Pratt Institute

Education

2010 Ed.D Art and Art Education Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York
2005 New York State Teaching Certification in Art and Art Education, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York.
2000 MFA Concentration: Painting, CUNY Hunter College, New York, New York
1997 BFA Concentration: Painting and Sculpture, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
1993 Seminars In the History of Sacred Art, Istituto di Arte Sacra Beato Angelico, Rome, Italy

Biography

Borinquen Gallo was born in Rome, Italy and lives and works in NYC.

Her sculptures function as visual metaphors that while avoiding pontificating specific meanings, evoke a multiplicity of themes including the tension between notions of spirituality and scientific progress, as well as the commodification of the body, mass production, consumerism storage and design. Through casting multiple reproductions of individual silicone human organs and packaging them as if they could be purchased commercially as every-day commodities, her work explores the commodificaiton of the body and emotions, and the search for what makes us commonly human beings rather than just mere living creatures or even products. She combines narratives that are both intimate and common to human nature, thus blurring the line between individual agency and the universality of the human condition. Her focus on the interior concepts of the body points to a larger context in which spiritual, material and aesthetic concerns form a space that moves beyond the individual and the private, towards the public and universal.

Borinquen Gallo is an artist and educator who is deeply committed to providing quality arts education for diverse populations of youth, adults and seniors. She earned a BFA from the Cooper Union for The Advancement of Science and Art, an MFA from Hunter College and is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

She worked as a teaching artist for Studio in a School, a prominent arts organization that places professional artists in the public schools, before transitioning to the Department of Education as a full time Art Educator.  She has been teaching in urban settings and contributed to designing and implementing sequential, age-appropriate activities focused on promoting the students’ ability to achieve competency in a variety of art disciplines including drawing, sculpture, painting, printmaking, collage and media-tech, many of which were disseminated citywide for the promotion of quality art instruction.

Throughout her tenure, she has held a wide array of roles with the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and numerous museums and cultural institutions citywide, as well as various art and media organizations.  She is a visual artist, art educator, professional development facilitator, and has served as a mentor for public school art teachers as well as student teachers from art colleges and institutions citywide.

Her research interests include contemporary art practices, contemporary art-based education, new media and converging languages in education, and the impact of teaching artists on students’ learning.

PRESENTATIONS

2010 Presented “Collaborative Inquiry for Effective Arts Teaching: Taking Time to Reflect, Question and Design”, Long Island City High School,

2009 Presented “Outstanding Art Educator's Best Practices”, 29^th Annual City-Wide Art Education Conference, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, NY

2009 Presented PS Art 2009 Seminar “Children's Art: Understanding Quality, Understanding Developmental Benchmarks”

2009 Connecting Collections, “Integrating Modern and Contemporary Art into the Classroom” presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, NY

2009 Presented Blueprint Workshop “Formative and Summative assessment” presented and Co-Coordinated, with Karen Rosner, and Jennifer

Hatche, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts,NY

2009 Presented “Gathering the Evidence: Capturing Student Achievement in Visual Art”, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music Art and Performing Arts, New York, NY

2008 Presented “From Blueprint to Classroom Practice: Strategies for Excellence in Visual Arts Education” Long Island City High School, Long Island City, NY

2008 Presented “Planning and Assessing for Excellence in Visual Arts” Integrated Curriculum & Instruction, co-presented with Dr. Eva Pataki and Tamar Laks, PS/IS 268, Jamaica, NY

2007 Presented  “Hey! What’s the Big Idea?”, Queens Museum, Queens, NY

2007 Presented “Planning for Success/Part II”, Queens Museum, Queens, NY

2006 Presented “Blueprint Professional Development” Queens, New York, NY

2006 Presented “Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Visual Art, Planning for Success: Part I”, Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY

PUBLICATIONS

2011 PS ART 2009 Celebrating the Creative Spirit of NYC Kids Exhibition catalogue

2011 Queens Multiple Visions, Catalogue, Queens Museum of Art and Queens College, New York, NY

2009 Quality Arts Education in New York City. NYC Department of Education/True Life Media DVD

2009 PS ART 2009 Celebrating the Creative Spirit of NYC Kids Exhibition catalogue

2008 Borinquen the Teaching Artist I-Italy Italian American Digital Project,  HYPERLINK “http://www.i-italy.org” www.i-italy.org Magazine

2008 PS ART 2008 Celebrating the Creative Spirit of NYC Kids Exhibition Catalogue

2007 PS ART 2007 Celebrating the Creative Spirit of NYC Kids Exhibition Catalogue

SELECTED PROJECTS

2010 The Marion Netter Fellowship. Teachers College, Columbia University New York, NY

2009 The Doris Liebowitz Art Educator Award. The New York City Art& Teachers Association/United federation of Teachers Outstanding Art Educator Award, New York, NY

1997 The Ethel Cram Award, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY