Garden Stories Spring 2021

ALF’s Garden Stories project 2021 worked with 3rd graders at Childrens Workshop School to plant a traditional Native American 3 Sisters Garden. They went on to explore Lenape bandolier designs by creating their own individual stoles based on exploring Campos Community Garden plantings for inspiration. Instructors Montana Leonard, Gladys Feliciano and Carolyn Ratcliffe introduced the children to the concepts that this area was inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans before the European settlers arrived. We explored planting practices as to how corn squash and beans planted together compliment one another. The art project explored how the Lenape designs for their clothing decoration was inspired by nature and replicated plants and animals that were part of their everyday life. Each child created their own bandolier stole which they took home with them. We also engaged the children to write and draw their experiences in the garden in notebooks provided by ALF for the project.

LES Home Again: Gallery Exhibit

ALF.TNC.LESFA.2021.Artist list – DOWNLOAD

Surviving Covid: Gallery Exhibit of 27 New York Artists

ALF.Surviving Covid Artist Program – Read/Print

ALF.Surviving Covid Artist Program – Read/Download

East Village: Lens on the Lower East Side by Lower East Side Preservation Initiative’s A Photo-journal Essay

This remarkable collection of contemporary photographs, shot by photographers whose artistic roots in the East Village, shows unique and beautiful portraits of a now familiar neighborhood. This collection reminds people of our neighborhood’s beauty, wonder, and individuality and calls out for the preservation of its invaluable, irreplaceable legacy, for our own and future generations.

Garden Stories Workshop: Fall 2019- Spring 2020

In partnership with the New York City Council’s Cultural Immigrant Initiative (Many thanks NYC Councilmember Carlina Rivera) and Citizen’s Committee of New York City.

Art Loisiada Foundation &  Campos Community Garden produce Garden Stories Workshops for Childrens Workshop School and A Dia De Los Muertos event in Campos Community Garden. There are four workshops in the garden in each fall and spring semester, culminating in a  pizza class or harvest feast. Because of COVID-19  Pause, we had to videotape the spring module as schools and community gardens were closed.

The  Fall workshops were taught by Adrian Van Der Nes, Gary Meyers, Carolyn Ratcliffe & Gladys Feliciano. The spring gardening workshops were taught by master gardener, Christopher Batenhorst and Gladys Feliciano. The first focusing on soil, compost and insects while the 2nd workshop focused on planting vegetable seeds and seedlings in the garden for this spring.

Then a traditional Native American 3 Sisters Garden with a focus on planting Lenape Corn, squash and beans which will be harvested in the fall by the incoming 3rd grade class.

The 3rd workshop was on harvesting  which was turned into a community Food Safety program with the vegetables donated to Trinity LES Lutheran Soup Kitchen.

The first 2 gardening workshops were followed by an environmentally themed art class taught by Gladys Felciano where the children created an art work using plant materials harvested from the garden and in the spring video the children are shown how to create a mandala using plant based materials easily found in their kitchens at home.

Dia De Los Muertos is an annual Mexican holiday event where neighbors build an altar decorated with marigolds and Aztec symbols  to commemorate loved ones by bringing images, writing poems/letters and leaving offerings.

A film classic, “Coco” which explores the underlying cultural significance behind the event was shown the next evening.It is a  3 day event and is culminated with a performance by Aztec Dancers who perform ritual Dance ceremonies to bless the land as harvest for the coming year. Traditional Mexican fare is served.