School celebrates Hispanic Heritage, by Nathan Weiser

On October 18, PS 676 hosted a Hispanic Heritage art night for the students after school in the cafeteria.

Hispanic Heritage month is from September 15 to October 15 and this event was a culmination of it for the students. They learned about important hispanic figures the previous month and then on this night they got to wrap it up with art in the style of Hispanic artists.

Carmen Herrera and Kenny Rivero were the two featured artists that Pioneer Works chose to have the kids learn about. They got to see their well known drawings on the table and do collages inspired by their art.

The organizer from Pioneer Works thought the two artists complimented each other well. She thought those two made sense for Hispanic Heritage night.

They brought construction paper, scissors, markers, brushes, glue, and pencils to help the kids imitate the drawings of the above artists. The kids were in the zone and got to concentrate on their art with the materials and art from the acclaimed artists as their guide.

There was pizza for the students after working on  their collages.

Rivero, who was born in 1981, is from New York City. His paintings and drawings explore the many layers of identity from his experience as a Dominican-American growing up in Washington Heights.

His art includes references to his Afro-Caribbean identify, religious faith, music and family. His work includes recognizable figures, objects and places that come together to tell a story and invite mystery.

Herrera was born in Havana, Cuba in 1915 and recently passed away at the age of 106. She was trained as an architect and was always interested in the precise and technical process of making art.

She explored interactions of color with angular shapes. Many of her paintings and sculptures are large fields of color with simple compositions. She spoke about her process with the saying, “less is more.”

Other artists whose bios and art were displayed in the cafeteria were Frida Kahlo, Justin Favela, Lee Quinones and Camila Rosa.

Rosa, who now lives in Brooklyn, is a Brazilian artist whose brightly colored illustrations promote personal strength and political consciousness. In 2020, Instagram asked Rosa to create one of their Latinx Heritage Month stickers. She also designed a line of t-shirts for Old Navy.   

Quinones is a Puerto Rican artist who became famous in the 1970s and 1980s for creating massive New York City subway car graffiti that carried his moniker LEE.

Quinones’s style is rooted in popular culture and often has political messages. He also painted huge handball court murals in the Lower East Side.

Favela is a mixed-media artist who is known for making large-scale installations and sculptures in the piñata style. His work references pop culture, art history, society, cultural commentary and his Guatemala-Mexican-American heritage that’s rooted in growing up in Las Vegas.

His art often celebrates his identity as a queer person of color raised in Las Vegas while challenging cultural appropriation.

Pioneer Works noticed that the kids respond well to visual art programs since they are able to easily express themselves. There is a limited amount of interference or instruction from adults, they just give the prompt and the kids did their collage.

Pioneer Works brought over supplies and also ordered supplies from Amazon. They were available to give advice and answer questions.

There was a student run portable library that the students could take a book from. Spanish music was playing during the event chosen by Pastor Pacheco.

In addition to PS 676, the educational outreach of Pioneer Works extends to PS 15 and the Good Shepherd Services program at the Miccio Center.