Art classes, workshops, and one-on-one mentorship, held across the parks, gardens, and museums of New York. Taught by Ileana Lado, a first-generation Cuban-Mexican visual artist and educator from The Bronx who has spent nearly a decade teaching across the city.
This is Learning with Lado: building real technical skill, and the creative voice to make it your own. Open to anyone, from first graders to grandparents.
A teaching practice rooted in New York's cultural and educational institutions.
Nearly a decade of teaching across the city's schools, museums, and nonprofits — past and present roles below.
Upcoming Classes
Classes in August, in the parks and gardens of Brooklyn. Small groups, all levels, materials provided.
Registration open now
Land and Water: Painting with Earth Pigments
New York City sits on Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape. On the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we'll learn about the Lenape and some of their artistic traditions while painting by the water. Long before paint came in tubes, color came out of the ground: ochres, iron oxides, charcoal, the oldest way humans have made color. You'll mix these earth pigments into your own watercolor paint, then use them to paint whatever moves you. Each step is demonstrated before you try it. No experience needed. All materials provided.
In Bloom: A Family Watercolor Afternoon
A relaxed afternoon making art together among the flowers. Grown-ups and children work side by side using watercolor, looking closely at what's in bloom. We'll cover the 7 elements of art and 5 watercolor techniques. Each step is demonstrated, so no art experience is needed, just a willingness to play. We'll be working right on the ground, so feel free to bring a blanket. Every material provided.
Mentorship: One-on-One Lessons Shaped Around the Student
The most personal work I do. Long-form, one-on-one guidance shaped entirely around the student: portfolio preparation for New York's specialized arts schools, or focused study in any medium, traditional or digital. Students grow in skill, in voice, and in confidence, and it shows in the work.
What People Are Saying
Recent and ongoing work.
A selection of museum classes, workshops, and mentorship from across the practice.
Objects of Reflection
Make a Splash
Portfolio Mentorship
Offsite Launch Workshop
Ileana Lado
A working artist and educator from The Bronx.
Ileana is a practicing multidisciplinary artist whose own work in drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography is rooted in documentation, lineage, and cultural memory. She teaches from inside the practice, not from a textbook, which is what lets her show students how artists actually see, decide, and make.
That artist's eye is paired with nearly a decade in the classroom. She teaches at the Brooklyn Museum and serves as an artist-in-residence with the Basquiat Project in NYC Public Schools, and through Learning with Lado she brings both sides, the artist and the teacher, to small-group classes, one-on-one mentorship, and workshops across the parks, gardens, and museums of New York.
More about Ms. Lado →