic backgrounds and we are proud to showcase their work in this exciting group show.
In Practice will include nine practicing artists who teach art education workshops for KoKo. Through a variety of mediums, these artists deal with themes such as identity, the intersection of art and technology, challenging how society views gender flaws, and exploring the human experience and landscape through space, memory, and environment. Open Source is eager to put the work of these artists in one space and see how they intersect and react to one another. Adhering to KoKo’s core values, the only bad ideas are the ones that go unexplored: we foster a supportive environment that values input from all of our participants, encouraging a variety of practices and approaches that make connections to our society through art and education.
The teaching artists who will be exhibiting in the show are: Yasmeen Abdallah, Gabino Castelan, Jean-Louis Droulers, Andrew Jan Hauner, Katya Khan, Alex Khost, Marie Letkowski, Elizabeth Tolson, Matt Voor, and Monika Wuhrer.
All of KoKo NYC’s teachers are working artists who are passionate about arts-based learning. We believe the arts are a crucial part of a child’s intellectual, and social-emotional development. Our teachers are at the core of KoKo’s success in schools, shelters and arts programming across NYC. Over the past ten years KoKo has grown immensely with programs in fifteen schools around New York City and the famous Soap Box Workshop is going ten years strong. None of these endeavors would be possible without the hard work and support of our talented teaching artists.
