Advisory Board
The Seeds of the League Advisory Board is composed of a group of resilient artists who have worked in their careers to overcome the challenges that society placed in their path to achieving prominence in the art world—discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and/or back-ground. These artists generously offer their time and energy to sharing their knowledge with the next generation.
Chakaia Booker is an internationally renowned and widely collected American sculptor known for creating monumental, abstract works from recycled tires and stainless steel for galleries and outdoor public spaces. Her work is included in the collections of the Bronx Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of African American History and Culture and many more.
Willie Cole, an Art Students League alum, has been the subject of several one-person museum exhibitions at MoMA, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Miami Art Museum to name a few. His sculptures were included in exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Philadelphia Museum.
Sean Desiree is a self-taught artist, born and raised in the Bronx. Utilizing the craft of woodworking, Sean Desiree produces life-size structures and sculptures that serve as sanctuaries, protectors, and symbols of empowerment for BIPOC. They have been awarded residencies at More Art and Wave Hill in New York City. They are a 2021-2022 Leslie Lohman Fellow and have a forthcoming 2022 Mass MOCA residency. Through their residency at More Art they received funding to produce their debut socially engaged public art sculpture, entitled BEAM ENSEMBLE with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Jeffrey Kent is a multidisciplinary artist. His artwork is conceptual,
informed by the historical and the personal, inextricably linked. He
utilizes the medium best suited for the subject and temperament of the
discussion he is creating. His paintings are generally large, dramatic in
gesture, color, layering, composition, and presentation. Sculpture and
bricolage emphasize the socio-political meaning in ordinary objects of
daily life. In critically examining the accessibility of the contemporary Art
World, Kent develops live performance and community investment
projects such as the Accomplished Art Apprentices which teaches life
skills, art handling, installation and historic preservation to youth from
marginalized communities.
informed by the historical and the personal, inextricably linked. He
utilizes the medium best suited for the subject and temperament of the
discussion he is creating. His paintings are generally large, dramatic in
gesture, color, layering, composition, and presentation. Sculpture and
bricolage emphasize the socio-political meaning in ordinary objects of
daily life. In critically examining the accessibility of the contemporary Art
World, Kent develops live performance and community investment
projects such as the Accomplished Art Apprentices which teaches life
skills, art handling, installation and historic preservation to youth from
marginalized communities.
James Little, an Art Students League instructor, is known for his abstract works, geometric explorations driven by form and color. He has been extensively exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. Recently, Little was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority to create public artwork for the Long Island Railroad’s new Brooklyn-bound platform at Jamaica Station.
Jeffrey Meris earned an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University in 2019. Meris is a Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 2019 alum. He has exhibited at Matthew Brown in Los Angeles, James Cohan Gallery in Tribeca, White Columns in New York, Halle 14 in Leipzig, Germany to name a few. Meris was a 2020 NXTHVN Studio Fellow.
Ajmal ‘Mas Man’ Millar was born in 1986 in Brooklyn, NY and is a self taught contemporary visual artist and MAS MAN (carnival costume designer).
His work includes MAS, mixed –media collage paintings, repurposed material, sculptural metal, performance, photography which interrogates notions of cultural heritage, sexual and gender identity as a first generation African –American black queer man born to Trinidadian immigrants.
His work includes MAS, mixed –media collage paintings, repurposed material, sculptural metal, performance, photography which interrogates notions of cultural heritage, sexual and gender identity as a first generation African –American black queer man born to Trinidadian immigrants.
Lady Pink was born in Ecuador, raised in NYC and currently resides in the countryside north of the city. In 1979 she started writing graffiti and soon was well known as the only female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. In 1982 she had a starring role the motion picture “Wild Style”. That role and her other significant contributions to graffiti have made her a cult figure in the hip-hop subculture.
Faith Ringgold, painter, writer, speaker, mixed media sculptor and performance artist, is the recipient of more than 75 awards including 23 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees and fellowships. Ringgold’s art is included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
Devon Rodriguez, a Seeds alum, was born in the South Bronx. After being arrested for graffiti at age 13, he turned his attention to portraits. In 2010, he applied to the High School of Art and Design but wasn’t accepted. He then attended Samuel Gompers High School before being accepted to the High School of Art and Design in 2012. After graduation in 2014, he attended the Fashion Institute of Technology. He’s known for his subway portraits and has 20 million Tik Tok followers.
Alisa Sikelianos-Carter is a mixed-media artist from upstate New York. She has been awarded residencies at The Fountainhead Residency, Millay Arts, NXTHVN, Vermont Studio Center, The Wassaic Project, Yaddo, Art Omi and Headlands Center for the Arts.
Select exhibitions include group shows at James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY; Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL and Fridman Gallery, Beacon, NY. She earned her BA and MA from SUNY Albany in Painting and Drawing.
Select exhibitions include group shows at James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY; Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL and Fridman Gallery, Beacon, NY. She earned her BA and MA from SUNY Albany in Painting and Drawing.
Dianne Smith is an abstract painter, sculptor, and installation artist. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in New York City’s Soho and Chelsea art districts as well as, numerous galleries and institutions throughout the United States. She is an educator in the field of Aesthetic Education at Lincoln Center Institute (LCI), which is part of New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Since the invitation to join the Institute over six years ago she has taught k-12 in public schools throughout the Tri-State area.
My recent work borrows pictures from all kind of magazines, in the service of large questions about social & political values. Many of the issues are discussed in these magazines because they are questions people already think about every day. Current affairs, Political, War Health, Beauty, Fashion Population, Poverty, Luxury The Environment & the Beauty of Nature Modern Life & Technology Sex & Taboo While I am collecting image for my papercut collage, I consider each small piece and its meaning, and when each piece finds its way into my work, it brings that message & connection to the world in to my work.