Strawtown Studio

10/15/2026

🍃Mossy, Rocky, Dappled Light, Serenity, Beauty, Peace… words that describe the NEW Highland Falls Preserve, written by visitors on bark from the pitch pine trees 🌲at the overlook.

Strawtown artists were there for the Opening Day special events, Oct. 3rd. We engaged visitors in artful visiting, slowing down and noticing more. To bring news of the preserve into town we brought the words back to the studio and assembled this community mobile! Come see it on exhibit at the Library through Oct. 29th and visit the preserve!

This is a great season to visit the preserve. There is a wonderful Rocky trail with glacial erratic boulders, opening up to an expansive view of the Hudson River! The trail is a 1-mile loop of moderate difficulty and there is a beautiful picnic area at the entrance.

Address:
20 Havens Road,
Highland Falls, NY
just to the south of West Point

This was our first time taking part in celebrating land conservation and it was very meaningful to learn all that has gone into the years, and detailing of making this happen. Tremendous thanks to , , local volunteers, funding partners, and all who contributed their efforts to preserve this gorgeous habitat on the river!

10/14/2026

🍂 Our first Earth Art Afterschool at Marydell in Upper Nyack happened to land on a special day, the Fall Equinox!

On the equinox, day and night are equal. To celebrate, our young artists created Equinox Circles made of cardboard circles colored half blue for day and half black for night. We then embellished them with treasures gathered on our nature walk.

As part of our nature exploration we looked for signs of the season changing - truly evidence of time passing as our earth orbits ‘round the sun.
We also shared our favorite things about fall: pumpkins, the changing leaves, adding a cozy blanket to the bed, and pulling on a warm sweater. 🎃🍁

The lesson we're carrying with us from this experience is that when we slow down and pay close attention, we can see the interplay in life and appreciate the balancing point before all changes again. 🌗

10/13/2026

Our InHabit Art program is growing by leaps and bounds! We just launched our 4th year partnering with the Haverstraw Rec Center, and our youth participation has nearly doubled! The children are learning what more there is to love about where they live, and finding more to appreciate about themselves at the same time. ☀️🌿🐿🦊

Great thanks to all our partners who make this program possible, the staff at the Center, especially Leo Moreno who has been championing this program, and always has something amazing to say, like this:

“There is art everywhere. Art is not just in painting and drawing. There is art in science, there’s art in math, there’s art in everything. And I didn’t know that until I did this program.” - Leo Moreno, Haverstraw Rec Ctr Counselor

Special thanks to the following whose support makes these programs possible:

Find Your Light Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
NYS Council on the Arts
Rockland County Youth Bureau
Two West Foundation
And private foundations and generous individuals!

10/08/2026

Not everyone moves through an experience or a moment the same way - some move quickly, some slowly, some take time for details, or engage in hands-on inquiry, while others are more sensory.

At Strawtown, we are highly attuned to this and are interested in how each child discovers their own sense of timing. We create our programs to have variability in how the children can engage in the activities and outings.

We think one of the greatest gifts we can give a child is to come to know their own ways in the world. This contributes largely to why our programs are the antidote for the over-scheduled child. They relax into time differently. Even when it is just for a few hours it can make a huge difference in their self knowing.

In our studio there is a framed postcard with the words Take Your Time. For fun we like to invite children to read it aloud, saying it as Take YOUR Time. They often pause for a moment to reflect and smile 🙂

We wish for all to take Your time, however that might look and feel for you.

10/07/2026


This is what Land Preservation with Nature, Art & Community Looks Like!!! 🎉🌿🎨🎭🙌

We couldn’t have been more thrilled taking part with Scenic Hudson in the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Highland Falls Nature Preserve this past Saturday!! 🎉

32 gorgeous acres of pine, maple and oak forest overlooking the Hudson River are now protected to be treasured for generations to come! The new Highland Falls Preserve, located just south of West Point, has been created through a collaboration between Scenic Hudson and the Village of Highland Falls. ☀️🌿🌳

The day included a parade as part of the commemoration of 120 years of the Village. To festively represent the preserve and its wildlife in the parade, we created animals-of-the-preserve head pieces to wear, and passed out little gold-painted sticks with a message that read “Come find the Magic of the Highland Falls Preserve!” 🦊🦌🦎🦅🐻🦉🐿️

Visitors were guided to create a commemorative artwork at the entrance of the preserve: an illustration of the gorgeous river view at the top of the trail, to which nature pigments were painted as a border: maple leaf, soil and river clay.

As they walked the path, guests were also invited to write a descriptive word of their impression of the preserve to a piece of bark that will be added to a community nature mobile. This will be installed in the Highland Falls Library, and then later moved to Village Hall, to remind residents to come back to the preserve often!

We loved meeting and celebrating with so many of the folks who live here and were part of protecting this special place! Giving a voice to the beings who inhabit the land, and welcoming children and families to discover their new park in a town that has little green space, was incredibly inspiring for us.

We are grateful for seeing Scenic Hudson’s work up close and the opportunity to partner with their staff. And extra great thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help us produce the event! The magic of nature, art and community was truly experienced! ✨⭐️💫

10/06/2026

Do you have a favorite season? Tell us why!

For everyone at Strawtown, each season in the Hudson Valley is amazing and it’s difficult to pick just one. Spring means the first skunk cabbage pushing up through the mud, while summer gives us an opportunity to cool our bare feet in rivers and creeks. Fall paints the whole valley with a vivid array of colors, practically overnight, while winter slows and quiets everything down - we leave footprints in fresh snow, marvel at ice formations, and witness the sculptural beauty with bare branches.

With nature as teacher, every season brings something the others can't, and no two seasons are alike!

Tell us your favorite season with a reason in the comments 👇🍂🌊❄️🌱

10/01/2026

This stunning view shows the place where a lot of Strawtown’s story happens. Our Nyack site, at Marydell Faith & Life Center, is right at the base of Hook Mountain (lower left) - with the glacially formed Rockland Lake, sitting above, and the Hudson passing by.

We are blessed to have river, mountain, meadow, and woods, all within walking distance. It’s here that we are able to create memorable experiences for our young program participants, introducing them to the incredible diverse habitats and natural beauty around them, connecting them to the place where they live.

Learn more at: Strawtownstudio.org

09/30/2026

Surprising new discoveries are made all the time at Strawtown Studio 🌱

This is an image of clay harvested along a streambank that has been pressed and turned into an artwork with a skunk cabbage fruit ball from nearby.

Every ridge and hollow is an impression of something that actually grew here and through human imagination and ingenuity it has a lasting fingerprint for all to enjoy.

SleepyHollow

09/30/2026

Don't miss this event! Strawtown will be there with a fun activity and lots of good company! 🎨🍁👏

Come explore the Hudson Valley’s newest hiking and picnic spot! Join us for the grand opening of Highland Falls Preserve as part of the Village of Highland Falls’ 120th anniversary […]

09/29/2026

What Happens When You Over-Schedule Children?

More activities doesn't always mean more benefit. Research has found that children with heavily packed schedules of enrichment activities report higher rates of anxiety and mood difficulty.

Studies on children's daily routines have found that kids with less structured time actually show stronger self-directed executive function (planning, self-control, follow-through) - the very skills that busy parents are often trying to build through more structured activities.

The alternative isn't doing nothing. It's protecting real unstructured time - time with no agenda, no adult running the show, and no "next thing" waiting. Researchers have found this kind of free play supports emotional regulation, creativity, problem-solving, and even stronger peer relationships.

This is exactly the space Strawtown creates for children: long stretches of unscheduled time in the woods, art materials on hand with prompts but no required project, and adults who guide gently rather than direct constantly.

One student, when HER PARENT asked if she wanted to drop a class because she felt overscheduled, told her mom “Keep MY Strawtown class! It is THE one place I feel relaxed and can be free TO EXPLORE “