Ileana Lado
A first-generation Cuban-Mexican visual artist from The Bronx, and a passionate believer in the power of art to help us understand ourselves, our world, and our place in it.
Her practice spans drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography — centered on documentation, lineage, and cultural memory. Through her practice, she explores how every artist works within a long continuum of creative influence.
Born in New York City and educated in its public schools, she has spent nearly a decade teaching art across the city's museums, schools, and nonprofits.
Today she teaches at the Brooklyn Museum, leading studio classes in drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture for learners ages 6 to 96. She is also an artist-in-residence with the Basquiat Project in NYC Public Schools, where her fifth-grade cohort's paintings will be exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in 2026. Through Learning with Lado, she offers small-group classes and one-on-one mentorship for students of every age — including portfolio development for young artists applying to specialized NYC arts high schools.
Before her studio-based work, she taught English Language Arts in Bronx and Harlem public schools, developing culturally responsive curriculum and mentoring Hunter College graduate scholars in lesson planning and instruction.
Her teaching is grounded in the work of Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Maxine Greene, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and Geneva Gay — thinkers who hold that education is a practice of freedom, that students' lived experiences belong at the center of the classroom, and that critical inquiry and creative work are inseparable. Their ideas shape the three pillars of Artful Learning, her own teaching framework at the heart of every class.
She lives and works in Brooklyn, and is fluent in English and Spanish.
- Teaching ArtistBrooklyn Museum · 2024–Present
- Artist-in-ResidenceThe Basquiat Project · NYC Public Schools · 2025–Present
- Freelance Artist & EducatorCreate Humanity · 2024–Present
- Founder & Lead EducatorLearning with Lado · 2023–Present
- Former ELA Specialist & Clinical InstructorEast Harlem Scholars Academy · 2021–2023
- Former Lead Middle School TeacherAcademic Leadership · The Bronx · 2017–2021
- B.A. PsychologyLong Island University, NY | Regents University, UK
- LanguagesFluent in English & Spanish
I've been teaching for nearly a decade — first in Bronx and Harlem classrooms, now as a teaching artist in museums, residencies, and my own practice. I've taught first graders who can't sit still, middle schoolers learning to question everything, and adults who haven't held a brush in fifty years. The students change; what I believe doesn't: that art is one of the most powerful tools we have for understanding ourselves and the world, and deciding what to do about it.
Every class has shown me the same thing — students of every age are capable of something serious: looking carefully, asking real questions, and making work that is honest, sometimes uncomfortable, and always their own.
I bring my own lineage to this work — a first-generation Cuban-Mexican artist raised in The Bronx, shaped by the same public schools many of my students still attend — along with the educators who taught me how to teach, and a working artist's practice in drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography. The same close looking I ask of my students is what I ask of myself.
That's what I want for everyone who walks into a Learning with Lado class. Whether you're six or sixty, picking up charcoal for the first time or returning after years — the same care, the same attention, the same belief in what you're capable of. I would love to teach you.
ILEANA LADO
is a first-generation Cuban-Mexican visual artist from The Bronx, and a passionate believer in the power of art to help us understand ourselves, our world, and our place in it.
Her multidisciplinary practice spans drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography, centered on documentation, lineage, and cultural memory. Through portraiture, street photography, and painting, she explores how artists exist within a long continuum of creative influence — depicting cultural and historical figures, preserving everyday New York life, and painting landscapes tied to her family’s roots.
Born in New York City and educated it’s public schools, Ileana has spent nearly a decade teaching art across New York City’s museums, public schools, and nonprofit organizations.
Today, she serves as a teaching artist at the Brooklyn Museum, where she leads studio classes in drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture for learners ages 6 through 96 — including Summer Intensive courses, in-gallery drawing sessions, and the mentorship of teen artists on the museum’s Creative Practice Team. She is also an artist-in-residence with the Basquiat Project in NYC Public Schools, where she works with a cohort of fifth-grade students; their paintings will be exhibited at The Brooklyn Museum in June 2026 — the culminating showcase of the residency. Through her independent teaching practice, Learning with Lado, she offers small-group classes and one-on-one mentorship for students of every age, including portfolio development support for young artists applying to specialized NYC arts high schools.
Before her current studio-based work, Ileana taught English Language Arts for years in NYC elementary and middle schools schools in The Bronx and Harlem, where she developed culturally responsive curriculum and mentored first-year Hunter College graduate scholars in lesson planning and instructional delivery.
Her teaching is grounded in the work of Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Maxine Greene, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and Geneva Gay — educators who insist that education is a practice of freedom, that students’ lived experiences belong at the center of the classroom, and that critical inquiry is not separate from creative work. The principles she draws from them shape the three pillars of Artful Learning, her own teaching framework, at the heart of every class she leads.
She lives and works in Brooklyn. She is fluent in English and Spanish.
CREDENTIALS:
Teaching Artist, Brooklyn Museum (2024–Present)
Artist-in-Residence, The Basquiat Project · NYC Public Schools (2025–Present)
Freelance Artist & Educator, Create Humanity (2024–Present)
Founder & Lead Educator, Learning with Lado (2023–Present)
Former Lead ELA Teacher & Clinical Instructor, East Harlem Scholars Academy (2021–2023)
Former Middle School Lead Teacher, Academic Leadership Charter School, The Bronx (2017–2021)
B.A. Psychology, Long Island University, NY | Regents University, UK
Fluent in English and Spanish
I have been teaching for nearly a decade. First as a classroom teacher in The Bronx and Harlem, and now as a teaching artist in museums, residencies, and through my own practice across New York City. I have taught first graders who can barely keep their hands still, middle schoolers learning to be skeptical of everything, and adults who have not picked up a brush in fifty years. The students change. What stays the same is what I believe: that art is one of the most powerful tools we have for understanding ourselves, making sense of the world around us, and figuring out what we want to do about it.
I started teaching because I love teaching. I keep teaching because every class I have led has shown me the same thing: that students of every age are capable of something serious. They are capable of looking carefully, asking real questions, and making work that is honest, sometimes beautiful, sometimes uncomfortable, and always their own.
I bring to this work my own lineage — a first-generation Cuban-Mexican artist raised in The Bronx, shaped by the same New York City public schools many of my students still attend. I bring the writers and educators who taught me how to teach: Freire, hooks, Greene, Ladson-Billings, Gay. And I bring a working artist’s practice in drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography — the same close looking I ask of my students is what I ask of myself.
That is what I want for every student who walks into a Learning with Lado class. Whether you are six or sixty, whether this is your first time picking up charcoal or you have been making work for years — the same care, the same attention, the same belief in what you are capable of.
I would love to teach you.
— Ileana Eriksson-Lado