Teen Programs

Emerging Teens Program

Registration for Emerging Teens PDF

This free program is for students aged 12–15 with a passion for art, a curiosity for learning in a museum environment, and a craving for new experiences with artists and peers. Mentored by SBMA Senior Teaching Artist Tina Villadolid, participants dive into the themes of a current exhibition and/or a featured artist during a session of six weekly classes. Inspired by these themes, students create art in a variety of mediums, showcase their resulting artwork, and lead activities connected to their discoveries at a culminating event. Some sessions include interaction with a visiting Artist-in-Residence or local artists.

There are three separate sessions: fall, winter, and spring. Classes take place 3:30–5:30 pm on Thursdays at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and may occasionally include additional expeditions. There is a 10 student capacity, and enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis. Students may sign up for one, two, or all three sessions.

Students are to be dropped off and picked up at SBMA by a parent, guardian, or otherwise designated responsible party. Other arrangements for drop off/pick up may be discussed with the Senior Teaching Artist leading the program.

Participants must be able to commit to all six classes and culminating event dates within each session.

Fall Session: Consider the Cosmos

The mystery and infinity of space has inspired humans to explore our connections with the cosmos through both poetic and scientific art forms throughout time. The exhibition, The Observable Universe: Visualizing the Cosmos in Art, which features NASA photographs as well as more abstract, mixed-media works, is the launch pad from which students create artwork for an interactive installation at SBMA’s Community Celebration honoring the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Winter Session: Light and Movement

How can technology express humanity in art? The exhibition featuring contemporary Japanese sculptor and installation artist, Tatsuo Miyajima, whose materials include digital LED counters, computers, and electric circuits, will be the catalyst for student explorations of light and movement in their own sculptures that seek to capture the human condition.

Spring Session: The Surreal

The avant-garde movement of Surrealism that began in the 1920s sought to unlock the unconscious through dreamlike imagery. What would those images look like today within the settings of our contemporary world? A variety of surrealist artwork on view provide rich layers of inspiration for students to develop a new and personal visual language by juxtaposing the real and the unreal, using a range of mediums.

For more information or to apply, please contact: