Recap: Art On The Block

Photo by Lukas Gordon

From April 18-May 16th, I was the artist in residence at Art On The Block, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing art to the upper west side community in Manhattan. In addition to having my work on display in their space, I also taught art workshops to different age groups.

I was honored and excited to be chosen to be the newest artist in residence but I was also pretty nervous about it too. The space was a pretty decent size that I needed to fill up with work and since I really wanted to showcase my collages, I felt the pressure to make new pieces and get them properly framed in time. In addition to being there for a full month for 7 hours a day and five days a week, making and talking my work, I also needed to come up with programming for the artist workshops. I had to remind myself not to stress myself out prepping for it but more often than not, my perfectionist tendencies would creep in.

As it turned out, the experience surpassed my expectations and boosted my confidence as an artist tremendously. Within the first two weeks of the residency, all sixteen of my collages sold out! I was hoping to maybe sell half, but I was happily surprised with the enthusiastic response from the UWS community.

The Anger-What Have We Done?
3D Paper collage, 18”x24”, 2025
Sold

It was interesting to see what pieces people gravitated to the most; my black, white and red 3D collage called The Anger: What Have We Done? resonated with many. It was a departure from more colorful works but people seemed drawn to the contained chaos of the piece and the limited color palette.

Orbitals, an abstract collage inspired by astrophysical phenomena, I received a lot of enthusiastic praise for its sense of movement and the layered intricate ink patterns in bright colors.

Orbitals
3D Paper collage, 18”x24”, 2025
Sold

Paper mobile-making during one of the family workshops.

I held several workshops for different age groups that included paper art mobile-making for families, 3D collages for elementary students, bubble wrap printmaking and cardboard collage making for the general public. It was pretty awesome to see how excited the parents were to create art with their kids. For one of the art mobile classes, one mother was engrossed in constructing a pretty impressive 3D art mobile while her son frolicked around the space. She signed up for the class in the hope that her son would take to art making, she fell in love with making her own mobile. At another class, a young four year old girl asked for a tour of my workspace and even gave me a thoughtful critique of my work. I’ll also never forget playing Stevie Wonder and singing along with a group of women while we made collages out of discarded cardboard boxes.

The finished collage from the cardboard collage workshop.

Photo by Lukas Gordon

Golden Proginoskes Abstraction
Floating paper collage, 5”x7”, 2025
Sold

I also had a workspace where I made art on site. It took some getting used to; I was essentially creating in a fishbowl because my work table was right by the window and I made time to discuss and explain the works for visitors who came into the space but even with all that activity, I was able to make a few new collages.

The focus of my residency was sustainable art making, so I made a new collage from an old cardboard boxes and old sketches that I called The New Gods. I also made smaller works from older sketches from the last two years that I reconfigured into new 3D collages.

The New Gods
Floating paper collage on cardboard
2025
Sold

My AOTB residency was one of the most rewarding experiences as an artist. Not only did I gain confidence as an artist, but I treasured being in community with so many kind and supportive people. They gave me hope for the future, something that sometimes feels in short supply these days.