Haunted Galleries: YI visits Chelsea
Oct 28, 2014

On Tuesday, October 28, YI Leaders explored several art galleries in Chelsea. For this particular adventure, we visited Mixed Greens, Churner and Churner, as well as 55 Gansevoort galleries and paraded down the High Line in our Halloween costumes. The galleries were all really awesome.

Inspired by the upcoming holiday, we added some gore and spookiness into our drawings at Mixed Greens. By choosing certain symbols or motifs that we found in the works on view, we created drawings and transformed them by adding blood or other scary elements. At Churner and Churner we saw amazing pieces which were made out of sponge mixed with cement as well as glass and everyday objects. We discussed the artist’s materials and process. 

At 55 Gansevoort, a gallery that is visible to onlookers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, we met Ellie Rines, the gallery owner, and Ben Bloomstein, the exhibiting artist. They discussed the idea behind the gallery space, how Rines collaborates with different artists, and Bloomstein’s inspirations for his current piece. Bloomstein covered the window of Rines’s gallery with steel and included cut-outs of socks and a Neti Pot. Bloomstein explained to us the meaning of these symbols. Through the cutouts, we saw glimpses of an installation which was inspired by the use of Japanese tatami mats.

Walking along the High Line we discussed what we had seen as well as what we took away from the experience. Some of the teens came in costumes and we shared our favorite things about Halloween. This is an example of how Youth Insights makes learning fun.

By Andrea, YI Leader