Students in a Creative Art Works Art Lab celebrated the completion of a successful year with a culminating event that included a fashion show, a gallery walk, and many profound insights and personal connections. The Art Lab, which is integrated with the 10th Grade Honors and Physiology class at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School (APRCHS), challenges students on a science track to reinterpret anatomical and philosophical principles through painting, sculpture, collage, mask making, and fashion design.
We’ve often said that working for Creative Art Works is the best summer job in NYC, and it turns out that a lot of young New Yorkers agree. Of the 115 Youth Apprentices who joined Creative Art Works for our Public Art Youth Employment program this summer, 15 have worked with us at least once before and several of them have worked with us 2 to 5 times! We collected some of their thoughts on why they keep coming back.
“The shape of our world is changing. Kids are growing up online and there's something missing in their communication skills. So, our Foundations projects focus on building the skills that students need to be able to engage with each other functionally.”
“The most successful artmaking involves an element of discovery and play. With art, we actively explore materials – how they work, what kind of vision can we create with them, even the mess we make can be a learning experience. All these small engagements anchor us and teach us how to observe each other and the world we live in.”
“I think approaching the subject matter from a different point of view, from a different angle, is an amazing experience for students. As the weeks go by, I’m seeing the students engaging with the subject matter more. They are excited when they get to class.”
A Creative Art Works social justice program at IS 232 in The Bronx centers youth perspectives. Students are challenged to think about their own identity and values as individuals and how they fit into their larger community.
This fall, CAW is offering Art Around the World as an in-school program to students in grades K – 3 at our partner school, PS 155, the William Paca School. We dropped in on CAW Teaching Artist Carlita Field-Hernandez as she was beginning a unit based on the family portraits of Chicana artist and illustrator Carmen Lomaz Garza. Garza is a good choice for this age group, as her art focuses on family scenes that even small children find relatable, like preparing a family meal or eating watermelon on a hot summer night. The goal for this project is for students to create their own family portrait using pencil and paper.
“We’re incrementally building the skillsets they're going to need to support them in their next art project so, by the time we're ready to create our final posters, they’re going to be doing stuff they would not have been able to do at the beginning.”
“At Creative Art Works, we're teaching artistic skills, which are important on their own, but we're also teaching life skills. We’re creating a foundation of skills, expertise, and understanding of the workforce to prepare young people to create a path for their own lives. We tell donors that when they support CAW, they are supporting future leaders, future artists, future professionals, future community members, and that's very inspirational and aspirational, so people want to be part of our mission.” — CAW Development Manager Clair Vogel
“What I truly hope students take with them from this program is increased confidence in their creative skills, advanced problem-solving abilities, and a new outlet from which they can communicate their thoughts, feelings, and self-reflection. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about: learning to communicate with images those things that you cannot express in words alone.”
“I challenged my students to make a book in which they express to the reader who and what they are. Once they’ve made their books, I tell them, ‘I’m going to hold you to your own words. You are responsible for being true to yourself.’”
— CAW Teaching Artist Ryan Davis on the Bookmaking after-school program at IS 254 in The Bronx
From its inception, this mural was intended to be a statement piece for the lobby of Bronx County Family Court that would break down barriers and engage the community. One goal was that everyone who enters the building should be able to see themselves represented in the art. If this mural achieves that goal, it might be in large part because the team of Creative Art Works Youth Apprentices (YAs) who executed this mural mirror the fabric of The Bronx.
“When I go into the classroom, I know my content and I have my lesson plan, but let’s say it’s more like a road map. There are always different ways in, different paths and shortcuts. Sometimes your students put up detour signs, and they will tell you if you need to go somewhere first before you can accomplish your instructional goals. Sometimes you have to take the scenic roads.”
This summer, Creative Art Works employed over 150 young people through our public art youth employment programs. About half of those Youth Apprentices participated in multimedia workforce programs. This group was sub-divided into cohorts, each specializing in one of three disciplines: documentary filmmaking, animated storytelling, and graphic arts. While all of CAW's youth employment is grounded in social justice, this was especially true for the multimedia teams who tackled subjects including global warming and environmental degradation, police and prison reform, and access to affordable healthcare and housing. Industry professionals and experts on criminal and environmental justice met with our YA’s on a weekly basis to advise them on the issues and help them craft a compelling message. We invite you to sample some of the many videos and images created by our Youth Apprentices.
“I think that a lot of people are scared to start. I know a lot of people here were scared to start painting, because they were afraid to mess up the mural, because this was a project for the people. But I think it's okay to try new things. And it's okay to just let yourself have fun while working. You always want to make sure that you're doing a good job, but you can still have fun and not stress yourself out so much. I feel like you should do something that you actually care about, because you get more out of it, just emotionally and mentally and physically. You enjoy it more.”
New York is famous for its many unique characters, so it’s great to see students in a Creative Art Works after-school character design program at Hamilton Grange Middle School creating characters that reflect the diversity of our city. This program offered a deep dive into the graphic and storytelling skills that make an animated character come to life.
Over the course of the pandemic, Creative Art Works distributed over 820 “art-to-go” bags. The bags contained a wealth of art materials to be used during a free remote art-making program, called Community Works: Design + Build, which ran every day during Spring Break. A combination of urban design and mixed media arts, this program invited young people to imagine ways they might improve their own neighborhoods.
“My art doesn’t always need to be perfect; however, it always needs to have some type of meaning behind it. I work with many types of mediums. I don’t like sticking with just one. I love using markers because they make my drawings more vibrant and colorful. I also love using watercolors because painting with them is fun and interesting to use. I take my time with each drawing. I like to include a lot of details, colors and value into each art piece. I like my art to be eye candy and to appeal to others.”
