with Charlie, Max, AnaĂŻs, Colette, and their mothers, Jaime Rugh and Yoon Chang
where Rachaelâs apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Children are often uninhibited in their artistic expression. While we had experienced some of that feeling during ink night, we wondered if collaborating with children might build on our sense of creative freedom. As we reached for the crayons and school-grade paintbrushes, we wanted to be imaginative and judgement-free, and to just have fun.
Rachael is a mom of an adorable three-and-a half-year-old, Alex. She had been planning this special afternoon session for a while and was excited to share her experiences helping organize childrenâs art activities with Leah and Julia. âSeeing kids explore materials and mark-making is honestly a joy like no other,â Rachael says. âYou guys are going to love it!â Rachael invited Jaime Rugh and Yoon Chang, two mothers from creative families, to join us with their children.
JAIME, the mother of CHARLIE, nine and a half, and MAX, seven, studied fiber arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art and eventually went into floral design. After living in New York City, her family settled in New Jersey and then decided to homeschool their children with a focus on the arts. âWe live a pretty creative, fun life,â remarks Jaime.
YOON CHANG, the mother of five-year-old twins COLETTE AND ANAĂS, is a fashion designer who teaches fashion illustration to kids from second to fifth grade as well as a fashion thesis course at Parsons School of Design. Sheâs been living in New York for over twenty years and graduated from Parsons herself. Later she worked for fashion label Cynthia Steffe, and then co-owned a label called Whistle & Flute. Yoon has encouraged her daughters to draw and create from the moment they could hold a crayon and they spend a lot of time drawing together.
THE KIDS ARRIVE like a volcano of energy. While Alex plays with an old typewriter and sings, twins Colette and AnaĂŻs are shrieking in delight and rolling around on the floor. Charlie is chattering with her brother, Max. Meanwhile, their mothers, Yoon and Jaime, help us lay down heavy butcher paper and put out tempera paint, colored construction paper, markers, crayons, and pencils. We had prepped the moms well ahead of time with our theme, a fantasy zoo, so that the kids had time to get excited in advance.
Thereâs a reason we invited these moms and their kids: They are from creative families. Charlie has been into art from a very young age. She has her own studio set up with plenty of high-quality art supplies. âWe teach a lot about just doing it,...