Annie Legnini (b. 1994) is an artist born and raised in the Bronx. She graduated from Fordham University in 2016 with a B.A. in Visual Arts and Women’s Studies. Legnini’s main body of work is comprised of mixed media portraits. She paints faces in realistic detail and then collages repurposed objects on the remainder of the portrait to create features like hair, glasses, and clothing. The materials that Legnini uses may seem to be outdated or disposable, but serve to ignite a sense of nostalgia and familiarity, like her use of childhood Pokemon cards or expired Metrocards. Legnini feels that what has built us to be who we truly are today may sometimes feel distant, outdated, and unpolished; but these humble beginnings are where we built our foundational scaffolding, got our sea legs, and learned how to navigate this world. And so she uses objects and memorabilia in portraits to time travel to these early foundational days and weave a more personal relationship between the audience and her art. She is best known for her collaborative community art project called Bronx Faces: a series that pairs the stories and experiences of Bronx natives with a personalized mixed media portrait. Legnini has participated in the 2019 L.A. Summer Residency at Otis College in Los Angeles, and the 2018 Mixed Media Residency at Con Artist Collective in New York City. She is also a recipient of the BRIO award in 2018. Today, Legnini is a Teaching Artist with Spark: an art, yoga, and meditation program for kids all across New York City. Legnini lives and works in the Bronx.
Artist.Cultural.Promoter.Educator.
She was formally trained as a painter, studied in Florence, Italy and received her B.A. from California State University, Fresno. Recipient of the BRIO award from the Bronx Council on the Arts in 2007, she initiated an artist-run project called the Bronx Blue Bedroom Project in 2008.
In 2010, BBBP’s two-year trajectory was included in Greater New York: 5 Year Review at MoMA-PS 1 and Alternative Histories at Exit Art.
Between 2010–2016 she lived in Athens, Greece. She currently runs AAA3A (Alexander Avenue Apartment 3A), an artist run space inside her living room in Mott Haven, South Bronx
FMI: www.blankaamezkua.com/aaa3a
Sajata Epps (aka SAJATA-E) is a sustainable clothing and textiles artist running her socially responsible lifestyles brand from the South Bronx. Sajata builds most of her machines and tools from scratch using upcycled materials. She also grows plants she uses for her natural dyes in urban farms she helps develop for her community members in the Bronx. Sajata has been a designer for over 17 years and has worked with wonderful organizations like The New York Public Library, Bronx Council on the Arts, and Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center developing fun and innovative arts programming for eco minded New Yorkers.
Lovie Pignata creates her works by using the spaces around her subject to develop the composition through pattern and light, often using elements of shadows and reflections, a theme most apparent in her photos. Lovie works in a variety of mediums to achieve the desired end result for her work. She regularly combines photography, collage, cut paper, acrylic paint and pen and ink. Lovie studied undergraduate fine art, majoring in sculpture, at Pratt Institute. She has also been a participant in the Botanical Drawing program at the New York Botanical Garden, as well as advanced figure drawing at the Art Student League of New York. Lovie also instructed the first outdoor drawing classes at Van Cortlandt Park thorough the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy in 2014