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Young artists one and all invited to Saturday Arts Lab at SUNY New Paltz

Registration is now open for the spring 2019 session of Saturday Arts Lab, an annual series of visual arts workshops and classes for young doodlers, creators and makers in kindergarten through seventh grade, hosted by the School of Fine & Performing Arts at SUNY New Paltz.

The Saturday Arts Lab offers a broad curriculum in the visual arts, with courses carefully tailored to learners at specific ages and experience levels. Hands-on courses are taught by advanced students in arts education, with faculty supervision, and are designed to stimulate creative problem finding/solving and critical thinking in a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

Saturday Arts Lab classes begin on Feb. 16, 2019, and will take place on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon through the end of April. The program fee is $75 for the nine-week session, which includes eight inquiry days and one exhibition day. A limited number of need-based scholarships are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Spring 2019 class dates are: Feb. 16 and 23; March 2, 9, 16 and 30; April 6 and 20; and April 27, the culminating exhibition day for students to present their work.

Use this link to learn more about the spring 2019 Saturday Arts Lab and register.

The following Saturday Arts Lab courses will be offered for spring 2019:


Art Investigations: Imagination and Materials (Kindergarten and grade 1)
Children will build upon their experiences and explore their imaginations with hands-on art processes using a variety of materials. This class offers a combination of play-based investigations and thematic media exploration in art making.


Forming Relationships: A Practice in Finding Interconnectedness through Art and Friendship (Grades 2 and 3)
This class gives students space to explore connections between a variety of topics in the arts (color, form and objects) and in their lives (self-identity and friendship). Students will be challenged to make connections not only to their own artwork, but to their peers’ as well, to help them form close bonds with the spaces we share, the ideas we communicate and the friends by our sides.


Interrelationship and Relating Objects, Community, and Identity (Grades 3 and 4)
Students will learn about stream of consciousness and mind maps, and use this knowledge in numerous ways, such as large multimedia drawings, drawing movement inspired by sound, using 3D materials to create wire drawings, exploring the environment with sculpture, and more.


Exploring Environmental Art (Grades 3 & 4)
This sustainably-developed course invites students to examine the transformation of found and natural materials, and apply these techniques to processes as varied as natural dyeing, herbal skin care and mushroom cultivation. With a focus on local and recycled materials, students will have opportunities to nurture their connections to the environment, while thinking critically about consumption and art making.


Mixed Media Exploration of Progression and Transformation (Grades 5, 6, 7)
Explore the idea of progression, or growing and transforming into an advanced state, through the use of mixed media, both 2D and 3D. Students will watch themselves progress as artists as they ponder inspiring prompts that consider progression and change in themselves, their art, and in the world around them.


Who We Are and Our Impact (Grades 5, 6 and 7)
Students reflect on self-identity and think creatively about how to make an impact beyond just themselves. This class is full of opportunities for students to be individualistic, and will incorporate wide variety of materials and artistic approaches within each lesson.


For more information or to register, visit newpaltz.edu/sal (follow the “Registration” link under the “Resources” section of the page).

Contact the Saturday Arts Lab by email (saturdayartslab@newpaltz.edu) or phone (845-257-3850) for additional information.