Yves Klein’s lines for kids

Can’t wait to share this with our 3-5’s today!   Basic lines may seem rather basic and unimportant to focus on, however, recognizing and purposefully implementing them into desired outcomes is really the key to any drawing.

Murikami Superflat Goes 3D for Kids

Takashi Murikami provided us with a multitude of learning opportunities! Takashi Murikami is from Japan.  He loves “Superflat,”  a word he made up!  It means colors and shapes look flat on a page, not round.  In this  piece of art, we made Superflat go 3D:  With a sphere… but the only way you can tell …

Tours and workshops your child will surely enjoy!

New York City is an amazing resource for modern and contemporary art! As a fine artist, as well as an art teacher of children for 15 years, I have found the question, “What is Art?” a never-ending one.  Hence my goal- to demystify artists and their processes in language children can understand and adults can …

How do you build the muscles you need to cut? Eric Carle and more

Yesterday’s class we did a not-so-original, but successful Eric Carle cutting project, great for 3-5’s, even older 2’s.  What I like most about using this author/illustrator is the multiple-step learning that offers longer-term planning and construction, outside of learning to hold scissors properly.  2-3 year olds (if you’ve noticed) will turn their wrists to cut, …

Maya Lin Landscapes from Salt Dough Recipe

Using a great salt dough recipe provided lots of sculpting techniques of the line families in clay.  Then we looked at Maya Lin’s landscape installation art, to make our own mini-versions, while learning about contemporary artists. Recipe:  ½ cup salt, 1 cup flour, 1/3-1/2 half cup water.  Food coloring is great- but I used liquid …

Are you ready for a holiday trip with the kids? An art tip to keep them busy:

How do you go from an example of Venice to this?

In our Venice Mini-Set Building Parent-Child Workshop Saturday, students learned exactly that.  Artist Cliff Gokenbach showed us how… Check out the slideshow below, to see how it was done. Some students are already working on their next city dioramas at home! (We love it when parents become learners with their children:)  Way to go Mariella! …

Venice Awaits! Join us for 2 upcoming Parent-Child classes featuring Venetian style…and art making!

Damien Hirst-Inspired Halloween Fun!

I’ve been wanting to do this Damien Hirst kids project for a few years, it just took a while to get it down for both the very young hands to feel successful, as well as to engage older kids. What worked well was that they could add as many details as they wanted, or work …

Homemade Costumes: Parents Who Went the Extra Mile!

Jack’s fascination with transportation left his parents in a difficult situation.  Are front-loaders sold at costume shops?  WW1 fighter planes? My mother used to sew our costumes, but who does that anymore?  Well, you don’t necessarily have to… These creative parents decided to BUILD them. Cardboard is easily found, but as Jack’s parents concluded, making …