What we believe
The vision behind Learning with Lado, and the values it stands by. At its heart is one belief: that art is a practice of freedom — one that builds critical thinking, creativity, and cultural understanding through hands-on making.
After a decade of teaching in New York City classrooms and museums, Ms. Lado offers mentorship, classes, and workshops in visual art for students of all ages. Whether you are an adult exploring a new medium, a young artist building a portfolio, or an organization bringing an art experience to your community, this is a space designed to help you see, make, and think more deeply.
Creativity as Liberation
Learning should be artful, transformative, and rooted in freedom. Through visual art, students step into experiences that ignite imagination, foster self-expression, and build a deeper understanding of the world and their place within it.
Every class builds technical skill alongside opportunities for creative reflection. Through artful learning, art-making becomes an act of liberation — one that nurtures curiosity, creativity, and the ability to envision a more just world.
Representation & Cultural Relevance
Through culturally responsive instruction that features artists from diverse backgrounds and traditions, students engage deeply with the work of those who came before them. These conversations create opportunities to analyze, reflect, and connect with art that expands their perspectives.
By fostering belonging, empathy, and visual literacy, Learning with Lado ensures that students see themselves in the history of art — and develop the skills to make work that reflects their own perspective.
Cultivating Critical Consciousness
Art education should liberate, not limit. Drawing on the educators who have shaped her teaching, Ms. Lado empowers students to analyze, question, and think critically about the world around them.
By engaging with art history through a critical lens, students learn to interrogate dominant narratives, uncover silenced histories, and envision new possibilities through their own work. Art education should not just prepare students to see the world as it is — it should equip them with the tools to transform it through what they make.
The teacher is, of course, an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for students to become themselves.