School celebrates Hispanic Heritage by Nathan Weiser
O
n 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.
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.
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.
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.
The organizer from Pioneer Works thought the two artists complimented each other well. She thought those two made sense for Hispanic Heritage night.
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.”
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.
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 tshirts 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-MexicanAmerican 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.
Harbor Middle School collects pennies to sponsor exciting student events by Nathan Weiser
T
he PS 676 PTA is having their first Penny Drive to raise funds for exciting end of the year trips and events for the students. Jars for the pennies will be in all the PS 676 classrooms. There is also a community jar next to the entrance of the school by the security guard. The class that fills up their penny jar first will get a special prize at the end of the school year. According to PTA co-president Joyce Bethea, possible prizes for the class that wins the contest will be a gift card, a class pizza party or a taco night. They have put fliers for the penny drive around the neighborhood and have put the jars in various stores so that anybody who wants to can participate and then they will go around and collect all of the money. The inspiration for this penny drive all started from a penny drive that happened in Red Hook in the months following Hurricane Sandy. Bethea does a lot of volunteer work for the tenant association and she found out about the penny drive organized by the Tzu Chi Buddhist foundation. They are an international organization that helps during natural
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disasters. Tzu Chi collected pennies around the neighborhood during the time when the hurricane hit the neighborhood hard and they were able to get enough money to where they were able to give many people $500 gift cards. “I thought that sounded great for us for our school for the whole year,” Bethea said. “We do not know how many it will add up to at the end of the year. It could be a lot. We will never know until we collect it.”
struction workers to donate since they are always in the neighborhood as well as at the school. Carolyn Grant, who is the PTA copresident, added that they are focused on a trip for the elementary school children since there is usually something nice for the middle school students. The main focus of this penny drive is to collect enough money so that the students can go on a memorable trip at the end of the school year.
The drive officially started on October 10 and will continue the rest of the school year. It does not have to just be pennies but that is what they are encouraging. The community is welcome to donate other change or bills as well.
One idea was having the students go to the Museum of Natural History. Tiffany Fowler, the PTA secretary, thought this is a plus since it is close and great for kids to see.
In addition to putting the fliers around the neighborhood, the donation jars were going to be in places like the Spanish restaurant on Lorraine St, at Food Bazaar, and corner stores like the one on Columbia and Huntington Street that’s close to the school.
“Especially since this is the Harbor School, we could find somewhere where they could go to a lake and that could be sponsored because that ties in with the harbor theme,” Bethea said. “It would be good to get out of the city into the country.”
“We are trying to do gift cards as well,” Bethea said. “We are trying to do something nice for the community.”
Carolyn Grant’s daughter is in the third grade. Her main focus outside of being involved with the PTA is organizing events.
They are thinking of asking the con-
Another idea was zip lining or a trip out of Brooklyn to be in nature.
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This can include baking, making party favors, organizing baby showers and birthday parties. “Show your face and help with any concerns that are needed,” Grant said. “You want the people in your child’s school to know who you are.” Bethea has three children at the school. She has a daughter in seventh grade, another daughter in fifth grade and her son is in third grade. This is her first year as the PTA president. Fowler also thinks that it’s important to be involved with her child’s school.
November 2023, Page 7
