Teens Meet Leidy Churchman
Nov 30, 2016

On October 13, Youth Insights (YI) Artists met with Leidy Churchman, whose painting is on view in the exhibition Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney's Collection. Churchman is artist-in-residence for the fall semester, working with the teens to explore ideas inspired by his artistic practice. 

Churchman’s work in the exhibition depicts a developer’s web image of 432 Park Avenue, advertising a recently built, high rise luxury condominium. This image of a luxurious bathroom interior with a spectacular view of lower Manhattan hints at the building’s controversial status as a symbol of the deep divide between the ultra-rich and ordinary New Yorkers. 

Instead of directly addressing contemporary issues such as those in his painting, Churchman asked the teens to explore the idea of “dharma art” which refers to any creative work that springs from an awakened state of mind. They engaged in meditation as a method of focusing on the present—a technique Churchman uses in his own artistic practice.

The YI Artists thought about mindfulness and practicing meditation while Churchman read from chapters of a book titled True Perception: The Path to Dharma Art by Tibetan scholar, teacher, and Buddhist meditation master, Chogyam Trungpa.

The class channeled their creative energies to create flower arrangements. Dyeemah Simmons, Assistant to Teen Programs commented: “The highlight of this session for me was viewing the outcome of the arrangements as they each carried a sense of individuality and uniqueness although the teens selected them from the same pool of flowers.”

Check out the slide show below for more images of the Youth Insights Artists’ work with Leidy Churchman. All photographs by Alexus Knight.

By Zain Al Saie, Interpretation Intern