Professor Samaras: May 2026

Emotional Regulation Through Art 2

Professional Learning, Trenton, NJ

With Triada Samaras MA / MFA Master Level Teaching Artist

with Michelle Marigliano, Senior Director of Education and Equity

and Robert Keyes, Arts Supervisor, Trenton Board of Education

5/20/2026

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This interactive workshop introduces mindful visual arts practices that support emotional regulation and student/teacher well-being. Teachers will explore techniques such as breath drawing, slow drawing, mandala creation, mindful doodling, and collage, using hands-on materials to cultivate focus, reflection, expression, calm, and connection. Teachers will learn how to guide students in using these practices to reflect on their emotions and experiences, fostering self-regulation. Activities can be brief exercises to support focus before lessons or assessments, or they can form the basis for full art lessons, making the workshop suitable for K–12 art and other content-area teachers. Teachers will leave with practical strategies to foster creative agency, student voice, and responsible engagement in any classroom.

Target Audience: K–12 Teachers

Aligned Standards: New Jersey Visual & Performing Arts Standards, Social-Emotional Learning Standards

Mindfulness Art has 'cousins' in other well-known art movements:

Neo-Expressionism / Graffiti / Street Art

Below Artworks: Keith Haring American

Keith Haring - Wikipedia

Below Artworks: Jean Michel Basquiat American

Jean-Michel Basquiat - Wikipedia

Outsider Art

Below Artwork: Y.m.Lo Japanese b. 1982

Description of Workshop

In today’s workshop, Trenton High School art teachers revisited breath meditation drawings before diving into a new modality: body scan drawings.

The process began with a guided body scan meditation. From there, the group experimented with various black-and-white drawing tools and papers. During the session, the discussion covered the use of stencils versus freehand drawing, as well as the timing and selection of writing prompts for students. This included an explanation of how to use AI to generate these prompts and scripts for the classroom.

The teachers largely favored experiential, hands-on writing prompts over options that felt too analytical or cerebral—a preference that was especially emphasized by the special education art teacher. The group wrapped up with plans to experiment with these new techniques back in their own classrooms.

Photographs of Workshop:

Art Teachers in Action