A Celebration of Student-Created Work from CAW Programs at APRCHS, 2021-2022

A Cel eb r a t i o n o f St udent - Cre a t e d Art 2 021-2 02 2 Ac a d e m i c Ye a r

HO NORS A N ATO MY & P HYSIOLOGY L A B Exploring the Complexity of the Human Body Since 2015, CAW has partnered with A. Philip Randolph Campus High School to offer an art Lab in conjunction with the Honors Anatomy and Physiology class.

Students are challenged to interpret what they have learned about the human body through art projects using a variety of different media.

For students more comfortable with the certainties of math and science, the open-ended nature of creating art places them outside their comfort zone, yet the act of interpreting classroom subjects through the lens of art-making allows them to draw new connections and spurs thoughtful conversations. Projects examine a wide variety of topics, from the structures of human cells to the symptoms of psychiatric disorders. The goal of these projects is to offer students a framework to describe and discuss complicated ideas and relationships, many of which cannot be explained with a charts or diagrams.

2

3

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL H E A LT H M E S S A G E S CAW and APRCHS have teamed up with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to create a series of public health banners. These banners, or gonfalons, are eight feet long and will first be displayed around campus before being rolled out in public places in Harlem and eventually the entire city. The banners address broad issues, such as addiction, cyber-bullying, and school safety.

The overall campaign concept was based on an image created by a student during a design workshop.

The student created a street map of Harlem and used the metaphor of navigation and cartography to illustrate the idea of “community.” This campaign takes this same metaphor and places the student body in the center as the “key.” (A key is both an important idea and the directional legend on a 4

map.) There are five individual gonfalons addressing mental health, social health and physical health from a student’s perspective. In later phases of the program, these school-specific messages will be modified to apply to all five boroughs of New York City.

Gonfalons? Add this word to your AP vocabulary list. A gonfalon is simply a banner that is suspended from a crossbar.

5

B UILD IN G S T R ON G FO U NDAT ION S

Helen Caceres

A Creat iv e Art Works p ro g ram int egra t es wit h t h e Fo undatio ns progra m at A . P h ilip Rando lp h Ca mpus High Sch o o l to p rep are incoming fresh man f o r ac ademic and personal success.

Stepping back to ask the big questions: The goal of the Foundations program is to prepare freshmen to be successful in their academic lives and to become active members of their high school community by helping them develop self-awareness and a long-term vision for their future. This language arts course focuses on two essential questions: First, how do our values and beliefs shape what we deem a priority? Second, what is the relationship between priorities and necessities? Creative Art Works is providing a digital arts curriculum that integrates with the Foundations program and offers students an alternative point of entry to these essential questions.

Making it a habit: Required reading in this program is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which challenges students to be mindful about how the choices they make contribute to their daily and long-term success. For the first project, the students made visual representations of themselves that reflect their strengths and skills through the combination of symbols and colors that have significance for them. In the second project, students visually represented what they define as their vision/mission in the world, by creating posters that combine image and text. In addition, students completed a written component during each class.

6

“ T he p l an e t si g na ls life a s a w ho l e, the ups and d o wn s an d al l of t h at .

T he a s tro n au t, t h ough , s i gn al s p e rs p e c t iv e — in s ho r t , ho w w e v iew life in i t s en ti re ty. Whet h er or n o t t hat vi e w i s nega t iv e o r p osi ti ve i s u p t o t h e p er s o n .”

— Amelio Suren “Wh at y o u see h ere is t h e result o f just letting my mind w ander. Yo u see a person in a red jo ker ma sk, a mo nkey w ith a h at , and a c h ec ker p attern for t h e bac kg ro und. I h ope t o co nvey h o w creat iv e w e c an all be if we don’t take everyth ing so seriously and just g o wit h t h e f lo w.

— Nath an Cann I ch ose co lo rs f ro m th e Ecuad oria n f lag but t h ey are in a c h ao tic order. I want to sh o w th e aud ience a rep resentatio n of my Ecu ado rian h eritag e in t h e form o f my f o rmally ch aot ic m ind th ro ug h rect a ngles th at h ave no pa rt icular o rder and ov erla p eac h o th er.

— B rian Lema 7

FO U NDAT ION S G A L LE R Y

Danika Brown

Ashley Sanchez Mamadou Bah

Ashley Corona 8

Abril Hernandez Rojas

Y Vo

Winifer Reyes Quezada

Hadja Barrie

Melani Flores Ramales

Rachel Van Rossum 9

WEIGHT ROOM MURAL APRCHS football team shows team spirit with a striking mural in the newly renovated weight room It’s been a good year for the Varsity and JV squads. In addition to some big wins, three Randolph players made the New York State All-Star Team. Now the team has demonstrated depth off the gridiron by transforming their training space with a mural that celebrates their pride and accomplishments. The entire team participated in the design process and presentation, which was approved by Principal Fanning. The weight room and the mural are open to all APRCHS students.

10

11

About Creative Art Works Creative Art Works (CAW) is a 36-year-old nonprofit that empowers young people through the visual and multimedia arts. Our programs equip children, teens, and young adults with essential tools and skills; connect them with community, academic success, and career opportunities; and inspire them to reach for new possibilities. Working in underserved neighborhoods of New York City, in public schools, recreation centers, foster care facilities, parks, juvenile justice settings, and in the remote environment, CAW provides dynamic creative youth development for those who otherwise lack access. Our programs build confidence, unlock a love of learning, and teach valuable technical and social-emotional skills while creating profound connections between our young constituents, their art and their communities. Students are never charged for participation.

Creative Art Works is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, EIN #13-3638436 Copyright © 2022 Creative Art Works. All rights reserved.

www.creativeartworks.org

These Creative Art Works programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The Foundations program was supported, in part, by the West Harlem Development Corporation.

12