Young Artists

Shandaken Projects' print studio offers training Risography, silkscreen, and relief printing to young artists through a partnership with New York City's Department of Youth and Community Development.

Current
In summer 2023, Shandaken Projects welcomed teenagers from New York City public schools for its Printmaking and Social Justice Summer Intensive. Up to 12 teens enrolled in NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program attended this course. Led by a dedicated artist-educator, the teens researched the print media strategies of American social justice movements from the 1950s through today; learned about the intersections of art and social justice, and received instruction in advanced printmaking techniques including Risography and silkscreen. The course culminated in a presentation of the students' own artistic work in an exhibition open to the public.

Past
Shandaken's print studio opened in July 2021 with a collaborative educational initiative produced in partnership with Hunter College MFA.

For six weeks in summer 2021, twelve graduate students from Hunter College and nine teenagers from NYC public schools created artworks together in the inaugural edition of Shandaken's Summer Printmaking Intensive. Centered on a new credit-bearing course at Hunter entitled “Governors Island Printmaking and Publishing Intensive, ARTCR 751,” this program was inspired by the ideas of Paulo Freire, who holds that education can be a tool for liberation, and that students and teachers can learn from one another.

During the program, participating graduate students were trained in mentoring principals, and then mentored local teens enrolled in NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program in the creation of artworks and ephemera like prints, posters, and zines related to the context of Governors Island, and its mission of environmental and social justice. Teens were paid $15 per hour to participate in 140 hours of class time.

Objects created by the class were gathered into a free exhibition open to all Governors Island visitors, August 17 through 20.

This program grew into Shandaken's Printmaking and Social Justice Intensive, offered in partnership with NYC's Department of Youth and Community Development in summer 2022, winter 2022/23, and summer 2023 as described above.

Thanks
Educational initiatives in the Shandaken Projects' print studio are generously supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The LeRoy Neiman Foundation.