A good video game or animated movie can blur the line between fantasy and reality. At the heart of many of these immersive entertainment experiences are unique characters that make us laugh, cry, cheer, and dream. If you’ve ever looked at the credits of your favorite animated feature, you already know that every character is the product of hundreds of hours of work by an army of talented artists. Recently, Creative Art Works joined forces with FunPlus, an international interactive entertainment company, to draw out some of the secrets of this fascinating process.

Why the CASA Initiative Matters

On April 29, 2019, Deputy Director Karen Jolicoeur was delighted to represent Creative Art Works at an oversight hearing of the New York City's City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations. The subject at hand was the Cultural After School Adventures (CASA) Initiative, which brings high-quality arts partnerships to New York City public schools, particularly in underserved communities. As Karen makes clear in her brief statement, there are many ancillary benefits to CASA programs.

Make Prints with Foam Plates

As part of our work with schools, we often invite parents to enter more deeply into the learning environment through Family Engagement workshops. These weekend and evening events allow parents to explore art-making firsthand – to experience the curiosity, creativity, and even joy inherent in the process, and to witness it in their children. We can't send a CAW Teaching Artist to your home to lead a Family Engagement workshop, but we can do the next best thing. This week’s blog includes instructions for a simplified printmaking project that you can do at home with your kids. If you enjoy this project, please share your art with us!

Make Your Own Kinetic Sculpture Inspired by Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder is probably best known as the inventor of the “mobile,” a type of kinetic sculpture carefully balanced so it can move freely. Calder’s sculptures can be seen all over the world, but the reason we chose him for inspiration for a stay-at-home project is because he often made art out of things he found around the house or on the street, such as wire, yarn, fabric, recycled cans, and scraps of metal or wood. He often worked with very simple tools or no tools at all. In fact, he made many sculptures out of nothing but some wire using just his hands.

Self-Portrait Inspired by Frida Khalo

We believe that the life-affirming experience of making art is for everybody and that creating beauty has physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits. So, we are pleased to offer the first in a planned series of home-based art projects for families. This self-portrait project is among our most joyous. It can be adapted for any level, and you probably have most of the materials on hand!

Developing Character(s)

“Kids at this age are perfectly ready to create stories. Characters spill from their brains. These characters might be the product of an active imagination, or a response to something they read in books or saw on TV, or they may possibly be a way of processing their own personal development.”

— CAW Teaching Artist Ayla Rexroth on student-created cartoon characters in the Cartoon and Anatomy program at Hamilton Grange Middle School.

What Does Your Self-Portrait Say About You?

Creative Art Works is offering an after-school art-making program for second-grade students at PS 192 in Hamilton Heights. We sat in on a class on making self-portraits that engaged a very energetic group of young artists on many levels. Not only did students this literacy-based program have an opportunity to make art, they also developed public speaking, problem-solving, fine motor and observation skills.

Spring Awakenings

All art-making is an act of communication. The processes that surround exhibiting artwork — the development of artists’ statements, the receiving of feedback and recognition — are essential elements in supporting the development of a sense of agency: the belief that intentional, creative action can transform the world around us.

The Passion of El Barrio

Home is where the heart is, and CAW’s heart has been in El Barrio ever since we began offering arts programs there 30 years ago. We are excited to be offering a new art workshop for families with young children at Artspace PS109 every Saturday in February.

Small Stories about Big Changes

“Kids at this age want to tell their own stories. The cartooning class gives them the skills and the opportunity to do that.”

CAW Teaching Artist Tom Palmer

New Artwork Blossoms in Isham Park

“To be honest, I’m excited that my name will be on it and it’s in my neighborhood,” she said. “But it’s also great to know that we could build back from what happened a few years ago and create something beautiful.”

Finding Your Voice

Most people who pass by our Public Art Youth Employment worksites are nothing short of supportive and encouraging, but on very rare occasions, you encounter a detractor. In this short video, Creative Art Works Youth Apprentice Sophia Ridley shares her story about finding her voice when confronted by an aggressive critic.

Shout out to the wall...

Each Public Youth Employment Program has a unique personality, depending on the participants, the client, the theme of the project and even the weather. Today we have two different perspectives about youth employment, one mature and reasoned, and one young and joyful. I hope you enjoy both of them.

Totem Poles, Cave Paintings and a Thunderous Reception

We have two stories for you this week. First, thunderstorms did not dampen the spirits of a dozen volunteers from CAW's long-time supporters JLL who visited two of our summer mural sites. Second, students in a CAW integrated art unit at the JCC's Math and Literacy Camp got to explore three ancient civilizations -- including exploring the caves of Lascaux with a torch!

If You Paint It, They Will Come

Today the Multimedia Team joined the Youth Employees from Renaissance School of the Arts on a field trip to The Museum of the City of New York. CAW Teaching Artist Assistant Kito Kirtley said she wanted her students to be encouraged to make art of their own.

"When Words Don't Work, Paint Does."

Art is such an immediate way of communicating, because it bypasses language and gets to the essence of an idea. During the second week of the CAW Summer Public Art Youth Employment Program, our Youth Apprentices explored the power of symbols to tell a complex story.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Youth Apprentice

CAW returns to our roots in the heart of East Harlem. This neighborhood, also know as El Barrio, has a long tradition of expressing its vibrant culture through public art. Youth Apprentices will be painting a large-scale mural on the east-facing exterior wall of the Renaissance School of the Arts (RSA). But before they start on the wall, they will participate in a number exercises to sharpen their skills.

Looking at the World from Both Sides of the Camera

The Creative Art Works Multimedia Team is in a unique position. These young people - along with their teaching artists - are charged with telling the authentic stories that emerge from our Public Art Youth Employment Program and to observe and interpret what develops from the interplay of art-making, youth employment, and community engagement. But since the Multimedia team is a CAW employment program in its own right, these Youth Apprentices will be telling their own stories as well, through photography, video, reporting, and blogging.

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