#araseducation

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Here are some highlights of the past six months of the ARAS Pioneer Teen Internship. Some of our activities have included free draws (including the exquisite corpses above) and free writing to free up to the subconscious mind for creative activities, we also learned coptic book binding, visited the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, and learned about the day to day activities of the archive. 

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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. 

You can apply through this link: https://linktr.ee/ARASArchive

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Pioneer Teens Work Day

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.

-Emmanuel

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Pioneer Teens Visit Joseph Ari Aloi’s Studio

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. 

-Xin Yi

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Pioneer Teens at the Brooklyn Museum

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. 

-Amelia

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Pioneer Teens at the Met

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.

-Audrey

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Pioneer Teens at the NYPL Picture Collection

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.

-Olivia

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Yesterday on we further explored the different portrayals and aspects of our symbols by (with guidance from Ami) creating poems about them. Poems ranged from short to long, dealing with different emotions and the idea of making a visual impact with a phrase or two.

After lunch, we explored the Cathedral with the exceptional educator Ashley! The Cathedral had art that represented many different religions and spaces to practice. We learned about the idea behind the architecture (No beams! How does it even stay up? Gravity). The Cathedral is an open place; no matter who you are they don’t discriminate. The stained glass windows particularly impressed me. Each one had multiple meanings, both apart and together, as well as the main rose window with intricate designs made of over 10,000 pieces of glass! Then we walked up a whole load of steep stairs. One level we stopped at gave us a closer look at the windows, and we noticed the repetition of the number seven, and the different art styles used. The upper floor let us witness the attic and limestone damage from acid rain on the roof. We also learned that the cathedral was incomplete, and only had ¼ of the French-inspired towers planned completed.

After we did a workshop downstairs, which included stone chiseling, making gargoyles out of clay, making stained glass windows and rubbings. After that, we went to look at the other rooms, such as a Spanish, French, and Italian chapel, and more notably, the sculpture of a female Jesus - Christa. We weren’t able to go into the room for a closer view, but we could see another piece of work by a different artist focusing on women. Gutzon Borglom created female angels for a church, but they had rejected them because of their gender, so out of anger he took them down, but created a set of angels, which may or may not be female, but they appear so androgynous that no one can tell.

*This post was written by one of our Pioneer Teens Katherine Kibatullin

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ARAS Education Tumblr turned 8 today! 

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Moon - Window (sketch for the artwork I will create)

My artwork will focus on the use of texture, because texture is the closest thing to emotion in the physical form in my opinion. There is a clear glass chair mimicking the moon, so it can see itself. There is a pot holding a flower (a kind of flower that only blooms at night) there to honor the moon. There is a curtain of test to challenge the power of the illumination radiating from the moon. The window decides when the moon can come through. The table guides the light from the air to the ground, leaving it to light everything that is around.

 “Summer doesn’t last forever just like the night. It’s all up to you to embrace the light.”

 By Violet, ARAS Teen Intern Spring 2017

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Pioneer Teens Celebration Day!

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.

-Violet, ARAS Teen

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Symbol: Yellow

Yellow #1 (poem) by teen intern Ben

Warm it sinks into the sea Not hot, a comfort Perhaps an old friend A crackling fire still vivacious but calm

piercing

like putting your toe in the water.