ART FOR A START, NY

I just wanted to give a shout out for Deborah Wasserman's Art for a Start program. My 7-year old is about to begin her third semester with Deborah and loves the class. Deborah is a gifted teacher who is able to bring advanced techniques to budding artists in an encouraging, supportive and fun way. Sometimes teachers are good and sometimes teachers are stellar -- Deborah is stellar.

New York, NY

​Deborah did a remarkable job in teaching, directing and motivating my 13 year old son who was preparing his work for admission to highly-competitive New York City arts high schools. Within a very brief time, Deborah was able to identify my son's strengths, guide him to develop his own concepts and motivate him to execute excellent-quality work for presentation. Deborah is highly intelligent, intuitive, personable and creative, allowing her students to fulfill their artistic potential. I highly recommend her. Basil Safos

New York, NY

My two children have loved taking art classes with Deborah Wasserman at Art for a Start.  Deborah is a terrific teacher, nurturing creativity while honing the child's skills.  She conceives of wonderful projects that delight and inspire the children, while exposing them to a variety of media and styles of creation.  Her projects run from the very basic joys of putting pencil to paper, or glue to recycled objects, to the sophisticated concepts of shading, layout and even some art history.  The kids are inspired by their own dreams, fantasies and everyday life, as well as by the works of famous artists.  Some of the projects run for several weeks and the complex products are amazing.  For instance, a small drawing of a sea turtle becomes a painting, becomes a cut-out, become part of a fantastic glittery oceanic diorama filled with sea life, and ultimately becomes part of a large display of undersea dioramas together as a whole piece.  And the piece is truly beautiful.

Deborah is a gifted teacher -- she is not only well-schooled in various styles of art, but she has a way with children.  She knows how to give constructive criticism without damaging the artist's self-esteem or inflicting self-consciousness.  She speaks to the kids with respect and sympathy, but does not give them false praise.  I have seen the children grow under her direction.  She is able to manage a group, while finding the time to focus on the individual as well.  Most importantly, the children love her and look forward to her class each week.

Deborah goes out of her way to provide the children with special experiences as budding artists outside the classroom.  For instance, she enrolled her class in a city-wide art competition several years running, and it was great for the kids to see their work displayed in a professional public venue.  Several of her students even won the competition for their age groups, which says a lot and the quality of the artworks produced by her group.  Deborah also arranged for the kids to display their work closer to home, in a neighborhood gallery and then in several local store windows.  With each exhibit, the kids got a huge kick out of seeing their work displayed for the public, and it gave them a wonderful sense of accomplishment.  The message that their creations are "good enough" to be shown to the world is a gift they were given by this thoughtful and dedicated teacher.

I also want to say that Deborah is not only a special teacher, but a very talented artist and a lovely person.  It has been my great pleasure to know her, through my children, and I recommend her own artwork and her Art for a Start program to everyone I know.

New York, NY

My 8 year old daughter has been attending Deborah Wasserman’s art program for 4 years and loves the program. Deborah helps bring out the creativity in the children in her classes. She teaches the children the different elements of art such as space, texture, color, tone, etc. Deborah puts a lot of thought into the lessons and creates themes by selecting specific artists to learn from. One example is a recent class focusing on Pop Artist Jasper Johns and his Flag series. The children worked on collages as well as paintings. Another example (and favorite of the children) was the Animal Dioramas. The children spent a number of classes creating the elements of the diorama and then putting all the pieces together into the final piece. It was exciting to watch the Dioramas come together. I highly recommend joining one of Deborah’s classes

New York, NY

My daughter Sarina, 5 1/2 loves Deborah's art class. She has been attending since the fall session and we travel from Long Island City just to take the class. Every week the kids learn about a new technique, from pop art, drawing about food, themes about the holidays like Halloween, and Japanese lettering. Deborah brings so many materials to the class to help teach the kids and sets everything up before they get there. It's amazing what they can accomplish in one hour and how advanced the classes can get for such young kids. They listen to her and then attempt the day's lesson on their own. This is basically the only time my daughter will sit for an hour and work on something! She is proud of her work and it is hanging up all over her room. I also have some of her art work at the office. This class has provided a creativity outlet for Sarina and also makes her learn about practice and discipline. I highly recommend Deborah's class.

New York, NY

My 7 year old so has been taking Deborah Wasserman’s Tuesday class since the fall, and loves it! Deborah is a wonderful teacher – Enthusiastic and warm, and she inspires kids to work in a very thoughtful way.  She picks fun, age-appropriate imaginative projects in variety of media, and has been introducing art history as well.  They have been creating lovely artwork, and the class is the highlight of my son’s week.

New York, NY

My 10 year old son has been attending ART FOR A START for a couple months now and he seems to enjoy it a lot.  The class is well structured and has a theme for each class. Deborah sends out an email to us prior to the week’s class on what they will be working on in class that week.  The artists explored in class are very interesting.  The class projects are very colorful and fun for the kids.  My son is always excited about going to class.  Her theme always coincides with the time of the year.

New York, NY

My 6-year old daughter is enjoying Art for Start for the second year in a row. She insists she wants to continue next year as well. She is dreaming of becoming an artist like Ms. Deborah, her teacher and role model. The program is well structured and diverse and I am sure that she will never get bored.... The teacher is well organized with parents receiving weekly emails about the upcoming class. Both teacher and children are nice and friendly. My daughter is learning about different artists, techniques, painting, drawing, cutting, stitching and sewing.  I have several of her creations made during class displayed around the house and I love the fact that she found something she truly enjoys. I am wholeheartedly recommending this program !!! It opens children's eyes to appreciate beautiful things and many forms of art.

New York, NY