Ringing In NYSSSA 2010!

Hail, hail, the gang's all here!

We're all unpacked and settled in and already fast at work making art and making friends. Our first weekend here included campus orientation, opening ceremonies, a kite-making workshop, an ice cream social, first hall meetings, the gallery opening for the faculty exhibition, and lots of time outdoors. Below are some photos from the first few days. Stay tuned for photos from the first week of class and updates as our month together at NYSSSA progresses!

Talent Show and Costume Ball!

This weekend was filled with excitement, creative costumes, dancing, and fun! Our annual costume ball was held on Sunday the 19th, and everyone made some amazing costumes for our "Alice In Wonderland" theme.























Our talent show, hosted by counselors Emily and Angela on the the afternoon of Saturday the 18th, was a huge success! Many students participated and gave us some truly amazing acts ranging from dance, musical instruments, singing, rap, and even fencing with swords made by the students themselves. Everyone did an amazing job!

Hello Everyone!

It's been an especially busy week at NYSSSA Visual Arts and we're excited to begin preparations for the final exhibition. The students have been working very hard in classes and open studios to complete their projects. In addition to Master Teacher lectures, the students got a glimpse of the Counselors' artwork and experiences through a night of Residential Life Lectures. We also hosted another great visiting artist, named Alexis Karl, who currently lives in New York City and paints fantasy portraits. After her lecture, Alexis visited the classrooms and workshopped with the students to create their own portraits.

Yet we are still finding time to have fun! Counselors Quinn and Emily hosted a jewelry making workshop for the second floor girls, who made beautiful earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. They even used found objects from the beach at Lake Erie and purchases from a local antique store.

All of the students have been busily preparing for our annual costume ball. This year's theme is Alice and Wonderland. The counselors have been driving buses to Salvation Army and Wal-Mart to buy costume supplies. We have seen some especially creative designs made from ingenious materials! The costume ball is not the only thing to look forward to this weekend! There will also be a Talent Show and fun Field Day activities. Please come back soon to discover photographs and more descriptions of these events!

Second week, and we're off with a BANG!

A strange thing happens when you are a NYSSSA student, where time seems to be both suspended indefinitely and moving at the speed of light simultaneously. It is really in the second week that this new temporal displacement occurs. And what a second week we had.

Starting just with our Independence weekend festivities, the kids attended a Batiking workshop with our Resident Life visiting artist, Danielle Garfinkel, played "We Know More than You" Trivia, watched fireworks, and enjoyed an ice cream social courtesy of the Res. Life Staff. The following morning we all loaded ourselves onto buses and had a beach day at Point Gratoit, complete with swimming, sunscreen and sandcastle contests. The winners took home some very fine trophies in our own formal award ceremony. And then we departed, back to campus and the kids readied themselves for a second week of classes.

During that second week, the students were able to attend their first real visiting artist lecture, with Brooklyn-based artist Kenya Robinson. Her mixed media work was intriguing and unusual, and the students were able to direct all of their questions to her when she came and visited them in their morning classes. They finished out the week with a Friday visit to the Albright-Knox gallery in Buffalo, where the students were taken on an educational tour, and were given time to explore the debuting exhibition, "Bad Habits" which included many well-known contemporary artists.

Later that night, back on campus, we decked out the lounge with string lights and sound equipment and had our very own, low-key, high-talent open mic nite. Many of our students overcame their shyness and got up to perform their musical, poetic, and story-telling abilities. Open mic nite also saw the debut of the counselor band, including two ukuleles, a kazoo, a violin, and a Casio keyboard, doing a cover of Katy Perry's "Hot n' Cold". There were delicious baked goods and snacks and an excellent time was had by all.

Not deterred by the rainiest day EVER on Saturday, in which all of the students returned soaked to the bone only from making the five minute walk from Rockefeller Art Center to the dorm, the weekend came to a close with Sunday activities, including more "We Know More Than You" trivia, tye-dye, and bubbles.

Hard to believe this was all in one week. The next one will continue to be exiciting with awesome events like the much anticipated Talent Show and Costume ball, where all the students will without a doubt strut their creativity outside the classroom for all to see. Keep on reading!