From Dance Parties to Dioramas: Reimagining After-School Artmaking
Students work inspired by Yayoi Kusama
Adventures in Artland helps kindergarten - third graders navigate their inner worlds and master self-expression
At its core, 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.
Creative Art Works is providing these multidisciplinary workshops at two sites. At PS 155, The William Paca School, the team includes Teaching Artist Emma Smoluchowski and Teaching Artist Assistant-in-Training Micaela Jimenez. At PS 368, The William B. Lynch School, the team is teaching artist Dani Coca and teaching artist assistant Ava Dennis.
Self-Discovery
Teaching Artist Dani Coca introducing
The “adventure” is as internal as much as it is creative. Students are invited to reflect on their daily experiences, senses, and inner worlds—often without realizing they are engaging in “reflection” at all. For example, after a reading of the book “Abuela” by Arthur Dorros, students think about how sensory elements, such as smell, sight, and sound, are used to illustrate emotions, daily experiences, and identity.
During another project, students were invited to design paper hats with drawings and collages of things they see on their daily walk to school, and their imagination. The sights students described seeing around PS 368 included trees, the sun, buses, taxis, pigeons, snakes, baby sharks, robots, and cartoon characters. (Don’t let anybody tell you that all the excitement of Manhattan is downtown!)
Rather than prescribing a fixed meaning to stories, the program validates personal interpretation. An early lesson based on the book “The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions” by Anna Llenas, sparked conversations about subjective feelings associated with colors:
Dani explains, “Maybe somebody thinks the color blue means one thing, and maybe someone else thinks blue means something completely different but, either way, they’re thinking about what that particular color means to them.”
“Self-reflection is an adventure… getting to know yourself is an adventure.”
In reading “Yayoi Kusama Covered Everything in Dots and Wasn’t Sorry” by Fausto Gilberti, students at PS 155 learned how Kusama expressed feelings and ideas by transforming spaces and objects with repeating dots. They then used oil pastels and watercolors to design patterns with repeated shapes (dots, zigzags, spirals, fringe). These patterned pieces of paper will be cut and folded into whimsical flowers in a future class.
After reading Maya Angelou’s “Life Doesn't Frighten Me," illustrated by Jean Michelle Basquiat, students reimagined monsters as fierce, silly, funny, small, or powerful, as they saw fit.
Self-regulation
One of the most distinctive elements of Adventures in Artland is how emotional learning is woven directly into artmaking. In challenging moments, teacher artists notice that students’ focus and regulation improve as soon as they have an outlet for their energy. So, rather than demanding stillness, the program meets young students where they are at—energetic, curious, and tactile.
After a long day at school, it's often challenging for a first grader to sit quietly and stay engaged. That's why Adventures in Artland classes begin with fun activities like dance parties or a game called “museum,” where players pretend to be living statues and try not to move when someone is looking.
Part of the creative journey is free exploration of materials. Certain artistic tools anchor students emotionally. Painting and sculpting, activities that students don’t encounter every day, are exciting because of their novelty as well as their tactile experience.
“They light up. They’re so happy. They really like to paint!”
PS 368 student working on a “mad hats on a walk”
Future projects will introduce 3-D art through puppetry, dioramas, and cultural events into the art lessons.
By giving students a place to channel all their energy and imagination, Adventures in Artland transforms the after-school hours into a sanctuary for self-expression. From the first dance party to the final diorama, our young creators are learning that the world is theirs to interpret, shape, and share. We can’t wait to see that world through their eyes this April, when each school will host a gallery walk and celebration open to friends, family, and the wider school community.
Teaching Staff
Ava Dennis
Teaching Artist Assistant
Micaela Jimenez
Teaching Artist Assistant-in-Training
Dani Coca
Teaching Artist
Emma Smoluchowski
Teaching Artist
CAW Staff
Kevin Claiborne
Program Manager
Riki Sabel
Program Manager of Teaching & Learning
Emilio Vides-Curnen
Operations Coordinator
Madeline De León
Program Coordinator
Paola Gonzalez
Development & Communications Coordinator
Ivory Nunez-Medrano
Community Artmaking Initiatives Coordinator
Karen Jolicoeur
Executive Director
Ian Newton
Director of Finance & Administration
Clair Vogel
Development Manager
Jill Goldstein
Human Resources & Office Manager
Scott Lucas
Manager of Marketing & Communications
Donna Manganello
Program Manager
These Creative Art Works programs are supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural After-School Adventures (CASA) Initiative in partnership with the NYC Council and Council Members Diana Ayala and Elsie Encarnacion (PS 155), Shaun Abreu (PS 368). Creative Art Works programs are also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
