Street art, graffiti classes for families offered this summer on Long Island

Street art once found primarily in subways and abandoned spaces is now an art form zooming to stardom. Today, graffiti and street artists are often commissioned to create works that can be found in museums and donning clothing and accessories. Think: Sprayground backpacks. “I feel the shift happening,” says Julia LaMarca, director One River School of Art + Design in Port Jefferson. “There’s a lot of support these days for commissioned murals on large, public spaces.” To encourage exploration of art forms, Long Island art schools and camps for kids and teens are offering classes where street art experimentation can take place in controlled settings. Ryleigh Spark, 7, of Manorville, and her cousin, Julia Mars, 8, of Patchogue, pick from the hundreds of pre-made stencils at Graff Lab Studio in Holtsville on April 26. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin At One River, basic street art summer and digital street art workshops introduce elementary through high school-aged students to the history of the art and kick-start experimentation in a classroom setting. La Marca says she tells the students before she begins each class, “This isn’t meant to secretly mark up a wall somewhere, because that’s illegal. We’re expressing ourselves with street art on...