BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATED AT

by Nathan Weiser

Ps 676

On February 16, PS 676 hosted a Black History Month family art night with activities for the students.

The art night went from 4:30 until 6:30 as Red Hook Art Project and Pioneer Works instructed the students. The kids did collages and paintings based on Black artists from New York City. RHAP made a giant fabric art collage that took up the size of a table that was inspired by the art of Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold. The students assisted with making the collage, which will likely be auctioned off at RHAP’s gala in May.

There was also inspiration from Mickalene Thomas, who is from Brook-

Nathan Weiser

mobile will come every Tuesday from 11-4 pm. It will alternate between book and tech mobile on those visits.

After the first four weeks the plan is for it to come every other week. Nurys Pimentel, the library circulation specialist said there are other library closures and the bookmobile and tech mobile need to help those neighborhoods as well.

Pimentel announced at the meeting that was attended by many in the neighborhood outreach programs.

One of the librarians will read to the kids once a week at the Red Hook Initiative. The kids will see a familiar face.

There will be weekly kids craft projects class at Pioneer Works. They are hoping to have their resume help session for adults at the Justice Center.

“That is an adult program so we are trying to touch every single base,” Pimentel said. “The kids, the young adults and adults. One of us that works here that you see every single day will be there.”

Somebody in the audience said that having the tech and book mobile at the library just once a week for five hours was not enough for an area with almost 8,000 residents in the Red Hook Houses alone. It was pointed out that library access is needed on weekends.

There was a request to have a brick lyn, since her use of glitter in her art was used in the corners of the collage. Ringgold is a painter, mixed media sculptor, performance artist and quilter who is still doing art at 92 years old. There were various tables around the cafeteria with information on various Black artists. One table had information on Kahinde Wiley, and a picture of the painting she did of President Barack Obama in 2018. and mortar replacement for the current library like has happened in two other locations.

Other tables had information and paintings of Thomas, Ringgold and Bearden. The kids had magazines, scissors, colored paper and glue at the tables and got to do drawings based on what those artists were known for.

Pioneer Works organized a painting class that the students signed up for right before it began. They all put on aprons and sat at two tables in the back with easels in front of them.

David Woloch, representing the Brooklyn Public Library, responded.

“In Brooklyn Heights, where we had an interim library, the developer who was building that building paid for it,” Woloch said. “We don’t have that here and we don’t have that in all other locations where we have closed libraries. We have a library closed in Williamsburg, in Bed Stuy and South Brooklyn with no brick and mortar replacement.”

He added that their outreach plan is more ambitious and aggressive than in other neighborhoods.

Tiffiney Davis from Red Hook Art Project mentioned an art gallery in Red Hook that has a huge space that’s underused. She thought that could be a space for library activities.

Davis, who has 130 students in her program, pointed out that the laptop situation is a huge issue with the tech mobile coming just once a week and suggested city funding. She is willing to provide her space as a makeshift library.

“I know how important the library is for a lot of parents I work with,” Davis said. “My space is definitely open to use and we can figure out timing. They can check out books.”

Each of the 14 students draw one of Derrick Adams’s more well known paintings. Adams is a Black artist who is based in Brooklyn.

The students had Adams’s painting next to their easels and were instructed by Pioneer Works staff to draw it to the best of their ability. They started by drawing a big circle for the face

All the kids drew the painting in their own way and got to take their painting home.

Jonathan Ojekunle, who has been the Pioneer Works artist in residence for the last six months, knows Adams and said his art is being displayed at Penn Station. He also has a project titled I Can Show You Better Than I Can

Pimentel defensively pointed out that they gave out 129 laptops for the community as well as the same amount of hotspots. Those laptops were checked out in January and they don’t need to be checked back in until September.

“We are going to reach out to more places and keep on emailing and see what we can do going forward,” Pimentel said. “As of now, this is all we can lock down. We are hoping to have another meeting the week before we close to update with anything else we have to offer.”

Carolina Salguero from Portside NY said that during the pandemic they had a free community library with outdoor WIFI in a parking lot. She said the EDC evicted the community library abusively on short notice, which upset people.

She suggested putting classroom trailers in that parking lot if Ports America is okay with that. There is a large space available next to the cultural and educational non-profit at Portside.

Tell You at The FLAG Art Foundation. Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield had a table with a Black History educational activity book and other information including health tips.

The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development had a table with housing rights and eviction information.