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.
Classes & Mentorship
Classes in August, in the parks and gardens of Brooklyn. Small groups, all levels, materials provided.
Registration open now
Testing the Waters: An Introduction to Watercolor
Watercolor is not really about paint. It's about water, and learning to work with it rather than against it. We'll cover five essential watercolor techniques and some color theory, then paint small studies from life as the afternoon light turns to evening. Each step is demonstrated before you try it. This is a plein air class, which simply means painting outdoors, from life, in front of the thing itself. No experience needed, and none assumed. Every material 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 →