Join Us For Art Afterschool

Get ready to grab your sketchbook and see the world like an artist in this four-week drawing series! Young artists will build essential drawing skills while discovering how to use their sketchbooks as personal spaces to explore, experiment, and develop their own creative style.

Using graphite and ink, students will explore the building blocks of drawing—like line, shape, texture, and value—through fun, guided activities that balance imagination with careful observation. Each week, they’ll learn ways to create interesting and balanced drawings, all while growing their confidence and creativity.

Inspired by everyday scenes and a variety of contemporary artworks, including pieces from The New Children’s Museum, this series will help young artists strengthen their drawing skills and sharpen their artistic eye!

This series is led by Artopia’s Art + Creative Learning Manager, Danielle Rives (she/her) and Sr. Teaching Artist Teresa Perez (she/her). Danielle’s practice is rooted in painting, drawing, textiles, and mixed-media processes, and explores the intimate and everyday. Her favorite drawing tools are inexpensive ballpoint pens for quick line sketches of everyday sights, and graphite sticks for creating rubbings of interesting textures on the go.

Teresa Perez works across printmaking, digital art, sculpture, and drawing, often using whatever materials are available — especially her favorite colorful fine point pens. Her work is guided by joy and inspired by nature and everyday surroundings, shifting with her mood and curiosity to explore new ideas and forms.

REGISTRATION CLOSED

In this four-week series, participants will explore textile dyeing and surface design techniques to create one-of-a-kind fabrics and sculptural artworks. Artists will experiment with bundle dyeing, eco-printing, and image transfer using both natural and traditional art materials to add color, pattern, and imagery to fabric surfaces. 

These custom textiles, alongside found and repurposed fabrics—will be layered and combined through patchwork, hand-sewing, and soft-sculpture techniques. Each artist will design and embellish either a soft sculptural tote bag—a wearable work of art—or a sculptural textile wall-hanging to display. 

Artists will take inspiration from installations at The New Children’s Museum, including The Wonder Sound by Wes Bruce (he/him) and Future Ancestral Technologies: Odyssey by Cannupa Hanska Luger (he/him). Through these works, participants will explore themes of nature, storytelling, and sustainability, embracing the creative potential of upcycling and the use of natural and found materials in the art-making process. 

This series is led by Artopia’s Art + Creative Learning Manager, Danielle Rives (she/her) and Sr. Teaching Artist Maria Sales (she/her). Danielle’s practice — rooted in painting, drawing, textiles, and mixed-media processes — explores the intimate and the everyday, drawing on imagery, materials, and techniques traditionally associated with femininity and domestic life. 

Maria’s creative practice focuses on drawing, building, photography, soft sculpture, and design. She explores the creation of cute characters through movement and light colors, inspired by the animations of Hayao Miyazaki and the designs of Hello Kitty and Tokidoki. Starting with sketches, she enhances her characters with marker or watercolor, then brings them to life using mediums like needle felting, cardboard, or clay. Her work is rooted in creating joy — both for herself and others. 

REGISTRATION CLOSED