Check out these rock stars! When Savills North America tapped Creative Art Works to paint two murals to bring joy and vibrancy to a pair of hallways in their newly redeveloped Manhattan headquarters, they requested that the designs reflect their love of New York City, pop music and nature. It was a tall order, but our Youth Apprentices had more than enough attitude and swagger to make it happen.
Read MoreWith just one week left to finish their projects, Creative Art Works Youth Apprentices are rushing to meet deadlines. Public art teams are turning design proposals into finished art. Multimedia teams are crafting persuasive social justice messages through film, animation and graphic art. Read a roundup of selected highlights from our fast-paced summer Youth Employment Program.
Read MoreRead More“When I started taking photos, I realized that I have potential and skill. I feel that I was getting better in different areas as I was doing these projects. I feel proud of this work because these were my ideas.”
– Courtney McGeary, an intern in a CAW digital photography class at Queens Community Justice Center
Students in two CAW Programs at the High School of Law and Public Service in upper Manhattan made art that addressed social justice issues that have a profound impact on their daily lives. Students in an integrated in-school program combined neighborhood maps and statistics to address issues of student homelessness, redlining, and the school-to-prison pipeline; while students in an after-school youth employment program created a short documentary film about the immigrant experience. The first program found beauty by using the visual representation of stunning data to craft powerful calls to action. The second program created a deeply moving and honest portrait of a first generation immigrant in the NYC public school system.
Read MoreFor a group of remote-learners at PS/MS 278, virtual tours of NYC alleviated some of the monotony of being stuck at home during the pandemic and provided a sense of community and camaraderie. Mapping the Hidden City was a program that integrated the exploration a variety of art techniques with the exploration of NYC neighborhoods familiar and unfamiliar through online resources such as Google Maps and Google Images. In this issue of our blog, CAW Teaching Artist Brandi Yu plays tour guide and lets us tag along on some of the “field trips” that inspired her students.
Read MoreNew 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.
Read MoreA Creative Art Works CASA filmmaking program challenged students at MS 254 in The Bronx to write, direct and edit a dramatic short. Working around the challenges of Zoom meetings, four students bonded as a team and produced a cohesive and affecting story about cyber-bullying, witchcraft, voodoo, and forgiveness.
Read MoreYoung people in a CAW creative workforce development program learned graphic design techniques such as composition, use of color, visual literacy, and storytelling through words and images. Learning these skills offered these interns a chance to practice transferable career skills such as presentation and interviewing techniques, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. The program also amplified youth voices by asking participants to design effective posters on a social justice issue of their choice.
Read MoreOver 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.
Read MoreWant some inspiration? For the first time ever, all three of our Honorees for the Creative Art Works Annual Benefit for Kids are successful and inspiring women. Congratulations to Whitney Arcaro of RXR Realty; Karen Lupuloff, Supervising Judge for New York Family Court; and our Youth Honoree Natajha Graham, a former Youth Apprentice and programs Intern currently enrolled at Spelman College. Check out their brief video interviews and their award presentations from our Virtual Gala on April 22nd.
Read MoreStudents in Creative Art Works’ Digital Design class at PS/MS 278 took a deep dive into manipulating images and text. Students worked in Pixlr, a free software similar to Adobe Photoshop. Each project focused on a specific aspect of digital design, including collage, masking, and manipulating type. The results were beautiful, surreal, funny, and often thought-provoking. Presented within is a selection of artwork along with some recorded statements by the artists themselves.
Read More“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.”
— CAW Character Design Intern Tiffany Depeña
Read More“I always try to think "How can I also have fun in this class?" My philosophy has always been that, if I am having fun as a teacher, my students will automatically catch that enthusiasm, and therefore they will naturally learn with passion. I add a lot of interactive resources, poll questions, virtual field trips, and soundscapes.”
CAW Teaching Artist Fabio Puentes on the CASA Art Around the World program at Queens PS 88
Read More“The biggest thing I learned from the program was the ability to tell a character's story with just their appearance. The way a character looks reveals so much about them – where they live, where they work, what they like to do. I realized the importance of visual communication and I wanted to expand on that the more I learned. My favorite assignment so far has been the proportions assignment, in which we had to take one character and play with their body type. For example, how changing the length of a character’s legs and arms changes the essence of their design.”
Read MoreA 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.
Read More“The “Passions Program” is about choice. When I hear students say they’ll take whatever class [Creative Art Works Teaching Artist] Megan teaches, I know she is building solid relationships with our kids.”
– Kimani Davis, Dean of School Culture, School in the Square
Maria Castro is in the seventh grade at Hamilton Grange Middle School and a participant in Creative Art Works in-school digital art program, where she has been creating posters that promote social justice issues that matter to her. Maria says her opinions have been shaped by her family and her teachers, but she has also been influenced by the social upheaval happening around the world in recent years.
Read More“The fascinating part was how CAW adjusted the program in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. CAW’s Teaching Artists were amazing at capturing our kid’s attention even though the classes were online. They developed relationships with our kids virtually. They took all of our stakeholders into account, but they allowed our students to be the orchestrators of the final artwork.” — Melvin Thomas, Climate and Culture Coordinator, PS 72
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