#araseducation

Hello everyone!

We are excited to announce the launch of the Pioneer Teens program for Summer 2022, running from July 11th-22nd. This program is for teens 14-17 and is free for all participants. We are looking forward to engaging in in-person art workshops and visits to museums around New York City learning about symbols in art through substantive discussions of art and culture. Students will also learn research strategies and how to develop a creative research practice. 

Applications are due May 1st. 

We had all day today to work on our final projects. To complete the idea I had in mind for my project, I needed to start and finish painting my sculpture in blue. After two or three hours (it’s hard to remember), I had finished painting and moved on to smearing some blue glitter on my sculpture. It was relieving to finally see my idea slowly turn to reality.

On the fourth day of Pioneer Teens, we visited Joseph Ari Aloi's Studio, which is really amazing. We had a great time there discussing his career as an artist. Joseph shared his experiences with us and answered a lot of questions that we had. As a participant of this program, we are lucky to have the chance to look at Joseph's sketchbooks and get inspirations. This is a very unforgettable experience for me because it really gives me an insight into the life of an artist. 

For the third day of Pioneer Teens, we explored the medium of clay with Sarah. After the teens worked with their hands and solidified their connection with their symbols, Ami introduced the group to the archive and research methods. The afternoon was spent at the Brooklyn Museum exploring “Nobody Promised You Tomorrow”, an exhibit in celebration and memory of 50 years since Stonewall. The deeply reflective, inspirational, and at times, heartbreaking pieces really helped us understand the importance of symbolism in political and modern art. 

Our journey to the Metropolitan Museum was a quick trip that would be filled with exciting insight of what our symbols meant to other people and would mean to us. The Met offered an extensive experience of cultural awareness and inspired many of us artist to dig deeper into our symbols. Some of us began to find interest in other versions of our previous symbols but in the end, we were all ready to see what this diverse process would stimulate us to create and do.

On the first day of Pioneer Teens, we dove into the world of symbols with Aurelie, who showed us how to uncover symbols that were meaningful to us through collage. After fishing through the images, we each came up with a few symbols to research for the next two weeks. Later that day, with our symbols in mind, we explored the picture collection at the NYPL. It was really interesting to look through the images, some of them decades old, and explore all the ways our symbols show up in the world around us.

On the last day of the Pioneer Teens program for 2018, the group got together to prepare the space for the Celebration Exhibition. We exercised great teamwork and communication while cleaning, organizing, and giving advice to each other. It was easy to see the bonds that were created within the group during this time with everyone seeking help from others. 

Once everyone was happy with how their artwork was set up, the group and some staff members headed out to Bryant Park to have our last lunch together. This gave everyone a chance to take a break from the space and enjoy the scene of NYC on a beautiful day. After lunch, we went back to ARAS and took the time to get the complete insight of each person's presentation. It was very inspiring to hear the stories that developed along the way, and the impact it left on the teens. Each of us shared a different journey even though we headed down the same path. This being my 3rd summer experiencing, the last two as an assistant, I believe that everybody’s presentation is the most magical part about Pioneer Teens. 

After all was said and done, we opened our doors to friends, family, and other supporters of ARAS to experience everyone's outstanding presentations. We took the time to appreciate the hard work shown by all the teens, then allowed the sun to set on another summer of Pioneer Teens.