Thursday, November 22, 2012 Page B1
SECTION
LIVING
B
WHAT’S ON? Q DINING GUIDE Q WHATS COOKING Q REAL ESTATE Q CLASSIFIED Q SERVICE GUIDE Q BUSINESS CARD DIRECTORY
SHARPIE on Post-it notes.
An experiment in Post-it modernism By Sarina Trangle strangle@riverdalepress.com
K
SHARPIE on kraft paper.
SHARPIE on a Post-it.
neeling, Nina Seigenfeld-Velazquez, 51, swept a black Sharpie down a sheet of brown paper taped up at the Riverdale library. Her wrist traced the profile of a cheek and a chiseled chin. She etched in the eyebrow, as she discussed the upcoming opening of her show, What’s Mine Is Yours. For the past two years, Ms. Seigenfeld-Velazquez has been drawing faces on Postit notes. The Riverdalian has crafted many mini drawings, some while riding the subway, others while manning the security desk at Robert J. Christen School, PS 81, where she works as a parent coordinator. And recently, while entertaining her children without the assistance of electricity after superstorm Sandy. Once she collected 400 Post-it notes, she knew she was ready to show off her work. Her exhibit, What’s Mine is Yours, opened at the Riverdale Public Library on Saturday and will remain on display through Saturday, Jan. 26. “I like the idea of making something really extraordinary out of something ordinary. So I like the idea of using really ordinary materials, stuff I have lying around the office,” Ms. Seigenfeld-Velazquez said as she set up on Nov. 16. “It’s at the library. People will come. I’ll tell them, ‘Take one,’ Which means you now own your first piece of art. I think there’s something really empowering about that.” On one wall, she stuck four rows of pink, green, yellow, purple, green and blue Post-it notes covered with everything from sleek, minimal profiles to detailed sketches. While Post-it notes may be her main canvas, faces are what bind the exhibit. A purple cardboard crate originally used to store fruit boasted black and gold ones, as did white tiles, a cigar box and a second-hand picture frame. Drawings on an orange napkin, a plate and a graffiti-
covered car hung on a second wall. When she noticed two walls were broken up by wooden frames that were missing their shelves, Ms. SeigenfeldVelazquez taped brown and back paper over them and drew more faces. The opening is Ms. Seigenfeld-Velazquez’s first since she had kids. After studying painting at the School of Visual Arts, Ms. Seigenfeld-Velazquez and a friend opened New Math, a store-front gallery in the East Village. She moved to Riverdale when she was pregnant with her first child in 1988. After raising six kids, she began curating group shows. When she started drawing again, Ms. Seigenfeld-Velazquez returned to the facial lines that always intrigued her. “I have this theory that people make art for a reason that they become obsessed with a line or topic or image that gets repeated. For me, it’s just always been faces — since I was 4,” she said. She drew furiously at times, cranking out 35 Post-its a day. She usually used her Sharpie, ballpoint pen or pencil to scrawl images derived from her imagination, but occasionally Ms. Seigenfeld-Velazquez drew the faces around her, especially on the subway. “You kind of feel obligated to give it to them and say, ‘So I’ve been staring at you on the subway and this is why,’” she said. Initially, she acted on a desire to give art to others by leaving the Post-it notes stuck to subway seats. But Ms. Seigenfeld-Velazquez said she couldn’t find a way to document the exchange and decided to invite others to take a Post-it and make their own at the library instead. What’s Mine Is Yours is on display at the Riverdale branch of the New York Public Library, located at 5540 Mosholu Ave., through Saturday, Jan. 26. The library is open Mondays and Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
DONTAI NOTTINGHAM checks out What’s Mine Is Yours, a series by Nina SeigenfeldVelazquez, during the opening reception at the Riverdale Library on Saturday.
SHARPIE on tile.
SHARPIE on kraft paper.
SHARPIE on tile.
Wishing Everyone a Happy Healthy Thanksgiving!