Ellie Balk

September 2012

RePop: Corner or Metropolitan and Roebling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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This mural highlights the architecture of the building.  Inspired by a map of the area, the abstract image creates an illusion of flattening out the corner of the building creating a dynamic form that moves around the building. 

Moore and Graham Ave.
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

May-June 2012
Math Students from the Green School teamed up with the Borinquen Plaza Senior Center in creating this 3-D graph representing NYC high temperatures dating from 1930-to projected weather in 2060, the year the students would be eligible to use the Sr. Center.  This mural was supported by the LCB Grant, The Graham Ave BID, the Green School and The Borinquen Plaza Senior Center. 

Park ave at Grand Street Under the BQE
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

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360 Visual

September 2011
130’ community mural created by working with 9 pianists and drawing the             distance between their hands as they played Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata to create a musical landscape.  Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, supported by Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project.

July, 2011

This was one of 88 pianos installed around New York City for Sing for Hope's interactive public art project.  My piano was placed at the Carousel at Prospect Park and I used the placement of the piano as inspiration for the colors and lines. The design for my piano was based on efforts to create a visual language for sound.  The piano was donated to MS 354: The School of Integrated Learning in Brooklyn.  

The Green School
233 Graham Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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May-June 2011
I worked with high school math students in surveying the whole school, collecting  data on how they were feeling based on different times of the day to create a bar graph that resembles a cityscape. Made Possible by LCB Grant.

Middle School for Art and Philosophy
1084 LENOX Rd
Brooklyn

2010

Vanderbilt and Dekalb

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June 2008
11’ Round. You Are Here is a Community Mural painted on the corner of Vanderbilt and DeKalb Ave: the exact center, both east and west and north and south, of where the neighborhoods of Clinton Hill and Ft. Greene meet.  The purpose of the mural is to connect these two diverse neighborhoods to raise awareness of just how close we are to each other.  The community added a dot where they live in hopes to connect the community, celebrating the idea of “home” for both old and new residents. It was funded by a generous grant from the Puffin Foundation, along with community organizations.

St. Edwards Street
Brooklyn, NY

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2009
Collaborative Community Mural painted with the community on the Pavement in front of Community Roots Charter School with Livable Streets Initiative. 

Charles O. Dewey Middle School

39th  St. and 3rd ave 
Sunset Park, Brooklyn

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2009
This map mural was painted 2009 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn at MS 136: 3rd Ave and 40th Street. The mural encouraged students to think deeper about their fast changing neighborhood though poetry writing and spoken word in conjunction with painting a neighborhood map.  We worked in collaboration with Buendia Productions, a local graffiti collective. Made possible through LCB Grant

IS49
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

2008

Global Community Mural painted on wall in the school. The mural as a whole connects micro to macro and creates a visual representation of our connectedness to our Global Community.  Possible through teaching artist residency-BRIC Arts|Media|Bkyln

Juan Morel Campos
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

2010
Worked with students from both ELA and Math Class to investigate ways in which they communicate.  We processed the information, creating graphs and charts, finalizing in creating a node that represented their information.  We then connected the nodes to form a social network. Installed at BRIC Contemporary Art Gallery, Brooklyn Heights.

Possible through teaching artist residency-BRIC Arts|Media|Bkyln

Charles O. Dewey Middle SchoolSunset Park, Brooklyn

Working with 8th Grade Math teachers  we created a stained glass project answered these key questions:

• Using Math as a tool, can we engage students that are not interested in Art? 
• Can the use of Art as a learning tool, help clarify understanding of complicated math lessons?
• Can we increase the awareness of math in the "real world"?  
• Will the students be able to identify math patterns outside the project?
• Will Math be primarily recognized as the tool for our Art making?
• Through this project, can we make math reach the larger audience of the school?

Going through the whole process of cutting, foiling and soldering the glass, the students worked in teams to create stained glass panels that identified algebraic transformations through dilation, translation, reflection and rotation of a grid pattern.  Building Manager Glenn built a beautiful frame for the whole piece that has been installed in the front entrance of the school. 

Possible through teaching artist residency-BRIC Arts|Media|Bkyln