Our Elective Programs

ROLLING ADMISSIONS

studio art

Ages 7-12

Places in Space: Drawing and Painting Landscapes
Join Brooklyn-based artist and educator Ari Wolff for a 6-session drawing and painting workshop! Drawing inspiration from the places we live, students will learn the foundations of landscape artwork through the lens of contemporary artists. Through daily drawing and painting exercises, students will experiment with styles inspired by the work of Etel Adnan, Richard Mayhew, Meghan Hildebrand, Diego Rivera, and Charlotte Ager. As we investigate the ways that artists create landscapes, we will explore foreground, middleground, background, horizon lines, texture, light, and shadow.

For the first class, students should send a photograph of a landscape near or outside of their homes. There is no wrong way to take this picture!

Class Structure:

• One 60 min. Zoom session per week

  Week 1: Landscapes Basics / Diego Rivera
  Week 2: Color Blocking / Etel Adnan
  Week 3: Mindscapes / Richard Mayhew
  Week 4: Layers / Charlotte Ager
  Week 5: Dreamscapes / Meghan Hildebrand
  Week 6: Where We Live

Materials needed:

• Drawing Paper (computer paper is fine)

• Pencils (graphite pencils)

• Eraser

• Colored pencils/markers

• Watercolors
  

Ari Wolff is a Brooklyn-based poet, visual artist, and educator. She graduated from the New School with a B.A. in Arts In Context: Visual Arts and Poetry in 2013. Ari has worked as a teaching artist across age ranges, designed curriculum for afterschool programs and summer camps, and managed community arts projects. She currently serves as a teaching artist with IS 183, the Liberi School, and the Mastheads: Fireside Writing Program. Ari also serves as a board and accountability member with BRIDGE, a Berkshire-based grassroots organization focused on creating racial and social justice and equity. Ari’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in: The Offing, Vinyl Poetry, Lime Hawk, Hinchas de Poesia, Tinderbox, Whiskey Island, among other places. Her artwork has been included in shows at Collar Works and Para//el Performance Lab, and Glasshouse. She is the recipient of a 2019-2020 LABA: Laboratory for Jewish Culture Fellowship.

studio art SCHEDULE

Fridays

Apr 23-May 28

• 11:30am PST (UTC -8)

• 12:30pm MST (UTC -7)

• 1:30pm CST (UTC -6)

• 2:30pm EST (UTC -5)

COURSE FEE

$150

THEATER ARTS + writing

ages 8-13

Developing Voice: Monologue Workshop for Youth
Calling all young writers and performers!

In this workshop, we will begin by looking at ourselves and our own lives. We will play and improvise with extant characters--the people we already know and are familiar with. From there, we will leap into individual character creation. Students will practice empathetic perspective-taking by writing monologues in the voice of an original character. Through this process, we will learn about character traits, and how they translate into word choice, voice on the page, and performance.

Students will move into exploring the basics of dramatic structure by using their original character to construct a narrative. They will learn tips and tricks for enriching the world of the monologue through the use of sensory details and metaphor.

Ultimately, we will incorporate movement and props into high-engagement storytelling. How can we show-not-tell when we are using voice to tell the story? What does it mean for a story to be "active?"

Our work together will culminate with a shared performance of original monologues. Students will have the opportunity to see their work performed and interpreted by others.

Class Structure:

• Weekly 45-minute one-on-one dramatic writing tutorial with Aly

  Scheduled individually on Tuesday or Wednesdays between 12pm-5pm EST

• Weekly 60-minute whole group workshop with peers

  Every Thursday at 5:30pm EST

Aly Kantor is the kind of teacher who loves a good adventure, having taught at public schools, private schools, progressive schools, museums, and even on the deck of a tall ship on the East River in New York City. She is a major proponent of emergent and project-based learning, and loves to integrate the arts whenever possible. Her core belief? “When you start with the belief that children are capable, they always rise to the occasion!” Aly received her degree in Developmental Art Therapy from Wheelock College of Education and Human Development at Boston University and completed her M.S. in Education at Hofstra University. She holds New York State Certification in Early Childhood and Childhood Education (Birth-Grade 6). When not teaching, she is involved in local theatre as an actor, scenic and property designer, and drama teacher. She loves reading, writing, local hiking, and, of course, teaching. She loves to create and can’t wait to help kids bring their ideas to life in new and exciting ways.

theater arts + writing SCHEDULE

Thursdays

Tuesday/Wednesday (tutorials)

Jul 22-Aug 26

• 2:30pm PST (UTC -8)

• 3:30pm MST (UTC -7)

• 4:30pm CST (UTC -6)

• 5:30pm EST (UTC -5)

COURSE FEE

$275

filmmaking

ages 10-13

Moving Pictures: A Filmmaking Workshop for Youth
We all love watching movies. We all have stories to tell. Learn how to make your own short film or video in this 10-week workshop taught by emerging filmmaker Peymaan Motevalli-Aliabadi. Students will learn the basics of what makes up a movie, from what creates a moving image to how to think critically about the movies we watch and stories we want to tell. The film workshop will be a hands-on approach to learning different ways movies, TV shows, and videos express feelings. Students will learn camera techniques, build a descriptive and expressive vocabulary, and be introduced to different motion picture forms—such as animation, still photography, and video. We will meet once a week with optional one-on-one conferences as students work on making a short-form video to express their new learned skills.
All you need to participate is your imagination and a device with a camera and mic!

Class Structure:

• One 60 min. Zoom session per week

• Optional one-on-one conferences

Peymaan Motevalli-Aliabadi is a second generation Iranian-American whose films and installations explore immigrant identity and responsibility. Motevalli-Aliabadi graduated from Bard College with a bachelor's degree from the Film and Electronic Arts Department in 2019. At Bard, Peymaan began to experiment with different time-based mediums and formal approaches to moving image works in order to express a complex relationship between place, experience, and home. His recent film, Gardesh, was chosen as one of the six short films for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Film School Shorts 2019. Gardesh, a Farsi word referring to motion and revolution, blends 16mm film, 3D animation, and stop-motion to tell the story of a displaced being, drifting on a spacecraft, searching for a home. Confronted by geodesic orbs, impressions of familial recollections, which guide them towards a conception of self, they are moved by home movies and echoes of their past lives—and must reconcile how they got to where they are, caught between selves. He currently lives in Baltimore, where he is working on new animation shorts.

film SCHEDULE

Fridays

Mar 5-May 7

• 1:30pm PST (UTC -8)

• 2:30pm MST (UTC -7)

• 3:30pm CST (UTC -6)

• 4:30pm EST (UTC -5)

COURSE FEE

$250

Chinese Spring Festival: celebrating the year of the Ox

Three learning sessions

ages 7-10

We are fast approaching the celebration of Spring Festival, a holiday period that welcomes in the lunar New Year in Greater China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam and many Asian communities around the globe. This New Year officially starts on February 12th and celebrates the Year of the Ox. The Liberi School will join in this worldwide celebration with three learning sessions on China and its rich folklore culture, including the stories behind the origins and customs of the New Year festivities. Our students will be introduced to Nian, Pangu, the Five Ancients and the Moon Goddess, Chang’e, among others, through folk stories and poems. They will even learn a little bit of Mandarin, the national language of China, practicing New Year’s greetings, numbers, and well-known Chinese adages.

The program will be led by Mr. Roy C. Sheldon, a Mandarin language and Chinese history teacher. Mr. Sheldon lived with his family in China for 11 years and has been traveling there for many years. Before relocating to the Hudson Valley, he taught Mandarin and world history at Hackley School in Tarrytown, leading multiple student groups to China, in addition to launching other student enrichment programs on China’s history and culture. He is a former board member of the Lingnan Foundation, a non-proift organization dedicated to educational exchange initiatives between students in the United States and Zhongshan University in southern China. He also is a long term teacher at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, teaching U.S.- China related history courses. Mr. Sheldon received his masters degree from Columbia University in East Asian studies and certification for Chinese language teaching from Columbia’s Teachers College.

pedagogy of care

Adults, parents, and caregivers (ages 18+)

Being at home with our children fills our days with never-ending tasks of caregiving—feeding, dishwashing, dressing, bathing, tidying. What would it look like if we lifted up these mundane tasks of caring to be valued as deeply educational moments for children? Each moment of caring for a child holds all the essential components of teaching and learning such as observing, listening, scaffolding, and reciprocity. Master early childhood educator and author of Illuminating Care: The Pedagogy of Care Carol Murray offers a 10-week workshop for parents and caregivers who are ready to transform these tasks into profound educational practice.

Class Structure:

• One 60 min. Zoom session per week

• Approximately 90 min. pre-work including readings, reflections, online discussions and practice per week

culturE schedule

Fridays

Feb 19-Mar 5

• 1:00pm PST (UTC -8)

• 2:00pm MST (UTC -7)

• 3:00pm CST (UTC -6)

• 4:00pm EST (UTC -5)

COURSE FEE

Free

pedagogy of care SCHEDULE

10-week Workshop

Dates Coming Soon

• 2:30pm PST (UTC -8)

• 3:30pm MST (UTC -7)

• 4:30pm CST (UTC -6)

• 5:30pm EST (UTC -5)

COURSE FEE

$750 per person

$1250 per couple