Metamorphosis in the Classroom
This new partnership with PS 102 is an in-school program that aligns with each grade's ELA curriculum, integrating literacy, personal identity, and social-emotional learning (SEL) through weekly art classes. The objective is for students to explore self-expression and build confidence by engaging with books, such as "I Like Myself" by Karen Beaumont, before creating art projects in response to the text. Previous projects have included self-portraits, three-part storybooks, blackout poetry, and animal portraits made with handmade clay stamps.
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REPRESENT!
Students in Creative Art Works’ graphic design programs explored design and their sense of identity. Each project asked them to do the same essential work: Take what they know, understand, or notice, and give it a form others can understand. That is representation, and it’s one of the most valuable skills a person can develop in school and beyond.
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Cultivating Agency Through Artmaking
In the heart of Chelsea, a neighborhood known for its hip galleries, the most exclusive art opening this month may have been in a basement classroom at Hudson High School of Learning Technologies. The room could barely contain all the art produced by over 60 students. As students moved through the gallery, proudly talking about their own art and genuinely appreciating the work of their peers, it became clear that each piece reflected a year of self-discovery and interpersonal growth.
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Designing a Better Future One Character at a Time
At Creative Art Works, we are invested in developing young people to meet the challenges of the modern workforce, whether they ultimately choose to pursue a creative career or not. Our Character Design and Advanced Illustration & Worldbuilding Programs are paid internships offered at four NYC Career and Technical Education (CTE) High Schools. Working alone or in groups, interns are challenged to create their own fully-realized characters with backstories, personality traits, and strengths and weaknesses. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun.
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Perspectives
There are essential questions that inform all Creative Art Works lesson plans. These questions ask students and youth apprentices to look inward, analyze their surroundings, and connect with others.
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From Dance Parties to Dioramas: Reimagining After-School Artmaking
Adventures in Artland is a guided journey of self-exploration through artmaking, reading, movement, and play. The aim of the program is to engage elementary school students after school by offering diverse activities that keep them energized and eager to create.
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Artopia: Creating Something That Comes from You
Artopia isn’t a place — it’s a state of mind. Artopia is a teaching philosophy that allows Teaching Artists to create lesson plans that draw on their personal strengths and interests. It is an ethos that values student-driven outcomes. And it is an ideal learning environment centered on creativity and open-ended explorations of artmaking.
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The sound of ArtMaking
At PS 153, The Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. School, in Harlem, the art room hums with energy. Students sway in their seats, trying (and mostly failing) to silently mouth the words to “K-pop Demon Hunters” while painting their newest creations. Seeing these students sing while they paint was deeply heartwarming. It’s rare to see so much unfiltered joy in a classroom. At the same time, this CAW integrated art and literacy program helps students in grades 1-3 build comprehension and retention skills by responding to classic picture books through drawing, painting, and sculpting.
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the art of starting strong
Before the weather cooled off and pumpkin spice lattes were back on the menu, Creative Art Works was helping New York City kids and teens get ready for the new school year at three community art-making events. While these free projects are fun for the entire family, they also help students transition to a new grade and prepare to focus on learning in a variety of ways.
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A Fusion of Art and Information
“The guidebook these Youth Apprentices created is remarkable. It is a fusion of art and information that transforms confusion into clarity, replaces uncertainty with understanding. This guidebook will reach thousands of families and provide a crucial starting point for navigating Family Court.”
In our first digital arts project for the NYC Family Court, our artist team designed a printed guidebook to help visitors understand the people and procedures that strive to protect NYC families at all five NYC County Courthouses. The publication center youth perspective and is being implemented with the support of the NYS Unified Court System, Office for Justice Initiatives.
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Expression Ave.
“We’re trying to showcase that art is everywhere you go in West Harlem. We spoke to artists who are right next-door thanks to residencies through WHAA. And we spoke to so many people that you wouldn't think of as artists, like the owner of Manna’s Soul Food and the halal cart man. They both said, ‘This is an art. You have to put your soul in it.’ Even the barber said, ‘I'm painting a canvas.’ And when you're putting your all into something, it is art.”
— Teaching Artist Assistant-in-Training Alison Martinez
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Thinking in the Abstract
““This art can be viewed in so many different ways. You might see something that someone else might not see. It looks so simple at first glance—it's simple colors, simple designs, simple structure. But the process that went behind this is so much more than you would've thought.”
— CAW Youth Apprentice Kamila Lazur
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Communication is Everything
The room is filled with the sounds of laughter and music and the smell of fresh pizza. Scores of young people and their parents are playing pool, shooting a Nerf basketball, or just hanging out. It seems like everybody is taking selfies in front of a vibrant mural that features images specific to Harlem, such as a trumpet player, the A train, and a boom box, as well images taken from sports and video games, many of which are rendered in eight-bit style. We are not a Dave and Busters and we are most certainly not at a Chuck E. Cheese. We are in a game room at the Grant Houses in West Harlem, where Creative Art Works Youth Apprentices have just repainted three walls with art by youth for youth.
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"The Sun Will Rise Again"
"You know that saying, 'It takes a village to raise a child?' That's what this program feels like, because everyone is working together on one big idea."
— CAW Youth Apprentice Hilary Lee
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“The Blooming of Harlem”
“This is my first job, and I think it has shown me the value of hard work. I’m passionate about writing and creating stories and I think it’s really beautiful that we are helping the community by telling their story through art.”
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Youth lead the way
This summer, Creative Art Works hired 135 NYC teens and young adults, most with no prior work experience, and handed them tremendous responsibility. We’ve done this every summer for over a decade, and we have yet to be disappointed with our Youth Apprentices or the work they produce. If you could use a remedy for doom-scrolling, helicopter parenting, and generalized anxiety, we invite you to read what some of our returning YAs have to say about their experiences with our Public Art Youth Employment program.
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Keeping Our Roots Strong: Branches of Belonging
“This tree was made by all of us,” one student shared. “Someone painted the branches, someone else added eggs in the nest, and someone else made the ornaments. I learned to trust my team.”
— Liberty High School for Newcomers student
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Who Do You Want to Be?
“To be successful in school and in life, you need some form of reflective practice, whether that be artmaking, or writing about yourself, or personal planning. You need to have a set of tools to help you tell the story of your life.”
— CAW Teaching Artist Natalie Raskin
Freshmen in the Foundations program at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School use art to reflect on their identities, values, and dreams.
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Speaking from the Heart
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.
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History in their Hands
At I.S. 254 in The Bronx, sixth-grade students are exploring world history and other lessons from their academic curriculum in a dynamic way through different kinds of artmaking. While the work is undeniably beautiful, these art projects represent hands-on learning that integrates with academic coursework to yield a deeper understanding of world cultures and build greater student engagement. The learning is intuitive, exploratory, and fun.
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