Our Founder
Hi! My name is Shayla and I'm the founder of Paper Playground. Art has been my passion since I was a young child. Growing up, I loved to draw, paint, and sew. As a teenager, I fell in love with fashion and began sketching my own designs and dreamt of becoming a fashion designer. After receiving an AAS in fashion design from FIT, and a BS in business management from Stony Brook University, I worked in the fashion industry for nearly a decade. In 2017, I began volunteering with a non-profit organization that facilitated literacy and art workshops with children living in the Brownsville Houses in Brooklyn, NY. My experience with those children and the families from Brownsville was life-changing and inspired me to pursue a career in education. I went on to earn a master’s degree (MSEd) in early childhood education from Hunter College and worked as a Pre-K teacher at a public school in Brooklyn before launching Paper Playground. I'm a wife and mother of two young children, and my favorite thing to create with my kids is their Halloween costumes!
Paper Playground unites my love of art with my love of teaching. I’m excited to share my passion for creating, and I look forward to all the unique creations that will come to life in our classes!
Process Art
At Paper Playground, we value process-oriented art because we believe that it encourages and promotes creativity. Process art focuses on the process of creating rather than the outcome or result like many copycat crafts. When focused on the process, every child learns that their ideas are interesting, valuable, and worthy of appreciation. While many of our classes and projects are themed, our artists are always encouraged to explore their own ideas, experiment, and create artwork in a way that truly represents themselves.
