Progressive Art Studios, Neurodiversity, and Living Creatively

Catalog description

Progressive art studios are radical art collectives where artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities make art. Finally catching the attention of the mainstream art world, these art utopias yield some of the most unorthodox artwork of our time – sometimes (imperfectly) labelled as “outsider art.” In the words of critic Lyle Rexer, this artwork “tends to be all present tense and to reinvent the wheel in terms of visual forms.” Progressive studios offer all artists – with and without disabilities – a new model for living creatively, one that prioritizes collaboration over competition and accessibility over elitism. This course will introduce students to the values and daily practices of the progressive art studio, a place where disability justice and artistic experimentation intersect. Students will work closely with artists from YAI Arts, a progressive studio in Manhattan, to bring the progressive studio to the NYU classroom. Together students and artists will explore different modes of mentorship, communication, and artistic collaboration, encouraging free-flowing creativity and self expression in a supported environment. Students will form relationships with neurodiverse artists, learning from one another while creating a flourishing creative oasis. For their final project, students will mount an exhibition in collaboration with YAI Arts, featuring artwork by students alongside studio artists, organizing and curating the exhibition according to the studio artists’ desires.