EN ESPAÑOL

8th Annual MAD Celebration of the Arts EXPO Returns July 23rd, 10am-3pm in Midtown at The Kingston Center of SUNY Ulster

Family-friendly, hands-on arts demos and workshops for artists of all ages and skills

This lively, fun day celebrates the arts, creativity and community offering residents of Kingston and surrounding towns a FREE hands-on opportunity to explore the various art forms of local artists and arts organizations with interactive art workshops and demonstrations.

The 8th annual EXPO will feature a full day of workshops in a variety of arts genres. Professional working artists will lead all of the workshops with assistance from PUGG our teen workforce interns managed by The D.R.A.W. 

We will be contact tracing at the EXPO Check In. Mask wearing is encouraged and will be available.

Coordinated by the MAD Events Committee: Neville Bean, Chair; Kai Navarrete, Susan Whalen, Rick Whalen, Maggie Inge, Ray Curran
MAD Executive Director: Lisa Kelley
Expo Producer: Sylvia Diaz

Expo Workshop Schedule

At 10am join us for a WELCOME KICKOFF as we open the EXPO doors with Mayor Noble, Ulster County Chamber of Commerce, Leaf Miller & Friends and CCE!

Chinese Brush Painting with Maxine Leu
10am – 11:30am – Room 103
Learn to draw bamboo with Chinese ink and brush using basic techniques including brush holding, brush strokes, water control, Eastern painting composition and signature.

Maxine Leu is an interdisciplinary artist, art educator, and environmentalist from Taiwan. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Leu has been promoting workshops about painting, printmaking, recycling art, and Chinese brush painting in a number of places since 2015.

Telling Your Artistic Story with Doug Motel
10am – 11:30am – Room 215
All art business messaging needs to come from a ground of storytelling in order to make an impact. In this session, users will get tips on ways to make their artist story unique.

Doug Motel is an award-winning artist, author, coach, artist, and popular speaker on the subject of storytelling for business.

Fusion Dance with Anna Mayta
10am – 11:30am – Room 104
Be inspired by and learn about different cultures through dance featuring Flamenco (Spain), Bharatanatyam (India), West African, Modern (USA), Latin, and Caribbean dance styles. Kid friendly

Anna Mayta is a dance improviser, choreographer, and instructor. She graduated from Empire State College in June 2001 with a BA in Dance in Education. Anna has been teaching, performing, and choreographing for over 15 years.

Music and Musical Instrument Making with Leaf Miller
10:15am – 12pm – Outdoors
Come make and play your own musical instrument from found and recycled materials. Includes a demo of instruments from around the world and an introduction to AUMI, (Adaptive Use Musical Instrument) that tracks bodymotion to generate sounds. Kid friendly

Leaf Miller is a musician, composer, teacher, instrument builder and feminist, performing on drums/percussion in the World Music Tradition for over 40 years.

Worry Dolls with Andrea DelCid
10:30 – 12:30 – Lobby
Participants will be making worry dolls based on the Mayan legend for kids and adults; they are believed to help take our worries away. We will use pipe cleaners, yarn and fabric to create our own worry doll that you will be able to take home. Kid friendly

New Media Arts Panel moderated by Stephen Blauweiss
11:00 – 12:00, Room 101
On the panel: Linda Law of the Holo Center, Frank Waters of MyKingstonKids, and Laura Kandel of Hudsy.

Making Linocut Prints Featherlight with Jason Mones
11am -12:30pm – Room 210
Learn the various steps involved in linocut printmaking, including transferring images, carving techniques, and printing on 2D and 3D surfaces. Non toxic, water based inks,will be used. Prints will be on blocks and balloons. Kid friendly

Jason Mones is a visual artist and educator currently living in Ulster County. His kinetic figurative paintings engage the humor, horror, history and power of bodies in public and social space. He earned his MFA in Painting from Yale University and his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

Saturn Walk with China Blue
12pm – 3pm – Outdoors
Saturn Walk will present the acoustics of Saturn (discovered by the artist, China Blue) within a hexagonal labyrinth. Experience being grounded in an ancient maze while thinking about the cosmos. Kid friendly

China Blue is an internationally exhibiting, award winning, sound based visual artist. Over the past two decades she has created work based on the sounds produced by our brains, discovered in the Eiffel Tower, and for NASA contained in the Vertical Gun and embedded in Saturn’s rings.

Art in Virtual Reality with Frank Waters
12:00-1:30 – Room 101
Learn how to navigate an exciting new creative environment with virtual reality. The Quest Team from MyKingstonKids will walk you through this special experience. Headsets will be provided. Kid Friendly

Cyanotype with Tom DeLooza
12pm – 1:30pm – Room 103
Each student will create a cyanotype photogram that they make from start to finish, except for the chemistry mixing. Kid friendly

Tom DeLooza is an artist who works primarily with alternative and antique forms of photography. His main passion is for wet plate, but he loves making handmade paper prints and photograms.

Character Design with Micah Fornari
12 – 1:30pm – Room 215
An introduction to character design covering the basics of shape symbolism and silhouette. Learn the process of translating a character’s personality into a character design using shape and line. Kid friendly

Micah is an illustrator and cartoonist who blends cute, colorful aesthetics with horror-inspired concepts. Proficient in both traditional and digital mediums, he creates illustrations and comics with dynamic compositions and eye-catching colors.

The Joy of Drumming with Evry Mann
12pm – 1:30pm – Room 104
Participants will work with both stick and hand drumming and be introduced to the riches of world percussion with a special focus on West Africa and the Caribbean. All levels of experience are welcome. Kid friendly

Ev is the founder/director of MaMA, Marbletown Multi-Arts and the founder and co-director of POOK the Percussion Orchestra of Kingston. He currently serves as the executive director of the Peaceful Guardians Project.

Holograms with Linda Law
1:30pm – 3pm – Room 101
Participants will be introduced to the media of Holograms, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Explore the worlds of spatial imagery created with laser light in holograms, and other immersive media. Kid friendly

Linda Law is the Executive Director of the HoloCenter which is currently in the process of relocating to Kingston. In her career as a holographic/digital artist she has worn many hats: curator, teaching artist, administrator, fine artist.

Cortinas de Papel Picado with Kai Navarrete
1:30pm – 3pm – Room 210
Learn the folklore history and cultural significance behind “Papel Picado”, the different techniques of “papel picado”, as well as the meaning of patterns, colors and applications. Each participant will take home their own papel picado curtain.

Born in Mexico and raised in America; Kai’s paintings and sculptures presents a dialogue of self-representation as an immigrant, queer person of color and the core similarities that make us all human beings in a world of social constructs.

Introduction to Improv Comedy with Maclain Maier
2 – 3pm – Room 215
Learn the fundamentals of improv comedy through a series of games that will grow skills and help participants feel comfortable on stage. This workshop will culminate in a showcase of characters in a series of completely improvised scenes.

Maclain Maier is a writer and performer from South Orange, New Jersey. His short fiction has appeared in Ubiquitous Magazine and Z Publishing’s Best Emerging Writers series. He busks on the streets of NYC as half of the clown duo CridgerDodger and is co-founder of the New Paltz Improv troupe Happenstancery Improv.

Frondesence with Christiana Fortune-Reader
2 – 3pm – Room 103
After listening to a short piece of music called Sun Propellor, and discussing the composer’s inspiration, participants will compose their own music and art with music boxes and paint. Kid friendly

Christiana Fortune-Reader is a multi-faceted musician, passionate about the intersection of teaching, performing, community building, and arts advocacy. She serves as Assistant Professor of violin and viola, as well as College Orchestra Director in the Music Department at the State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz.

DXF® Dance Xross Fit with Drew Andrews
2 – 3pm – Room 104
DXF® offers a well-designed dance-based fitness session consisting of easy-to-follow, high energy moves for all level participants. All moves can be modified to accommodate all physical fitness levels. Kid friendly

Bryant “Drew” Andrews is the Executive Director at the Center for Creative Education – a nonprofit community center for arts, wellness and education in Kingston, NY. Drew is a dynamic, energizing force that brings over 25 years of human service, dance and fitness experience to communities worldwide.