Cartwheel Initiative Opening Night at CMA:

Cartwheel Initiative Opening Night at CMA:

Our opening at the Children’s Museum of the Arts here in Manhattan was a wonderful success! We are very appreciative of all of the supporters who came out to celebrate the artwork created by our students this past December in Sri Lanka.

For those of you who missed the opening, we had tables set up with photographs of the children for guests to write notes to on the back. We collected over sixty and were so touched by your encouraging words that we thought it appropriate …

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Cartwheel Graphic Design Workshops at CMA

Cartwheel Graphic Design Workshops at CMA

The graphic design workshops attracted a number of young artists and even a few of their parents last weekend at CMA. Here’s a quick look at Instructor Sean Murray working with some students, and below are samples of the artwork they created. One of the most obvious differences between the art made here in NY and that made in Sri Lanka: the children here were frequently inspired by manmade objects (a robot, a surf board), whereas the Sri Lankan children were almost exclusively interested in …

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Cartwheel Initiative Workshops at CMA in June and July

Cartwheel Initiative Workshops at CMA in June and July

Our talented team of instructors will be conducting workshops at the Children’s Museum of the Arts on weekends in June and July. See the links below for details and workshops descriptions.

June 9th, 10am-1pm: Graphic Design Workshop

June 16th, 10am-1pm: Photography Workshop

June 24th, 10am-1pm: Music Workshop

July 14th, 10am-1pm: Collage Workshop

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Reminder: Cartwheel Exhibition at CMA Tomorrow Night! Join Us!

Reminder: Cartwheel Exhibition at CMA Tomorrow Night! Join Us!

We are thrilled to announce an exhibition of artworks created by children living in post-war Sri Lanka at the Children’s Museum of the Arts here in NYC from June 7th until July 15th! The exhibition will feature 50+ pieces, including collages, prints, and photographs by Sri Lankan youth. Admission on opening night is free, but RSVP to info@cartwheelinitiative.org is requested.

In addition, Cartwheel instructors will be offering workshops at CMA on selected weekends through the duration of the exhibition. Please visit CMA’s website for details.

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Innovation Yields New Rhythms in the Music Workshops

Innovation Yields New Rhythms in the Music Workshops

by Music Workshop Instructor Billy Fox

Life is still very tough for the kids we worked with in Sri Lanka. When you look at their radiant smiles in our photographs, it’s difficult to imagine the material and emotional challenges they continue to face. And despite impressive rebuilding efforts in the northern territories, the schools we visited are primitive by most standards. Classrooms are open air, plumbing is outdoors, and in one case, the school had no electricity and even lacked drinking water on one of the …

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Painting, Tearing, Sharing, and Recreating In the Collage Workshop

Painting, Tearing, Sharing, and Recreating In the Collage Workshop

by Collage Workshop Instructor Lara Kisielewska

My workshop was collage, and we’d prepared five different types of collages for the kids to create over the course of each workshop. The first was really fun, it involved using 12 non-traditional implements to paint with, such as feathers, sponges, corks, and string. We made about a hundred quick paintings that were like textile patterns, using six colors and 12 implements, and set them aside to dry. On the second day of the workshop we cut them apart and …

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