My work at "Wish You Were Here 13" A.I.R. Gallery's Annual Postcard Show

Hello from Triada!

I have a new art work featured in the: 

Wish You Were Here 13

A.I.R. Gallery's Annual Postcard Show 

 The proceeds from this exhibition of postcard sized works benefit the A.I.R. Fellowship Program for Emerging and Underrepresented Artists and other programs that serve A.I.R.’s mission to advance the status of women in the arts.

June 26 - July 20, 2014

A.I.R. GALLERY | 111 Front Street #228, Brooklyn, NY 11201 | info@airgallery.org | | (212) 255 6651 | Wed - Sun 11-6pm | directions

Triada Samaras Wind Blow Through Me

Marker on Paper

4 x 6 inches

2014

Wish You Were Here 13 exhibits original works by more than 300 artists including such artists as Mary Beth Edelson, Mary Grigoriadas, Lourdes Asencio, and Aaron Morgan. The 4” x 6” artworks were created and donated by A.I.R. Gallery artists, and hundreds of national and international artists from as far away as Sweden, Italy, France, Canada, and Japan. These cards vary widely in style and media and encompass a broad spectrum of themes. Each card is signed and dated, often with a message on the back from the artist to the collector. All 4” x 6” art works are priced at $45 per piece.

A work by Dotty Attie will be auctioned off at the June 26th opening reception.

See the Full Press Release Here

Making Art a Must Learn

Above:  Herald News 6/3/2014

As I have previously written (LINK) one of my art teaching positions is that
I am a William Paterson University Art Professor in Residence/PIR at the former Eastside High School in Paterson, NJ on a STEAM grant funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.  I work with two academies within the high school: GOPA and SOIT (the School of Government and Public Administration and the School of Information Technology.  In addition I work with a team of people including the Dodge Grant Manager, Dina Scacchetti, and art teachers, Marilyn Simon (SOIT) and Darryl Jones (GOPA).  We also recently collaborated with WPU Art Professor Michael Rees and his graduate students by having the the GOPA and SOIT STEAM students using three D sculpting software and three D printing technology both on the WPU campus and back at the high school building.

Our STEAM project work was just featured in the New Jersey Press
in an article by Staff Writer, Minjae Park.

Above:  Bergen Record 6/3/2014

LINK 
http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/learning-art-for-math-s-sake-1.1027902?page=1

William Paterson University STEAM arts program in Paterson, NJ re-funded for 2014-2015

Now here is some great news:

The STEAM grant I have been implementing as a WPU Art Professor in Residence (see yellowed area below) at Eastside High School in Paterson, NJ to connect Art with the STEM subjects has been refunded for 2014-201!

WPU program help Paterson teachers integrate art with science

BY MINJAE PARK
STAFF WRITER
The Record

WAYNE — William Paterson University announced this week that it had received a $130,000 grant to continue collaborating with Paterson Public Schools to promote the connections between the arts and sciences. The integration includes creating watercolors of cells in middle school biology class or drawing butterflies in elementary school to study the concept of symmetry.

Even if schools offer arts instruction, integrating it with science and math classes is "not only exciting for the students but it has a meaningful punch," said Candace Burns, dean of the university's College of Education. "This was a way to increase the magnitude of the impact of the art on students."

The new grant, from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, based in Morristown, adds to the $200,000 the university has received from the foundation in the past two years.  The previous grants have enabled the university to place three adjunct professors at city schools. Those "professors-in-residence" visit their schools twice a week for a full day to meet with teachers and help them weave arts into the math and science curriculums.

The goal is to offer professional development for teachers in hopes that they can continue the work once the professors leave, said Dina Scacchetti, the university's project coordinator for the grant.
The latest grant will also take art to the Great Falls National Historical Park.
Though the details aren't set yet, the collaboration might involve signs that highlight the historical importance of the park, Scacchetti said.  Some of the students' work can be found at steamempowerment.blogspot.com.

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/wpu-paterson-schools-partnership-gets-boost-1.1007635#sthash.5l8zTFRG.d86aScrj.dpuf

Fun Sewers+Art event this evening at Proteus Gowanus

Fun Sewers+Art event this evening at Proteus Gowanus at 6 pm at 543 Union Street.

"Continuing our exploration of our theme of Water, Proteus Gowanus has teamed up with the Newtown Creek Armada from our sister Superfund site,  and Brooklyn Atlantis to present the work of scientists and artists exploring our troubled waterways."

You can find out more about the Newtown Creek Armada here:

https://www.facebook.com/NewtownCreekArmada

and the Overflow opening event here.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1482486968636049/

Pratt Institute: A Community Exchange: The Socially Engaged Artist and the Public Imagination

Above:  Installation view, We Are The People.
Project Row Houses, Houston, TX, 2003.

Rick Lowe, artist, activist, and founder of Project Row Houses
Photo: Sam Durant. © Sam Durant.

There are too few good days like this one.  Yesterday I attended a fabulous conference at Pratt Institute:  "A Community Exchange:  The Socially Engaged Artist and the Public Imagination".  LINK  What better way to spend an afternoon in Brooklyn than to hear of the works and ponder the projects of a variety of socially engaged artists and practitioners?  
Ann Messner, Shane Aslan Selzer, May Joseph, Jaret Vadera, Rick Lowe, Mendi Obadike, Uzma Rizvi and Heather Lewis all made the day very special.

The conference opened the dialogue on socially engaged art to brainstorm:
"What is the public’s imagination in relationship to social engagement and its potential within the society we inhabit? What is the nature of the public’s commitment to space and place, and how is it related to a social engagement that formulates new social imaginaries? This conversation will explore these questions and discuss the place of socially engaged art in our many publics."  (courtesy the brochure)

Even as the form of socially engaged art struggles to find the language:  the questions and the answers that will define it even as it morphs, it is very clear to me that the form has so much promise!  And the growing of a new, socially-engaged art program for students developing at Pratt sounds very exciting.

For entirely heart warming socially engaged art projects see Rick Lowe's Project Row Houses at his website http://projectrowhouses.org/
It is truly great stuff!
You can also read the NY Times article on Lowe here
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/arts/design/17kimm.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
T.S.

My work featured at Kentler International Drawing Space

My drawing, "Drifting House", is being featured in the current 100 Works on Paper Benefit exhibition at Kentler International Drawing Space.

 Artists' Reception Tonight from 6-8 PM. 

353 Van Brunt Street, (RED HOOK) Brooklyn, New York 11231
Telephone: 718.875.2098 /

info@kentlergallery.org

And: SAVE THE DATE!
SATURDAY, MAY 17, 6pm

                           Triada Samaras Drifting House Acrylic/pencil on paper 8x11" 2014

100 WORKS ON PAPER  

BENEFIT

SATURDAY, MAY 17, 6pm

HONOREES:

ALANNA HEISS
Founder and Director of Clocktower Productions; Founder and Former Director of MOMA PS1

DUSTIN YELLIN
Artist, Founder and Director of Pioneer Works, Center for Art and Innovation

MEMORIAL TRIBUTE: MARTHA BECK
Founder of The Drawing Center

OVER 100 ARTISTS generously donate original drawings & works on paper to support our 12th Annual Benefit, celebrating our 24th year.

PURCHASE ONE TICKET: $200
($250 Ticket Holder plus Guest)
GO HOME WITH: ONE NEW WORK OF ART!

All proceeds support Kentler's 2014 Exhibitions, The Kentler Flatfiles and K.I.D.S. Art Education.

 Each ticket holder draws a number when they arrive at the event. This number determines when the ticket holder gets to choose one of the 100 WORKS ON PAPER. 

PLUS 2 SPECIAL SILENT AUCTIONS:
Silent Auction Artworks and
"Found in Red Hook" featuring unique items and gift certificates from artisans, businesses, and restaurants in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Tickets are limited!

Artist, Triada Samaras

Greek Independence Day and Art

Hello!

As it is Greek Independence Day (!) I thought I would send post a link to a newspaper article about my photographic series The State of Greece 2012: ΕΝΟΙΚΙΑΖΕΤΑΙ - ΠΩΛΕΙΤΑΙ: FOR RENT – FOR SALE that I just received today from a colleague whose husband, reknowned economist, author, and activist Yanis Varoufakis, is also mentioned in the article.  Unfortunately the article is in Greek but you can see some of my photos nevertheless. 

LINK:
http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/73947/o-%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BB%CF%85%CF%84%CE%AE%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%AF%CF%83%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%AC%CE%BD%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%86%CE%AC%CE%BA%CE%B7%CF%82-%CF%84%CF%8E%CF%81%CE%B1-%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%AC%CE%B6%CE%B5%CE%B9-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%AD%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%AD%CF%87%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%82  

Here is a description of the project in English:

A project by Triada Samaras, 2012

What is the state of Greece today?  The photographic series: The State of Greece 2012: ΕΝΟΙΚΙΑΖΕΤΑΙ - ΠΩΛΕΙΤΑΙ: FOR RENT – FOR SALE explores this question.  As a Greek/American artist, I am deeply moved by the economic crisis and current economic realities in Greece.  In a multitude of subtle and obvious ways, Greek economic austerity, as a theme, triumphs the Greek visual landscape in this moment. The words: ΕΝΟΙΚΙΑΖΕΤΑΙ - ΠΩΛΕΙΤΑΙ:  FOR RENT - FOR SALE dominate the streets, structures and spaces of Greece, repeating themselves ad nauseam along blocks of once occupied homes and shops, spelling out the current, disastrous Greek state of affairs.   It is impossible to ignore these signs, and their menacing forebodings. They point to a co-existent yet sometimes hidden stress, poverty, and lack of a clear future for Greece that are only too obvious to the people of Greece.

As an interdisciplinary and socially engaged artist, my work often grapples with contentious environmental, social, and economic issues in New York City.  In addition to feeling an enormous compassion for the people of Greece, I cannot but help but notice the ominous similarities between the current Greek economic crisis and the less visually obvious one on American soil.

I took these photographs in Greece, 2012, to capture the spirit of the economic times in Greece by focusing on the city of Athens.  Walking along the streets of central Athens, I photographed Syntagma Square, Stadiou Str, Hermou Str between Syntagma, and Omonia Squares, Monasteraki and Omonia Squares, and the neighborhoods of Pagkrati and Ilissia.  I describe these routes and areas as anyone familiar with Athens will know they are neither the poor areas, nor are they off the beaten track, but rather they constitute the central, well traveled, and once affluent streets of former Athens. Today, however, things look very different.  As art critic Susan Handler wrote about my work, “Utilizing the language of visual symbolism and the written word, the viewer can read in her photographs the toxic plague that is thriving and destroying the country.”

"It is my sincere hope that these photographs might provoke the viewer to ask questions and to seek creative solutions.  To this end, I have created a Facebook page where the pubic can participate freely in the creative process regarding this issue at: Enoikiazetai-Poleitai-For-Rent-For-Sale.  I invite everyone to join in this process.

The situation in Greece is not an exception. In fact, economic austerity and the principles of economic austerity are being recreated elsewhere, even in the United States, as this text is being written.  No one is ultimately immune from these economic realities.  In Greece we say, ELLADA PAEI (Greece goes).  But where are Greece and the rest of the world going?  It appears no one knows for sure." Triada Samaras

Text & Photos: © Triada Samaras 2012

This coming summer I will be going back to Greece to continue photographing as well as to see my family there.  



Triada

Collaborative Artwork

I love working on collaborative art work!  Especially when the I do not know the collaborators personally and they live in another country.  My friends at Athens Art sent me this work to "change".  And so I did!  And it will change some more after I return it to them.  Triada

"Three-D Zentangles"

Here are some photos and information from one of my current projects as a William Paterson Art Professor in Residence at Eastside High School.  I have created the SteamemPOWERment blog to document the work of a collaboration of art science and math teachers with WiIlliam Paterson University Art Professors in Residence and many high school students via a Geraldine M. Dodge grant.  Here is my recent blog post:

"Three-D Zentangles" Project In the Works

The "Three-D Zentagles" project LINK has now begun in earnest with the first phase of this project consisting of students using content area vocabulary words in their classrooms to write onto strips of white paper.  Students are urged to be creative in their handwriting. Several classes are involved in this effort including art and science classes at GOP and SOIT.  

Science classes are using their science vocabulary words, and art teachers are using their art vocabulary words.  Below is a small model of a "Three D Math Words Zentangle" created by Art PIR Triada Samaras to give teachers an idea what the finished installation will roughly look like in the science glass display-case currently in the halls of GOPA.  In addition below, there is an image of the writing strips in a box that is already to use for the upcoming installation  

Professor Samaras will be also developing this project with her Art Methods WPU students who are both pre- and in-service teachers in the Education Department there this spring. These students will not only be asked to make a "Three-D Art Praxis Zentangle" but will also carefully reflect on the learning outcomes and goals of such an art project.

Students create Sunflowers and Colanders mural

Last night I taught graduate students at William Paterson University/WPU who are in-service elementary and early childhood teachers.  The title of the class is "Creativity and Play" and I co-teach this class with Dr. Janis Strasser from WPU.   The topic was "observational drawing",  a topic that often frightens students, as observational drawing has a very bad rap for very good reason!  However these students triumphed over their own hesitations and created an amazing mural which is now hanging in the halls of WPU.  I look forward to hearing their comments as to the meaning of this piece in the coming week.  Triada

More Student Text Art

The text art works below are created in my Fine Arts Foundation Class  at Kean University.  These are non-art majors:  their majors include criminal justice, biology, occupational therapy and many others.  I love to see my students' choices of figures as well as the words they select as well as where they choose to place these words.  Often students choose figures from popular culture;  sometimes they do a self-portrait.

 

  
As I wrote earlier, LINK many people are surprised to find that undergraduate, non-art majors in a university can create compelling art works.  For me, it is a no-brainer.  I have always believed that, “Art is not the possession of the few who are recognized writers, painters, musicians; it is the authentic expression of any and all individuality” (Dewey p. 109).  For more text art work see LINK .  Triada

A page from the journal of Triada Samaras

I love the unexpected image that is sometimes created when I am shooting photographs.  This image of the World Trade Center area from the West Side Highway southbound was shot with my cell phone, an i phone 5.   Besides adding a little definition to this image, I made no other changes or alterations:  no filters; no tints, no nothing.  I am convinced every camera has an intelligence all its own.

Student 2-D and 3-D Line Work

 

These works are created by stundets in my Art Foundations Class at Kean University.  As I have mentioned before they are not art majors.  In these pieces, they are working on the element of line in 2-D then line and text in 3-D.  The addition of the text in the 3-D exercises complicates the problem of communication for these students and makes it necessary for them to think and implement creatively.  Triada