Your kid can draw like this. They just don’t know it yet.
Private Art Class
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Introduction into foundational skills like drawing, painting, print making, and any technical area the student independently wants to improve. This allows the student to build a portfolio of artwork to apply to NYC High Schools and have a better chance of getting in.
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I always offer art historical stories, perspectives, innovations, and lives of the artist during the days lesson.
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We will take certain class sessions to introduce the students in depth for 3 hour museum visits around New York City. These are important in getting the kids to understand what art about while in front of the piece.
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I am also aware that I am a role model for the kids and they will always remember the classes that we do together. This is the most important aspect of the classes for me, to act as a helpful, careful, thoughtful human being.
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-Beginner Classes: 7-10 years old $200 per class for 2 hours. Up to 10 weeks of classes.
-Intermediate Classes: 10-14 years old $250 per class for 3 hour sessions. Number of classes to be negotiated depending on the need of the students.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
-Pablo Picasso
Prepare a portfolio for NYC High Schools
High Schools these days in New York City require the kids to have a portfolio of art and a working knowledge about culture in order to secure admission. This can be a difficult task for parents to get their kids a portfolio without it being drawings of cartoons or anime, to which these schools will not accept as a portfolio. The class will also prepare your children for a richly cultured life with early age art history tours of art museums in New York City.
The first and most important step:
Teaching Experience:
I hold a Bachelors of Fine Art from UTSA and Masters in Interdisciplinary Art from Parsons. Leading up to the pandemic I taught some students privately in my studio in the east village. We generally worked together 1-2 times per week for 3 hour sessions. For the year of 2024 I am opening up again to offer art classes to youth in New York City. I have shown at various galleries and museums around the US and abroad, to which can be found on the tab labeled "CV" on this website. I've also had incoming studio visits with college classes from Parsons, Cooper Union, Brown University, and UNSW in Sydney. I’ve given talks at Parsons, San Diego Museum of Art, and Cooper Union. The studio is located in the East Village, depending on the student, classes generally will be held in the studio or in a museum.
Teaching Philosophy:
I think it is crucial for creative teachers to be beholden to the cause of improving each child and emphasizing their strengths and encouraging them to try new things and take risks. Winning is great; and we should want to win, but let's not lose focus on the value of recognizing failure and learning from mistakes. The curriculum proposed is broad enough to identify in each child their natural gifts. Everyone is not going to be Picasso, but hopefully everyone will walk away with a complex shattered new perspective on the world and what they are able to do. At the end of the class, I want them to feel like they have grown in knowledge of themselves and the world. Drawing is a foundation for everything, I tell my students that we never truly see the world around us, until we try to draw it.
The Three Hours:
One of my favorite things to do to begin class is show the kids short 10 minute or less Art History video contextualizing the atmosphere of the class on learning more about making art and art history at the same time. I usually choose a biopic on an artist or a movement and their work related to the lesson of the day. Then we go into our lesson, for instance a day of 'advanced color theory' where the students are given 8 watercolors and asked to mix the paint to match an original color I give them. The pre-requisites to this lesson would be learning the color wheel, color vocabulary, how to mix color, and the properties of light and color. Depending on the age of the student, after an hour and a half, if the kids' attention span is waning and I want to bring them back into a mode of active thinking we use "The Art Assignment" and others like it on YouTube. After the video lesson I give the kids my own take on the information that’s been given in the video and we talk about finishing the work for today's lesson. In another instance, we may do life drawing in the studio or figure drawing at the MET, or architectural drawing near the studio on Houston St. Or, maybe we are doing a performance art class and I act out an authentic non-verbal character and prompt the kids to do the same. Maybe on sculpture day we also cover land art and climate change, so that the kids can understand the broadness and the scope of what art can capture and say and that they are a part of the discourse. I am a firm believer that children learning more about the cultural richness this planet has to offer through art, will expand their entire world view going forward in life.
Broad Benefit:
Lessons would be most accessible to kids ages 10-17 and can help the kids develop a working knowledge and drawing skills and a portfolio of art to apply to schools.
Curriculum Focuses over 20 weeks:
Drawing (40%),
Abstraction (10%)
Performance Art (5%)
Sculpture (5%)
Printmaking (10%)
Painting (10%),
Color Theory (10%)
Independent Practices (10%)
(always depends on the level of the student)
Field Trips:
I enjoy bringing the children on field trips to museums in NYC. I have experience with this and the kids love the time and the intimate stories I tell about what we see in museums. For sure, the classes would include days at MoMA, The MET, New Museum, or any exhibition or retrospective in the city that is a treat to show to children. In this environment, I would be using the interpersonal art experience as a teaching tool on the lives of artists, art techniques, art history, and art theory. This will in turn increase your kids working knowledge of culture, history, and New York City beyond our art lessons.
Positive Example:
I pride myself on setting a positive creative example for the kids that I teach. As a practicing artist I want to show them that I have mastered the knowledge in each thing that I am teaching them myself. From the way I stand in class, to the way I hold myself to the dynamics of the classroom, to sharing my own portfolio with the students before a lesson. I want them to learn to be creatively engaged with themselves in their own daily lives, because they were confident in me as a teacher.
The icebreaker. The first step would be to meet the parents of the child interested in art. It is suggested that the children bring a friend/classmate who also likes drawing along with them at the beginning, so that it can be a social environment for the kids as well as a learning environment, making memories for the future. The next order would be for me to meet the kid(s) and see if we can foster a learning environment based on their art knowledge, skill levels, and interests. It is important for my small art classes to meet the children on their level instead of teaching a generalized lesson plan for a typical school class sizes. Classes are held at the studio of Justin Sterling in the East Village, at various museums in NYC, or any other provided location to do studio work and art theory lessons.
Pricing:
-Beginner Classes: 7-10 years old $200 per class for 2 hours.
-Intermediate Classes: 10-14 years old $250 per class for 3 hours.
-Each class is held at my studio in East Village on weekends in Manhattan, unless the parent can provide a better space to make art.
-Each class lasts at least 3 hours.
-It is deeply recommended for the students to be in a buddy system so that they can grow together and create memories together.
-During the school year classes are held on weekends.
-In the summer we can plan lesson days during the week and much more flexible time frames.
-After 10-15 weeks the students will probably have a nice portfolio to present. After their portfolio goals are complete I am happy to keep working with the students who deeply enjoy the classes.
