The Ralph Pucci Gallery in Manhattan is putting a spotlight on the Studio in a School arts program for city youth.
On Tuesday evening, limited-edition prints by six artists — including Sarah Sze, Joe Bradley, Martin Puryear, Joel Shapiro, Jennifer Bartlett and Clifford Ross — will be on display and up for sale at the Ralph Pucci Gallery at 44 West 18th Street. The proceeds will benefit Studio in a School, which supports arts education for students across New York City by sending professional artists to schools to teach visual arts such as painting, portraiture and collage.
In 1977, during a financial crisis in New York City, public school arts education budgets were dramatically cut. In response, Agnes Gund, philanthropist and president emerita of The Museum of Modern Art, founded Studio in a School. She continues to lead the organization, which has two divisions: Studio NYC, offering programs for students and studies the impact of arts education, and the Studio Institute, which focuses on professional learning, partnership programs, arts internships and research grants in local and national forums.
“We were considering starting our own after-school program, but instead we did some research and discovered this incredible program started by Agnes Gund,” said Nicole Pucci, director of operations at the Pucci gallery, and daughter of Ralph Pucci. A blanket email was sent out, but the president of Studio in a School replied in just two hours. “That was pretty surprising,” Pucci said. “So we visited a school on the Lower East Side to see the Studio in a School in action and it was really impressive to see such sophisticated art vocabulary being used and how engaged the students were.”
Those wishing to attend the benefit Tuesday evening at the Pucci gallery are asked to RSVP to rsvp.ralphpucci.com.
Studio in a School in action.
