Ready, set, create—that was the theme for this year’s Art Camp. Campers unleashed their imaginations, set their creativity free, and enjoyed learning new techniques in multiple mediums. Day one, campers experienced sketching with Julie Peterson-Shea. Zeroing in on perspective and lines, Julie took the kiddos on a learning journey that encouraged them to keep their work in proper perspective, but also to think creatively. On the second day of camp, instructor Laurie Albin took the kiddos on a watercolor learning expedition. After reviewing basic watercolor methods, campers were invited to embark on an underwater artistic adventure. Using pictures of sea horses, octopuses, exotic fish, and coral, campers created their own sea world. There were two campers who preferred flowers to fish and embarked on painting floral arrangements. Day three was full of new and exciting escapades. Rebel Mahieu led the campers into the realm of mixed media and introduced the concept that art does not have to be permanent. Younger campers dove into culinary arts by creating a cookie design first on paper and then transferred the design to their cookie using a wide variety of confections. This was a huge hit with the kiddos. Older campers spent the third day of camp inspecting texture, dimensionality, and the idea of only creating a portion of a subject could be just as interesting as the whole. Each camper chose a cross-section of a piece of fruit or dandelion to study its texture. Then using paint, glue, torn paper, and felt, campers were tasked with recreating the textures and dimensionality of their subject. Understanding that dark colors take the eye to the background and light colors lead the eye to the foreground, they were better able to proportionally create their composition. The 7th Annual Art Camp was a successful voyage of learning and enjoying different mediums and artistic points of view. Photos from the week have been posted on the Hansen Museum Facebook page.
