Rain was pouring down on a recent June evening but nothing could dampen the spirits of more than 100 young artists inside the Hunter College East Harlem Art Gallery who had come with their families, friends and teachers to the opening reception to celebrate their art, Portraits: My City, Myself.   The year-end exhibition of artworks selected from all Studio in a School art programs covers the walls of the spacious new gallery at Hunter College’s School of Social Work. A distinguished jury chose 140 imaginative paintings, drawings, collage, and sculpture from over 300 entries from public schools all over the five boroughs, including 28 from Harlem.
 
Large and colorful portraits of the city alternate with intense self-portraits in a variety of media. A group painting of
the New York City skyline features exuberant jazz artists playing trumpet and saxophone against a backdrop of bridges, a roller coaster, the Statue of Liberty, a gorilla on top of the Empire State Building, and huge ice cream cones. Read more and view images from the event.

The third graders in artist/instructor Virginia Levie’s STUDIO
art class at PS 139 in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn were bursting
with questions for their famous visiting artist, Julie Mehretu. The
students had seen images of some of Mehretu’s dazzlingly intricate and monumental paintings that have been celebrated around the world, and when she arrived in their classroom they were eager to know everything.
  
“Why do you make some paintings so big?” was the first question.  “So that you can feel like you can step into it,” Mehretu said. “It looks like 3-D, right? With layers of different lines and paint.”
 
The students at PS 139 come from many different worlds and seemed to connect with Mehretu (31 languages are spoken by the students at the school).  “I come from two different worlds,” Mehretu told them, “half from Ethiopia, half from Michigan. For me, making art is figuring out who I am in the world,” Mehretu told them.  “I put in traces of many places, many experiences and memories.”
 
The students wanted to know about the architectural drawings that Mehretu delicately layers into her paintings
because they have been working on cityscapes and architectural shapes in their class in a variety of media (collage, oil pastel on paper, ink drawings).  “I take places from different parts of the world that have meaning to me and use them as a realistic or representational aspect in my paintings; it’s like a story… elements from the world are layered in. 
I try to make sense of the world and figure it out in images.”  
  
The third graders then got to work figuring out their own worlds and images, as Mehretu moved around the classroom, observing and asking questions of the young artists. The students chose images from postcards their teacher had given them of various architectural structures and created ink drawings on watercolor and rice paper to explore different   brush techniques and different ways to deal with structures in space.  Many chose iconic skyscrapers and used creative brushwork to make windows, clouds, rain. Mehretu was impressed by their efforts: “The kids are so articulate, and their brushstrokes are so confident. This work with Studio in a School is so important.”
 
The students asked when Mehretu had started painting and she said, “I always wanted to paint.”  Her parents were very supportive but she had never had a chance to study art in elementary school the way they do. 
   
Mehretu’s visit to PS 139 was her first visit to a school that partners with Studio in a School. Principal Mary McDonald brought STUDIO to her school 8 years ago, two years after she arrived, and chose Virginia Levie as the professional artist and teacher for her program.  She described how STUDIO has changed her school – which now has an extensive arts program and an engaged parent body. “STUDIO started it all, was the catalyst for the creative and engaged spirit and engaged parent body.” 
 
At the end of the art class, McDonald told Mehretu she was honored by her visit and Mehretu replied, “I’m the one
who’s honored. Thank you for changing their lives.”

On a recent rainy morning in June, Mark di Suvero joined more
than 20 six- and seven-year-olds at a long table covered with mounds of rust-colored clay, and immediately got to work.  He and all the children pounded, pulled, pinched, stretched and coaxed their clumps of clay. Soon a menagerie of strange and magical shapes appeared: a snake wrapped around a tree branch, a nest of chipmunks, a shark with a flashlight fin, a dog that meows, and from the special guest – a mask with a beaked nose and a tusk passing through the eyes.

Acclaimed sculptor Mark di Suvero usually works in a very different medium  -- steel -- but he clearly relished his opportunity to be teacher for a day in any medium.  Variously described as “America’s Great Man of Steel” and a “steel whisperer” for his lyrical and monumental steel creations, di Suvero came to the Neighborhood School on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to participate in Studio in a School’s second annual Open Studio week.  During the intense hour of art making, the children shared ideas and inspiration with their famous visitor,
who praised the creativity and exuberant spirit of his fellow artists.  “To build, make art, with these kids is electrifying,” di Suvero said. “It creates the energy of life.” 
 
The young artists were excited to meet Mark di Suvero because many had seen his work on Governor’s Island, in Socrates Park, and at Storm King.  They are the art students of Studio in a School artist/instructor Valerie Hammond, who has been teaching at the Neighborhood School for 20 years and, like all Studio instructors, is also a professional artist. Hammond works in a variety of media in her own art and in her teaching – drawing, painting, sculpture, wax. Her students’ creations fill the walls – colorful mosaics of animals, multimedia ink drawings of trees overlaid with prints of butterflies and raindrops; a series of “fresco” pastel moon paintings.   “My art informs my teaching and my teaching informs my art,” says Hammond. She sometimes brings her own art into the classroom and says, “My students are often my best critics.” 
 
Di Suvero’s sculptures appeal to children for their bright colors and interactive opportunities -- such as his swinging beds. When asked whether he intends a sense of playfulness in his work, di Suvero said, “I deeply believe in interactive art. Swinging is one of the most natural and primordial activities in human history. It restores our sense of balance and allows us to interact with the world. The structure of art, of architecture, of poetry, creates magnificent feelings.”
 
Six-year-old Emerson brought a small rock he had found at Socrates Park to show di Suvero, and the artist suggested he incorporate it into his clay sculpture. Emerson proudly shared his creation at the end of the class – a clay disc balanced next to the rock wrapped in clay – and Di Suvero was delighted. “The hardest part of making art is to move from the moment of imagination, to make it grow…that’s what these kids did here today. Most teachers don’t know how to teach that. That’s why Studio in a School is so important. To have a dream and be able to make it is the real pleasure of art.”

On April 8, more than 40 students attending 18 different New York City public schools from all five boroughs were joined by friends and family as their artworks were unveiled at STUDIO's gallery. The artworks are explorations of the city we call home and journeys of discovery in paint, cut paper, ink, and pastel. View images.

On March 14th, students, families, teachers, principals, and artists joined STUDIO in its 1 East 53rd Street gallery to celebrate the opening reception of the Art & Healthy Living exhibition. The artwork showcased a beautiful bounty of vibrant fruits and vegetables, a healthy lifestyle, and of course, the young artists’ talents. View images from the event.

Phong Bui of the Brooklyn Rail recently visited STUDIO's Westside Art Studio to sit down with President & CEO Tom Cahill to discuss his early years, his education, and his professional career. The Q&A was featured in the Brooklyn  Rail's February issue.

Young artists and their proud families filled STUDIO's Gallery at 1 East
53rd Street on February 25th for the opening reception of 'We Have
A Dream' . This exhibition features artwork inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech from 1963. View images

STUDIO is pleased to announce that seven students from our Long Term and Residency Programs have been selected as elementary school semi-finalists for The Dream @ 50 Art Contest, a nationwide competition for elementary, middle, and high school students celebrating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. Read more about the contest and view the artwork created by our semi-finalists.

On October 3rd, almost 300 students from several public schools celebrated STUDIO’s 35th Anniversary in a tent on the Seagram Building Plaza. All students had the opportunity to both enjoy the artwork on view, created by pre-k through high school students participating in a STUDIO program, and respond to the work as well as the historical surroundings by making their own unique pieces. View images.

Sponsored by Word Above the Street in collaboration with Studio in a School, WATER!  The Water Tank Project NYC Art Exhibition features select works by public high school students from each of New York City’s five boroughs who participated in the Spring 2012 Art Competition for The Water Tank Project. Curated by Neville Wakefield, Bettina Bryant and Mary Jordan, the exhibition will remain on view at the David Zwirner Gallery until October 6. Learn more about the exhibition at the end of this NY1 segment.