SUMMER OUTDOOR ARTMAKING WORKSHOPS

Weekdays, July 5 - August 19, 2011
10 AM - 12 PM & 1 PM - 3 PM (rain or shine)
Note: for groups only and by pre-registration (deposit required, returned upon arrival)

These free workshops offer diverse groups of children from neighborhood youth agencies, community groups, summer schools and day camps the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities inspired by exhibitions at the Park. Taught by exhibiting artists, the children learn fundamental and contemporary artmaking techniques. Artists run two sessions of their workshop each day of the week. Groups can sign up for a single workshop or a combination of weekly workshops. Registration and scheduling will be on a first come, first served basis. To register your group, please call: 718.956.1819

SOAW 2011 Dates

July 5 - 8: Trash to Treasure: Create Your Own Footstool with Heather Hart
There is no need to throw out that broken skateboard! Worn out clothing? Broken toys? Save your plastic bottles and bags not for curb recycling, but for a new life as furniture!! Nearly any discarded object can be reincarnated. In this workshop students will use found and everyday objects to design their own footstool to take back to the classroom. Reduce your carbon footprint and make the discarded into the designer!

July 11 - 15: Pocket Pavilion with Jonathan Durham
In this project, students will collect small pocket sized items from the Park and create imaginative "homes" to display these seemingly ordinary objects. Elastic materials and wire armatures will be used to create curved shapes and elaborate enclosures to "house" these collected items.

July 18 - 22: The Trash Collector with Lillian Gerson
Starting with a walk around the park, we'll collect items of interest, with a focus on trash items like colorful bits of plastic and paper, plastic bottles and bottle caps, plastic bags, cardboard, etc. With the collected discards, make collages, assemblages, mobiles, drawings, dioramas, all the while discussing the origin of the debris and proper ways to dispose these trash bits.

July 25 - 29: Family Trees with Navin Norling
Design your family tree and help make our world a greener place. Describe your family or ancestry using images and text and apply these images to small planters that we will assemble on site.

August 1 - 5: Mud Connections with Chakaia Booker
Create your own environmental Mud Art using clay. Learn coiling, draping, and slabbing techniques. Mix with man made and found objects from nature to transform your ideas into sculptures or objects of inspiration.

August 8 - 12: Life is Like a Fishbowl with Jane Benson
Build a fish tank out of 2-liter soda bottles! After collecting materials from the grounds of the park like, sand, soil and pebbles; participants will build an entire ecosystem filled with water, plants and snails. Design a background for the fish tank, creating a home for your classroom fish.

August 15 - 19: Quiltastic with Kimberly Kay
Using a variety of recycled soft materials, future quilting experts will create colorful geometric patterns from images or their imagination. Get ready to learn what you can do quilting with both patience and improvisation.

Socrates also offers free Saturday Sculpture Workshops, which are available to the public on a drop-in basis from May to September. For more information click here.