FALL 2026 CLASSES:
- Smiley Art Building
- Saturdays: Sept. 19 & 26; Oct. 3, 17, 24, 31; Nov. 7 (No class Oct. 10)
- 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
EXHIBITION:
- Fine Arts Building
- Nov. 14 from 10-11:15 a.m.
Not sure which class is right for your child? See our Frequently Asked Questions page.
To join the waitlist for a full course, please email saturdayartslab@newpaltz.edu.
Big Hands, Tiny Fingers: Creating and Exploring Scale (Age 4)
Let’s shake up the studio, paint with wild new tools, and build massive worlds together! In this class, children jump into action, discovering how giant shapes and microscopic marks can completely transform an artwork. While they are busy dipping, stamping, and constructing, they are secretly building super-strong muscles and unlocking essential fine and gross motor skills.
Pocket-Sized Heroes, Endless Realms: Crafting Immersive Spaces (Age 5)
Step into a world where a simple cardboard tube becomes a soaring skyscraper and a bottle cap turns into a micro swimming pool! In this imagination-fueled studio, young artists become the architects of giant worlds made for tiny heroes. Through creative building, storytelling, and perspective-shifting painting, children learn how changing the scale of their art completely unlocks brand new rules of play.
Team Palette: Creative Collaboration & Sculptural Challenges (Ages 5-6)
What happens when individual ideas explode onto the canvas and into 3D space? In this imagination-fueled class, young artists join forces to build massive installations and collaborative masterpieces, discovering that creative problem-solving has endless visual solutions. While they create, young artists practice active listening, building empathy, and learning to adapt to unexpected artistic changes. Through lifting, balancing, and connecting large 3D structures, they also strengthen gross motor coordination and develop sharp spatial reasoning skills.
The Growing Studio: Living Assemblage & Layered Media (Age 6)
Get ready for an art class where ideas never stay still! In this experimental studio, young artists combine everyday objects like bottle caps, corks, and cardboard to build complex, textured sculptures. Using wire, yarn, and tape, kids will safely bind these materials together, expanding their artwork as they go. They will even practice shifting their design goals mid-build—like transforming a small box into a towering skyscraper—discovering how a single creative spark can grow into a rich, three-dimensional story.
Rhythm & Resonance: The Vibrant Pattern Playground (Age 6)
Get ready to dance with lines, bounce with dots, and build bold, playful worlds through repetition! In this high-energy art class, young artists explore rhythm and movement to see how simple marks transform into mesmerizing patterns. Kids will draw radiating echo lines and radio waves across a giant surface, turning single lines into visual beats. They will also use textured blocks, sponges, and bubble wrap to stamp out a stamping symphony with a distinct physical cadence. Finally, they will design wearable repetition by creating custom-patterned paper capes or sashes that visually move and pulse as they march, dance, and play.
Kinetic Creators: Sculptural Engineering & Functional Art (Age 7)
What happens when you think like an engineer and build like an artist? In this hands-on studio, young makers use raw art supplies to invent working, moving creations. Kids will build gravity-defying sculptures by mixing clay, wood, and wire to master balance and center of gravity. They will run material tests to see how folding and rolling flat paper transforms it into strong, load-bearing columns. Finally, they will test different fasteners—like colorful tape, brads, and glue—to discover the best ways to join tricky textures together without losing structural form.
Architects of Ink: Illustrating Imaginary Realms (Ages 7-8)
Step inside the story! Through world-building illustration, mapmaking, and architectural construction, young artists breathe life into uncharted territories. Kids will master the cartography of imagination by drawing intricate maps with custom keys, ink cross-hatching, and watercolor washes. They will also dive into environmental storytelling, embedding visual clues like scorched trees or glowing caves to hint at a world's history without words. Finally, they will design character-driven geography, creating physical 3D habitats custom-built to match a fictional creature's unique lifestyle and lore.
Eco-Curators: Open-Air Galleries & Natural Installations (Age 8)
Art breaks free from the classroom walls! By investigating outdoor architecture and hunting for environmental sculptures across campus, young creative thinkers discover how nature shapes, houses, and transforms public art. Kids will create stunning land art assemblages by using sticks, pinecones, and leaves to construct geometric mosaics directly on the earth. They will also build sculptural micro-pavilions, using twigs and twine to engineer small architectural models that play with natural light. Finally, they will master found-texture rubbings, using crayons and charcoal over tree bark and stone pathways to create unique tactile backdrops for their artwork.
Visual Synesthesia: Translating Rhythm and Sound into Print (Ages 9-10)
Feel the beat, drop the ink, and watch the sound waves take form! In this high-energy studio, young printmakers discover how musical rhythms and lyrical tempos can be carved, rolled, and stamped onto paper. Kids will create melodic monotypes by painting fluid inks onto plexiglass while listening to ambient tracks to capture the mood before pressing. They will also produce limited-edition album art, designing multi-layered prints that function as custom cover art for a favorite song. Finally, they will master choreographed stamping, syncing their movements to a rolling classroom playlist to organically space out their visual patterns to the beat.
Tactile Transformers: Contemporary Fiber Craft & Soft Construction (Ages 9-10)
Unravel the boundaries of traditional craft! Inspired by pioneering contemporary artists like Judith Scott, Sheila Hicks, and Sarah Zapata, young makers experiment with yarns, fabrics, and structural media to discover how soft fibers redefine modern art. Kids will explore weaving varying yarn weights and metallic cords across abstract cardboard loom frames. They will also practice organic object integration, challenging material norms by weaving found elements like twigs, dried grasses, and plastics directly into their textiles. Finally, they will map out a textured topography, shifting between flat stitches and loose, massive loops to create high-relief visual landscapes that beg to be touched.
Cracking the Code: Real-World Realistic Drawing (Ages 11-12)
Forget everything you think you know about drawing! This studio is a toolkit of practical hacks that professional artists use to make flat paper look hyper-realistic, giving you total control over pencils, charcoal, and shading. You will trick your brain with the upside-down illusion, drawing flipped objects to force your eye to see actual shapes rather than symbols. Next, you will master sighting and measuring sticks by using your pencil to instantly calculate perfect proportions and angles from a distance. Finally, you will practice negative space hunting, focusing strictly on drawing the empty air around an item to automatically make your main subject look perfectly accurate.
Pixel & Pulse: Hybrid Animation Studio (Ages 12-13)
Bring your drawings to life by blending old-school physical art with cutting-edge digital tech! In this high-energy studio, you will mix tangible, hands-on materials with screen-based tools to create eye-popping, hybrid animations. You will build and sculpt physical assets by hand using raw studio media, then capture their movements using digital frame-by-frame software. Finally, you will use digital tools to layer and manipulate your real-world art, discovering how to bridge the gap between traditional fine art and the digital screen.
Manga Architects: Studio Production Challenge (Ages 13-15)
Unleash your inner creator and learn how to build an anime universe from the ground up! Break free from standard copying tricks and master the raw technical skills used by professional studio artists—from anatomical proportions and explosive action angles to crisp inking and graphic cel-shading. By the end of Saturday Arts Lab, you will walk away with an original character model sheet and a cinematic storyboard!
