Natasha May Platt

“Of Women, By Women” Continues Through Sunday at the Storefront Project on the Lower East Side

December 18, 2019

Featured yesterday morning on NY1, Of Women, By Women, a group exhibition on view through this Sunday, December 22, presents original artwork by 18 contemporary women artists who have also made their presence on our streets. While visiting the exhibit this past Sunday at the Storefront Project on the Lower East Side, we had the opportunity to pose a few questions to its curator, Wendy Horwitz aka Love From NYC.

The word is that this is your first curatorial experience. How did this exhibition come about?

I never planned on curating an exhibit. This wasn’t my idea. A male friend, in fact, suggested last summer that it would be a good idea to present an all-women street art show. He said, “If anyone could do it, you could do it!” And I decided to do it.

What was the greatest challenge you faced in seeing this through?

Finding a venue. And then when I heard that the owner of the Storefront Project is a woman, Gina Pagano, I approached her.

Yes! This space is ideal. How did you decide which artists to include?

I researched as many female street artists as I could. I was interested in featuring artists with a strong local presence who could work together cohesively.

How have folks responded to the exhibition?

They’ve been really enthusiastic. I’ve received very positive feedback from visitors, as well as the artists themselves. They were very excited to come together and meet one another.

What’s ahead?

I’m not sure. This has been a “passion project.” I don’t know if I will curate another show, but people are encouraging me to do a series of shows featuring women artists.

Congratulations on this! We do look forward to more! And how wonderful to be featured on NY1!

Note: A panel discussion will be held tomorrow, Thursday, December 19, from 7-8pm. Moderated by Vittoria Benzine of UP Magazine, it will feature Butterflymush, Lexi Bella and LOVEMKM. Located at 70 Orchard Street, the Storefront Project is open today through Sunday, 1-7pm and and tomorrow, Thursday, until 8pm.

Photos:

1 LMNOPI

2 Isabelle Ewing with Wendy Horwitz aka Love From NYC to her left

3 Swoon

4 Surface of Beauty

5 Dee Dee

6 Alice Mizrachi

Also featured in Of Women, By Women are: Butterflymush, Chinon Maria, Jilly Ballistic, La Femme Cheri, Lexi Bella, LOVEMKM., Magda Love, My Life in Yellow, Nora Breen, Sara Erenthal, Shiro and Toofly.

Interview conducted by Lois Stavsky and edited by Lois with Ana Candelaria

Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 Ana Candelaria; 4 Lois Stavsky

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ST.ART Founder Kamilla Sun Launches “Start With A Dream,” a Volunteer School Arts Project, in Kathmandu, Nepal

December 2, 2019

Earlier this fall, ST.ART founder Kamilla Sun traveled to Kathmandu, the capital and largest city of Nepal. On a voluntary mission — with money raised through a crowdfunding campaign to procure art supplies — Kamilla taught young Napoli students how to transform their school’s drab, dingy walls into vibrant, colorful ones.

The “Start With A Dream” project, explains Kamilla Sun, “aims to teach the little builders of the future how to imagine, dream bigger and create.” The vast majority of Nepal students live in poverty and have had little exposure to the arts.

Renowned NYC-based artists Jason Naylor, Sonni Adrian and Adam Lucas created simple mock-up mural designs that the students easily recreated for their school’s walls under Kamilla’s guidance. Other artists who contributed to the project include Agata Wojcierowska and Natasha May Platt aka Surface of Beauty.

Pictured above are the student participants in front of their collaborative mural, “Dream,” as designed by Jason Naylor, and — below that — the mural as painted on NYC’s Lower East Side by Jason Naylor and Surface of Beauty. Several more images — all created by the young Nepali students — follow:

Designed by Sonni Adrian and painted collaboratively by Nepali students