Nyack Through the Eyes of Edward Hopper

:  The Nyack Library Teen Room presents “Nyack Through the Eyes of Edward Hopper”, a free, multi-disciplinary arts program for Middle and High School students, presented by local artists Kristina Burns and Bill Batson.  Kids in 6th through 12th grades will work in the Nyack Library community room and out on the streets of Nyack village, learning about the life of Edward Hopper and exploring his approach to making art.  The workshop will be held on three consecutive days during the Spring School Break, on April 11, 12 and 13 from 1:00pm to 3:00pm each day.  Students need not have a strong background in art – this will be a fun experience for all.

The workshop will be broken down into three days of artistic exploration and activities.  The first meeting will consist of a slide show presentation of Hopper’s works that either refer directly to locations in Nyack or are strongly reminiscent of the streets of Nyack.  This slide show will also include a selection of photographs, drawings and paintings of Nyack by local artists who were inspired by Hopper.  After their discovery of Hopper’s locally influenced works, the workshop participants will go on a “scavenger hunt” around Nyack to identify areas that approximate the architecture and ambiance the Hopper captured in his paintings and find the exact locations that inspired contemporary work by local artists.  On day two of the program, students will start the day by reviewing their “scavenger hunt” discoveries, then return to the streets of Nyack with cameras, pens, paint and paper to capture their own version of a Hopper street scene.  For the final day of the workshop, students will use the work they’ve created along with personal writing and printed material to create one large, visual essay/exhibit that reflects how their view of Nyack was influenced by the perspective of Edward Hopper.

Artist Kris Burns, created the Hopper Happens Festival, a multimedia public art event in 2011 in coordination with Edward Hopper House Art Center. For more information visit hopperhappens.org . 

Bill Batson is the artist and author of Nyack Sketch Log, an offering of art and essays about our village that is published Tuesdays on NyackNewsAndViews.com.

This program is free of charge to Rockland County residents and is limited to 20 students.  Registration is open to all county residents. 

This project is made possible, in part, with funds from the Community Arts Grants program of the Arts Council of Rockland and the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.