Join artist Bernadette Cay with her project “Pressed Leaves.” for a morning with tea and art at East New York Farms!
Enjoy a warm cup of tea and a fun hands-on guided block printing workshop. Come away with your block prints and insights from the reflection prompts.
All are welcome, and no prior experience is needed.
During the lockdown, the artist came across a flowering shrub on one of her walks. As she started to research the plant, she was surprised to learn that it originated in East Asia, and yet, like several other flowering trees that grace the city today, has a more complicated history.
“Pressed Leaves.” is a participatory project that explores the themes of place (home, belonging, connection, and immigration), as well as time (the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one). Participants can enjoy a warm cup of tea, followed by a guided block printing activity. Together, we will carve and print different leaves found in New York as we reflect on the past year. You will come away from this activity with your block prints and insights from the reflection prompts.
This project draws parallels to tea culture, including the tensions between appreciation and appropriation, and has points of contact with the waves of violence against the AAPI community.
Through nature and tea, this project invites us to reflect on what home, belonging, letting go, and coming together really mean. All are welcome, no prior experience is needed.
About the artist:
Bernadette Cay is an artist and writer based in Brooklyn. Bernadette’s studio practice spans painting, drawing, textile art, and installation. Through a sensitivity to texture and line, her work hopes to soften the edges of modern life. Bernadette Cay’s work has been exhibited at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery and included in group exhibitions at Printed Matter, A.I.R. Gallery, Gray Area Foundation, and Diego Rivera Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Photos by Katie Salisbury
Autumn Tea 2021 is part of the Nature Tea 2021 series. Nature Tea 2021 is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).