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 Artful Learning: 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.
Past & Upcoming Classes
More classes are on the way. New dates announced very soon.
Saturday in the Garden: A Family Art 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. Every material provided. $35 per person — each person attending needs their own ticket.
Learning to See Like an Artist
Learning with Lado's inaugural group class! A free drawing class for adults and a real introduction to seeing like an artist. We covered the five essential skills of drawing and a measuring technique artists have used for centuries — every step demonstrated before students tried it, then practiced by sketching from an object in the galleries.
Intro to Watercolor: Seeing Green in Prospect Park
A plein air introduction to watercolor, painting outdoors in the park. Students learned the basics of watercolor through five essential techniques, started with a thumbnail sketch, then completed a landscape study based on what they saw in Prospect Park — each step demonstrated before they tried it. All materials provided.
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 →