YI Wrap Up: Teens Lead Gallery Tours and Hold End of Year Exhibition
Jun 9, 2010
Youth Insights (YI) teens were especially busy this May. Below we recap how our three programs wrapped up the year!
During one of many teen tours this spring, YI Leader Lisette leads a gallery conversation about Stephanie Sinclair’s work, A Cry for Help. Photograph by Diane Exavier
Members of YI Leaders started giving their first tours of 2010, the Biennial. The teens worked together to research and prepare tours that focused on artists they found most intriguing in 2010; some of their favorites included Charles Ray, Aki Sasamoto, Piotr Uklanski, Stephanie Sinclair, and Kate Gilmore. YI Leaders gave tours to teen art and after-school programs from across the city, including the art club at Brandeis High School, The Opportunity Network, High 5 Tickets to the Arts, El Puente Academy, and the New York Historical Society. YI Leaders provided background information on the Biennial and the artists and led a discussion about the work on view. All of the teen audiences seemed delighted by the in-depth knowledge presented by the Leaders, and not surprisingly many of the works sparked interesting debate.
Artist Aki Sasamoto talks about her experience working with YI Artists this spring at the Youth Insights Spring Celebration. Photograph by Diane Exavier
Meanwhile, YI Artists went into high gear to finish up their collective work, The Authenticity Project. The teens spent the semester collaborating with 2010 artist Aki Sasamoto with whom they worked to produce the project. Using a wide range of media—from found objects to video to paint—the teens created works inspired by their investigation into performance art.
For her contribution to War Is, YI Writer Delia created a story about a girl who lost her father in combat. In these photographs, she imagines herself as the fictional girl and mourns her father's passing.
YI Writers finished up their work with artist Nina Berman. Over the course of the semester, teens learned photography skills on Nikon digital cameras and explored the meaning of war through the creation of works that combined text and images. For their final project, War Is, YI Writers wrote stories, essays, and poetry to complement their photographs. Some even incorporated collage and drawing.
YI Writers proudly show off their certificates after completing the spring semester of the Youth Insights Program. Photograph by Diane Exavier
All three programs celebrated their hard work at the Youth Insights Spring Celebration, for an audience of over eighty people including family, friends, teachers, and artists. Both Sasamoto and Berman attended the celebration, and spoke about how their work with the teens challenged them in new and exciting ways.
While this year's YI Leaders, Writers, and Artists programs have ended, the Summer Intensive Program starts up at the end of June. Look out for news from them later this summer!
By Sarah Meller, Education Assistant