Yonkers Arts is pleased to present WORDS, a multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring the works of 65 artists. Words shape our lives connecting us to each other and convey our needs, desires, feelings, and wishes. 'WORDS' exhibition features artist interpretations of words in traditional or non-traditional media forms of paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, video, performance, and installation.
“The work presented in this show represents a wide range of styles and disciplines, all coming together like a collective choir in a show we are proud to present” - head of curation at Yonkers Arts, Adam Shutz
Exhibition runs from February 12 through March 21, 2026
Yonkers Arts Project Space 216 Lake Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701
Gallery hours are: Wednesdays to Fridays 3pm - 6pm | Saturdays 12pm - 4pm
Interested in purchasing artwork that you viewed at the exhibition? Have a look at the available artwork!
Photo by Greenhouse Photography
Meera Agarwal
Meera Agarwal is a Westchester (NY) based visual artist and art instructor who creates vibrant paintings in oil, acrylic, and mixed media. With a keen eye for both representational and abstract forms, her award-winning paintings draw inspiration from nature’s marvels, diverse locales, and human stories. In May 2024 she became the first recipient of The Rye Arts Center’s Visionary Artist Award for her inspirational paintings as well as her commitment to uplifting the arts in the community. Recently, she expanded into public art with Rye Arts Center’s Rye’sAbove butterfly installation and contributed to the Rye Poetry Path. She is also a certified Art-o-Mat artist, contributing to art vending machines nationwide. Dedicated to community service, Meera volunteers with the Rye Arts Center, Jay Heritage Center and the India Cultural Center Greenwich. Meera's art is regularly juried into prominent exhibits across the tri-state area and her art can be found in home collections globally.
Crismeily Alburquerque
Crismeily is an Afro Caribbean artist who believes art can change the world. By using a fluid painting style, she’s able to create multicolored cells in her abstract artwork to bring it to life. She routinely depicts black women, nature and love (in its many iterations.) Art is her medication, her meditation, and sometimes her church.
Khuumba Ama
Khuumba Ama hails from the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor of Savannah, Georgia. She now resides in Harlem, USA. She is a full-time Multi Dimensional Visual Artist, Poet/Storyteller, Photographer, Curator, Filmmaker, Educator and Reiki Inspirational Therapist.
Khuumba has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally. Ms. Ama has left her mark in Africa, throughout the Caribbean, as well as the United States.
Thellenza Arifi Krasniqi a.k.a. EarthWaeve art
Thellenza Arifi Krasniqi is a Human Rights Expert with more than 18 years of experience in the protection and promotion of human rights. She is the Founder of the Caring Human Rights Center, where her work focuses on dignity, equality, and access to justice.
In parallel with her advocacy, she is a poet and visual artist. Her first poetry book, “Vargje me Dhimbje” (“Verses of Pain”), was published in 2000. Her artistic expression began long before her public exhibitions, initially created as personal gifts and reflections for others.
In early 2025, she began presenting her artwork publicly. In December 2025, she participated in a group exhibition at the Bluedoor Center, where her work received strong recognition and positive public response.
Through poetry and mixed-media art, her creative practice explores themes of human dignity, equality, belonging, and peace, reflecting her lifelong commitment to human rights.
Shahaan O. Azeem
My work explores important and relevant issues in our society. These issues predominantly deal with identity, equality, perception and representation, which are central to my work and revolve around questions of human interaction within our society.
Annette Back
Growing up in Frankfurt, Back explored her artistic abilities at an early age and when her family moved to NY, her creative calling led to the School of Visual Arts after which a career in graphic and web design ensued, culminating in Back running her own Design Firm. In a quest to discover her own true artistic voice rather than catering to clients, Back found herself craving the feeling of a paintbrush. Drawing from current events and experiences, Back tells stories through compositions and landscapes that often incorporate text, words and photographs. Back had solo exhibits as well as group exhibits at Aqua Art Miami, The Affordable Art Fair, Red Dot Miami, MvVo AD Art Show, ArtExpo, Clio Art Fair, Market Art+Design and galleries in and around NYC. She has completed two art residencies and her work is in private collections in the US and abroad.
Tralona Boisne
Tralona Boisne is an endless creative and dogged supporter of all things expressive. Yonkers NY resident and active community member, Tralona spends most of her time imagining more ways to connect with the world around her; whether through nature photography or encouraging fellow artists to engage with their own power.
Olivia Brucker
Olivia Brucker is a junior at Scarsdale High School. During the summer of 2025, her aquatic-themed photographs were displayed at the Neutral Zone’s Aquarium Exhibit at the Ann Arbor Art Center. Her goal is to attend a large university where she can challenge herself creatively through art.
Nordia Byfield
Watts, a New York-based artist, delves into the language of the spiritual; exploring the power of and the relationship we have with the unseen.
Having lived in San Francisco for nearly a decade, Watts has carved his own lane, initiating and organizing multi-dimensional experiences outside the confines of traditional galleries. Driven by a desire to enhance our connection to the mystical, he has created an alphabet and number system inspired by hieroglyphs, to cultivate our intuitive awareness. Watts’ work invites viewers on a mystical journey, beyond the spoken word and into the realm of the unseen; using creation and intuition as a vehicle to experience total consciousness.
Ed Castaneda
A Fine Art and Street Photographer based in Yonkers, New York working in the photographic medium since 2017. With a background in Design, Painting, Drawing and Art History, and graduating with a BFA in Graphic Design in 1981 from Parsons School of Design, and post graduate study/work at The Art Students League of New York. Ed has participated in various solo and group art exhibitions throughout the years. His photographs are not only snapshots of objects and daily life, but reflect the acute sensitivity of a draftsman and painter. The artist states; “The subject of my photographs is not the immediate image that you see. The deeper subject matter is the relationships in the composition between dark and light, thick and thin, straights and curves, large and small, and the shapes and movement that they create.”
Richard Castillo
Watts, a New York-based artist, delves into the language of the spiritual; exploring the power of and the relationship we have with the unseen.
Having lived in San Francisco for nearly a decade, Watts has carved his own lane, initiating and organizing multi-dimensional experiences outside the confines of traditional galleries. Driven by a desire to enhance our connection to the mystical, he has created an alphabet and number system inspired by hieroglyphs, to cultivate our intuitive awareness. Watts’ work invites viewers on a mystical journey, beyond the spoken word and into the realm of the unseen; using creation and intuition as a vehicle to experience total consciousness.
SantanaCopeland
SantanaCopeland is fascinated with visual storytelling. He studied filmmaking at Bard College where he received a BA. He transitioned from the moving image to the still image and attended photography courses at Otis College, Santa Monica Community College, and ultimately earned a MFA from LIU Post. He currently works in museum education and has a Masters in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
He has shown work in numerous group exhibitions and participated in art talks/presentations in New York and Beijing, China. SantanaCopeland was an En Foco Photography Fellow (Bronx, NY) in 2017 with work published in the accompanying Nueva Luz Photographic Journal (Vol 21.1). Select photos from BlackWhiteColor, Wait, and Paper Waves were shown at the 2019 Tianjin-Philadelphia Sister-City Photography & Poetry Exhibition (Tianjin, China). In 2024, he was the guest curator for the En Foco Photography Fellowship (Translucent Tethers).
Over the past few years, his photographic practice shifted from street/documentary/portrait photography to conceptual photography. His current project Black Work was conceived in 2016 with production starting in 2019 and ending in 2025. It grew from one photograph to a series of 18 images and during that time, he found his artistic voice, vision, and direction. In 2025, the photo Black Tax (from Black Work) was shown at Islip Art Council’s African Americans & Labor exhibition and Black Magic (from Black Work) at Farmingdale State College Memorial Gallery for the Double Exposure showcase.
Jocelyn Covarrubias
Joce Cova is a Mexican-American artist from New York who explores diverse mediums concentrating on digital art, acrylic paints, and ceramics. She draws a lot of inspiration from women and their everyday interactions in minimalistic styles. With playful imagery, she tries to capture small moments visually.
Stephon Dalencourt
I'm Steph Dalencourt, and I use cheap stuff to talk about expensive problems. My work is Americana through the lens of a black eye. I classify myself as a “trash-core absurdist” who tends to use, well, trash, to create poignant stories. I explore almost any medium, but my niche lives in the realm of sculptural painting and installation. Layering with impasto, vintage artifacts, and unlearned techniques is how I bridge the gap from my mind to the viewer's eyes and press the question, "How 3D can I make 2D?"
Sharde Dennis
Hi! My name is Shar and I am a multidisciplinary artist, specializing in abstract paintings and film with a practice grounded in community listening. My work explores the emotional and social landscapes we move through, transforming shared stories and energy into layered visual experiences
Jason-Earl Jackson
Having predominantly practiced relief printmaking for ten years, I’ve developed an unorthodox method of implementing its key tenets; carving but not printing. I fancy the permanence felt through the weight and volume of a mounted linoleum block, I consider it the final artwork. It allows me to experiment with color more freely without destroying the block itself while also providing a more tangible sense of confidence as the block communicates assurance with every cut, scrape, or break.
I am largely inspired by musicians and athletes. Moments of spontaneity in the development of melodies and the unpredictable nature of sport capture my attention. I employ this spontaneity in my artistic process by using creative energy to execute each piece directly, forgoing a sketch/proof of concept stage. I find the initial excitement felt at the inception of an idea wasted on any structured plan.
A common throughline in most if not all my work is spectacle. I want to create an immense amount of movement and detail in each piece, dragging the viewer’s eyes across every inch of linoleum. I endeavor to do this by flooding each piece with striking colors or dynamic cuts. I also try to tell jokes with my pieces. I believe the fine art realm is often too self-serious and runs the risk of falling into pretentiousness. My artistic philosophy is amusement before statement; or amusement through statement. I fear a viewer’s scowl or indifference.
I attempt to pursue this viewer amusement in the simple beauty of a piece. I see nothing wrong with engaging with art–regardless of its deeper meaning–on a casual level. I want viewers to be able to engage with my work on a purely superficial level and still leave room for deeper analysis. It should be pretty and/or entertaining before it has anything to say. What’s the point of talking if you’re too repulsive for anyone to listen. Of course there is value in engaging with something repulsive, but I do not believe every barrier should be that high.
I absolutely love the tedium of my medium and the unorthodox way I express myself within its confines. Though my method of practicing printmaking is laborious I love the feeling of a hard day's work, from the research and conceptualization phase to their completion, each piece feels like an odyssey. Each piece feels earned.
Enrico Giordano
Enrico Giordano is a mixed media artist and Associate Professor Emeritus at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. As a widely traveled artist, Giordano had a sabbatical in Turkey, presented at conferences in Cusco Peru, London, and Sienna, Italy. He also created participatory installations in Denmark and Holland. Closer to home, his work has been exhibited in galleries in NYC, Westchester, and Vermont. He currently exhibits regularly at Upstream Gallery in Hastings, NY and Blue Door in Yonkers, NY
Geraldo Gonzalez
Geraldo Gonzalez is a Puerto Rican American artist born in 1988 and based in Wilmington, Delaware. He is first and foremost a transit artist, known colloquially as “The King of Transit.” He sources material for his artwork from his trips on local transportation systems in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Geraldo is a prolific multimedia artist, working in colored pencil, acrylic paint, watercolor, digital photography and video. He has been a member of the Creative Vision Factory in Wilmington, Delaware since its opening in 2011, fostering a mutually beneficial, long lasting relationship with the organization. Geraldo has exhibited widely throughout Delaware, in solo shows at the Creative Vision Factory and MarketPlace Gallery, and group exhibitions at the Delaware Art Museum, the Delaware Contemporary, Chris White Gallery, the Biggs Museum of American Art, Johns Williams Gallery and the Fleisher/Ollman Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has four artworks in the University of Delaware’s permanent collection and is represented by the Koelsch Gallery in Houston, Texas. Through his frequently updated social media (@thekingoftransit), we are invited to follow the artist’s process and ever-colorful evolution.
Christi Graff
Because I feel that's a plight we all have to come to face with,
Stefano Guida
Stefano Luigi Guida is a multimedia artist and musician based in the Hudson Valley. With over a decade of experience, he has exhibited throughout New York City, Westchester, and Putnam counties.
His work is a vivid fusion of contemporary surrealism, pop culture, and personal narrative, often incorporating vibrant imagery and playful compositions that challenge perceptions and evoke emotional responses.
As a first-generation Italian-American, Stefano infuses his cultural heritage into his art, blending historical influences with modern themes. His paintings, rooted in an intuitive and stream-of-consciousness process, explore the complexities of human emotion, memory, and identity. Drawing from art history, cartoons of the 90s, and the natural world, his work captures the unpredictable and whimsical aspects of life, offering viewers a lens into the intersection of nostalgia and self-discovery.
Beyond his artistic practice, Stefano works as a high school art teacher in Westchester, where he fosters creativity and expression in students with special needs. Through his art, he seeks to create spaces for reflection, connection, and exploration, inviting audiences to find their own narratives within his surreal and thought-provoking pieces.
George M Gutierrez
GEORGE M. GUTIÉRREZ was a New York artist, photojournalist, and curator. Mr. Gutierrez won over a hundred awards including the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. In addition to painting, and photography, his work includes OpEd Art, illustration, album cover art, drawing, collage, and assemblage. He’s been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair and other periodicals and publications. Mr. Gutiérrez was the curator for Gallery18 at The Riverdale Y from April 2022 until he passed away in March 2024. His studio is in Yonkers, in the YoHo Artists' Lofts in the historic Carpet Mills Art District. He lived in Riverdale with his wife, Dr. Romina Carrillo Gutiérrez.
Noel Hefele
Noel Hefele is a landscape painter working in the eco-art tradition. He received his BFA from Carnegie Mellon and MA in Arts and Ecology from Dartington College of Arts. A 2021 City Artist Corps grantee, he is currently documenting the Tibbetts Brook daylighting project and Van Cortlandt Park's ecology. He co-taught 'Human Tracks in the Urban Landscape' at Brooklyn College and now is the volunteer coordinator at Van Cortlandt Park.
Mackenzie Heslin-Scott
Mackenzie “Mac” Heslin-Scott is a contemporary artist based in Lower New York. Holding a B.A. in Visual Arts and an M.A. in Public Marketing from Fordham University, she integrates photography, graphic design, and fine arts into her work, drawing inspiration from her British-Jamaican and Bronx Irish heritage.
Initially self-taught in realistic graphite drawing and painting, Mac refined her skills through formal training in photography before expanding into digital art and acrylic painting. Her work explores the interplay of light and composition, celebrating the strength and resilience of the human experience.
Today, Mac continues to evolve as an artist, using painting and illustration to express her shifting perspectives on life.
Shawn Hull
Shawn is a graduate of University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth’s Post Baccalaureate Artisanry Program, with a concentration in ceramics. Shawn’s sculptural work has been included in galleries and exhibitions including Mix Art Gallery, NY, -Corner’s Art Gallery, NY, -Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, NY, -University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art, MS, -Old Courthouse Arts Center- IL, and -Gallerium- Canada. Shawn ‘s functional ceramics have been featured in the New York Times, Grey Likes Weddings, and a collaboration with the Terrain Brand/stores- subsidiary of Anthropologie/URBN. Prior to working in clay and fine arts, Shawn Hull worked in theater as a director, actress, and educator. Shawn holds a MFA in Dramatic Art from UC Davis and has been the Artist in Residence at Delaware Theater Company, and an adjunct theater Professor at Cecil College, MD and Wesley College, DE.
Victor Ignacio
Víctor Ignacio is a Caribbean multi-media visual artist based in New York City, Their work often centers issues of environmentalism, gender equality, and religiosity.
Flor Khan
Flor Khan is a photo-collagist whose work explores identity, memory, and migration through the lens of her Mexican-Xicana and Guyanese heritage. Using collage, photography, and thread she creates textured landscapes that hold space for both fragmentation and repair, recasting memory as a living archive.
Lisa Levy
Lisa Levy is a conceptual artist, performer and (self-proclaimed) psychotherapist. Her art has been exhibited at art fairs, galleries and museums such ad The New Museum, The Bronx Museum, SPRING/BREAK Art Fair, The Pulse Art Fair, The Brooklyn Academy of Music. Levy’s work has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, The London Times, Artnet and Hyperallergic.
She hosts a weekly radio show: “Dr. Lisa Gives a Sh!t” where she conducts funny, emotionally revealing “psychotherapy sessions” with creative guests. ArtVoices Books released a monograph of her “The Thoughts in My Head” text paintings this year in January.
Artisticsoulsjourney
I am inspired by the art that surrounds daily. photographs ,trees beaches, relationships, colors and textures. All these things bring such joy to my heart. Being able to put them all together in an art form creates the magic. As i am on this journey I had come to fall in love with the different components of the arts.
My journey as a singer, dancer, actress and artist. Has allowed me to share with people the talents that God has given. Come along with me on this journey.
Jaqui Mejia
Jaqui Mejia is a Painter and Tattoo Artist from Yonkers, NY whose primary goal is to bring more color to the world. She attended Alfred University with a focus in painting and graphic design but ultimately had to leave due to the sudden loss of function in their dominant hand. Due to their disability, Jaqui Mejia had to adapt her art making techniques to suit their needs- often designing their creations digitally before projecting the images onto a surface to recreate. Her recovery process bled into the themes of her work- which often centered around chronic pain and mental illness- juxtaposing heavy themes with bold color palettes and unexpected uses of line. Her works exist as a window to another world- a way for the viewer to see what the world is and what it could be. Will you step inside?
Linda Mendelson
An artist for over a half a century with work in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Others
Dray Michael
Yonkers born native. Versed in mixed media, charcoal, and spray paint, with primary focused on graffiti and letters.
Brutus Moore
Brutus Moore III Aka MACE Born in Baltiomore , Maryland in 1970, Mace was a studious child whose favorite book was Where the Wild Things Are. Today he’s an accomplished artist, curator, and father. Creating In pen and ink, oils and aerosols. MACE’S ever evolving body of work refuses to stay in its own Lane. He trains his loose but discerning eye on paper, canvas and found materials like pocket books and toy robots. Proceeding to use his skills to accomplish aerosol murals in states like Orlando, Texas and New York city.
Iris Munoz (ArcoIris)
Iris Munoz is a self-taught teaching artist born in Jamaica, Queens. She works in diverse mediums such as painting, collaging, film photography, and jewelry making. Her personal work dives into identity, struggle and her love for New York City. She draws inspiration from her mixed immigrant background and the relationships around her.
As an educator she teaches about the importance of culture and community, raising awareness on various social issues, and fosters an environment where creativity and learning go hand in hand. As a first-generation of Guatemalan and Surinamese decent, she is uses art and education to up-lift the voices of the under-represented and to tell the stories of diverse communities.
Ann Marie Napoli
Ann Marie Napoli, a talented native from South Brooklyn, New York, cultivated their artistic passion at the Fashion Institute of Technology, graduating with a degree in Illustration that paved the way for a vibrant creative journey. Their studies in Renaissance art at the University of Florence in Italy profoundly enriched Ann Marie’s understanding and appreciation of art. Following their graduation from F.I.T., they successfully leveraged their talents as an accessory designer for over a decade, showcasing their traditional artwork in various exhibitions and publications, including a children's book promoting compassion and empathy. Having earned their master's degree in education, Ann Marie is now an inspiring art educator, empowering young minds at a Brooklyn elementary school, while embodying the transformative power of art and creativity to inspire positive change. Ann Marie cherishes quality time with their loving wife and son, and loves spending the warmer days by the lake with their family and friends in Mahopac, NY.
Website: www.artworkbyme.weebly.com
Andrea NiBlack
Andrea NiBlack ( Artist name Amarie ) is a Bronx native self taught artist. She has used mixed mediums since childhood as a form of personal therapy before founding her grassroots communal care initiative, The Bronx Butterfly Community Arts Initiative ™️. A directional creative wellness focus on impact programs through mixed media arts
Jinan O’Connor
I came to art later in life, beginning in 2025 with nothing but curiosity and a longing to create. Oil pastels became my entry point, a way to learn how color moves and how form emerges through pressure and patience. That practice naturally expanded into oil painting, where I found the richness, depth, and precision that had always inspired me.
Portraits are the heart of my work. I gravitate toward realism and abstract realism as a way to study resilience, intimacy, and the complexity of the human spirit. My pieces blend observation and intuition, layering emotion and structure to reveal more than what is visible on the surface.
As I grow as an artist, I remain committed to exploring the stories written in faces—their softness, their power, and their history. Creating art has become a way for me to honor both the people I portray and the parts of myself that have waited years for this creative unfolding.
Brenda Pardo
Brenda Pardo is a multidimensional artist, creative director, and visionary born in Lima, Peru.
Megan Parker
A black woman’s ability rise through the turmoils of the past and educate herself will holding onto her culture.
Patrice Payne
Patrice Payne is a visual artist and an educator whose artistic journey revolves around visibility, awareness, and unity. Photography is one way she chooses to create her own narrative — examining her own identity and personal experience within that framework. She is inspired by photographers like, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, and Zanele Muholi, who have explored the daily nuances of human existence through their work. Payne hopes that her work will shed light on specific cultural movements and empower the voiceless within her respective communities. To date, she has received grants from esteemed institutions, like the Puffin Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, Citizens Committee for New York City, and Bronx Council on the Arts, while showcasing her work throughout the US.
Francena Poyo-Ottley
Francena Poyo-Ottley is a Dominican American, New York–based textile artist, photographer, installation artist, and mother. Working across multiple mediums, she creates narrative-driven works that center empowerment, particularly within communities of color. Her practice functions as a form of visual activism, using art as a vehicle for storytelling, education, and connection. Through her work, Poyo-Ottley aims to inspire, uplift, and share knowledge while remaining deeply rooted in authenticity.
Azekiwe Providence
Azekiwe (pronounced ah-zeek-quay) Providence is a New York American artist, documentarian, and educator of Afro/Puerto Rican descent specializing in photography, videography and installation art, with concentration in Hip-Hop culture. His work creatively celebrates while archiving everyday life through exploration, observation and investigation of the people inhabiting under-served, divested and marginalized communities. Codified messages and images that reflect the socio-political climate serve as autobiographical commentary in communities like the South Bronx through evidential findings are often the subject of his photographs, demonstrating the reclamation of worth by refuting the status quo in establishment of a new narrative and precedence, as is the case of graffiti writing. His work serves to inform, inspire and motivate others to adjust their “lens” accordingly for clarity of purpose, rooted in identity to establish one’s voice. From the blink of the eye to the click of the shutter, Azekiwe continues to record, share, reflect; leave your mark.
Eileen Ramos
Eileen Ramos (she/her) is a bipolar Filipina American artist, writer, experience designer, performer, and hoarder. She enjoys repurposing secondhand and largely out of use objects for interactive storytelling such as apothecary cabinets, pantone swatches, and rolodexes. Further experiments can be found at eileenramos.com
John Roomer
I'm an autistic artist that uses abstract painting to explore emotions and abstract ideas. I mostly use acrylic paint and ink, but I have used a variety of mediums.
Jak Ruiz
Jak Ruiz was born in a small southwestern town known primarily for its proximity to another small town where a somewhat famous outlaw met his end. His early years were filled with basketball, crafting intricate multi-level, multi-page mazes, and daydreaming. It wasn’t until a fateful day in 2006—while writing poetry in a Taco Bell in New York City—that visual art revealed itself as one of his true calling.
Entering the art world in his late twenties, self-taught and colorblind, Ruiz relied on instinct, keen observation, dedicated study, and sheer determination to shape his practice. The need to learn quickly led him to develop a distinctive approach, blending multiple creative methods to refine his voice and vision.
Ruiz currently works in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where his small studio serves as both a sanctuary and a powerhouse for his artistic exploration.
Deborah Ryan
I started doing art at a very young age and I have mostly been self taught. I took a few classes in watercolor, oil, stained glass and pottery but never any formal education. Early on I entered Women's Club shows where I won ribbons in watercolor. In 2016 I was awarded a grant form AE Venture Foundation for my work in using Top Hats as a ground for creating. In 2023 I had a solo show in Kingston NY featuring said top hats. I've had work in Upstream gallery in Hastings on Hudson, the Van Der Plas gallery in NYC and The Blue Door gallery in Yonkers where I am currently a member. In 2025 I was selected along with 249 other artists from around the world to have my cyanotypes displayed in a book titled Alternative Photography, Art And Artists, Edition 2.
Allan Sanchez
Allan Sanchez is a NYC based multidisciplinary artists whose works incorporate different themes using several forms of symbolism to create narratives of the human experience. His works explore questions about cultural norms, societal ideals, family life and all subjects reflective of the political landscape.
Peter Sarafin
I started my painting career in 1999 in Brooklyn, NY. During those early years I picked up theatrical prop design and fabrication jobs to make ends meet. One turn to another and that took over. When I said yes to my first Broadway Production, I knew It was gonna take over for a while. But, It was an unexpected door that cracked open and I could not deny that I had to walk through. I promised myself that would walk away from the theatre world and return to painting when the novelty wore off. 20 years and 89 Broadway shows later, it wore off with a vengeance. I honored the promise I made to my 30 year old self and walked. I ran away to the Colorado Mountains to escape the pull of Broadway Producers and set to painting agin. After 3 years, I was confident the message was received and am now back in the greater New York City Area painting . I do not regret any step or period along the way, and am relieved to be back at the beginning. making my own art with a deepened perspective and intentionality.
Dennis Shelton
Dennis Shelton is a long-time Bronx resident. He attended and graduated from the High School of Art and Designs majoring in Package Design. Dennis completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in art, art education, and printmaking at Lehman College. Dennis taught art at John F. Kennedy High School for over 35 years He creates art using found objects, hand cut collages, wood assemblages and mixed media art. Dennis has had solo shows at Gallery 18, Riverdale Yonkers Ethical Culture Center, and the Riverdale Senior Services Center. He won first and second place ribbons in Mixed Media and Drawing at the Vintage Artists Show. Dennis has also exhibited in group shows at Blue Door Art Center, Riverfront Gallery, Riverdale Yonkers Ethical Culture Center, Metro Urgicare in Skyview Mall, Gallery 505, Beth El Temple in New Rochelle, Rye Art Center, the art gallery in the State Building in Harlem, NY and the Poe Art Center in the Bronx. Dennis Shelton is the former president of the Riverdale Art Association where he served for two years. He is passionate and extremely motivated about sharing his art and artistic vision with the community.
ZK Truth
ZKTruth is a New York–based collage artist working in the Hudson Valley. His practice centers on hand-cut printed ephemera sourced from magazines, newspapers, catalogs, and other discarded materials. After working with digital and experimental media, he shifted his focus to collage, drawn to the medium’s physicality and the visible presence of the human hand. His process emphasizes scavenging, selection, and careful assembly, with close attention to language, texture, and color. His imagery often draws from personal interests including literature, popular culture, and sports, approached with enthusiasm rather than overt critique. His collages have been exhibited in galleries, selected for juried shows, and featured at regional art fairs.
Devon Valentin-Dixon
Devon Valentin-Dixon is a Bronx-born artist working primarily in paint, alongside photography, printmaking, and mixed media. Her work draws from pop culture, travel, and everyday moments in NYC, often blending materials to create bold, expressive compositions. A former community art teacher, she continues to run paint nights for children and adults, carrying forward her belief that art should be accessible and shared. In 2025, she was featured in The Riverdale Press for work honoring the Bronx spaces that shaped her.
Arlandra Wallace
My art explores metaphysical themes that usually pop into my mind at random. I'm always trying to "evolve" my style while still retaining an overarching theme with religious elements, mental fortitude and a general "technological anxiety".
dammdenz with Biggs Porter Phylisha Villanueva, collaborated with director, creative director Phillip Villanueva and dancer Nate Martinez)
I, Phylisha Villanueva, collaborated with director Dammdenz, creative director Phillip Villanueva, and dancer Nate Martinez to create a visual element for my spoken word piece titled Pantoum for My Trauma. The work is rooted in the pantoum form, a poetic structure built on repetition and return, which mirrors how trauma lives in the body and mind—looping, resurfacing, and reshaping itself over time. By choosing this form, I honor the nonlinear nature of healing and memory, allowing repeated lines to shift in meaning as the poem unfolds. Through intentional imagery, movement, and performance, the piece transforms repetition from a site of pain into one of recognition, agency, and release, inviting viewers to witness trauma not as a fixed moment but as an evolving lived experience.
Hello my name is Denzel Walters I go by dammdenz here is one of my video submissions for the WORDS art exhibition in Yonkers arts. This is “Villains” I worked on this video with an artist named Biggz Porter from Yonkers New York.
Bio
I biggz Porter , along with director dammdenz, collaborated to create a visual elememt for my spoken word piece called villains
The title comes from a movie quote
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villian. The Dark Knight (2008)
This resonates with this piece
Because I feel that's a plight we all have to come to face with,
Growth is sometimes coming to realize you can't save the world you can only mold your environment for better or worse.
"Hero" or "villain"
neither is strictly "good" or "evil"—they are defined by their roles in the plot.
CHRIS WATTS
Watts, a New York-based artist, delves into the language of the spiritual; exploring the power of and the relationship we have with the unseen.
Having lived in San Francisco for nearly a decade, Watts has carved his own lane, initiating and organizing multi-dimensional experiences outside the confines of traditional galleries. Driven by a desire to enhance our connection to the mystical, he has created an alphabet and number system inspired by hieroglyphs, to cultivate our intuitive awareness. Watts’ work invites viewers on a mystical journey, beyond the spoken word and into the realm of the unseen; using creation and intuition as a vehicle to experience total consciousness.
Riley Weaver
Riley Weaver is a multimedia artist from Chestnut Ridge, New York. Who studied Graphic Design and Photography at Western Connecticut State University. Currently, he is pursuing a master’s degree from Western Connecticut State University, where he studies interdisciplinary art with a concentration in printmaking. His work explores the experience of becoming not just within himself but also how the world around him mirrors that experience. Approaching the creative process with the phrase “Why not?”.
Pam Zicca
Pam is an experienced nature photographer who loves to shoot flora, fauna. and landscapes. She’s photographed wildlife all over the East Coast, and traveled to exotic locations in South Africa, Germany, and the Galapagos Islands.
Pam also teaches children and adults to swim, and has taught an estimated 900 people to swim over the past 40 years. She works at the Premier Athletic Club in Montrose, NY, as a swimming and aqua-aerobics instructor. In additon, she works as a direct service professional for people with special needs.