For the past two weeks, budding Picassos went to town painting, sketching, sculpting and singing at the first summer fine arts camp organized by the Winters Community Art Club.
Right: Campers pose in front of the mural they painted together
Thirteen children took a week of sculpture and 21 signed up for a week of painting and sketching at Winters College as part of the Summer Art Intensive camp. At the end of each week they put their work on display in Winters Art Gallery and invited their parents to the exhibition.
Children and parents were enthusiastic about the camp run by York fine arts students.
After showing her mother her watercolours displayed on the wall, Sophia Makita said she really liked the painting and drawing camp. "I made lots of new friends and I learnt new techniques," she said. "Now I can go on to the advanced class next year."
Left: Sophia Makita shows off one of the watercolour she did with sponges
Ying Shan liked the camp "because it was fun." She really enjoyed painting the mural with the other students.
Cherrice Pryce attended the camp and "she loved it," said her mother Jordanna.
Parent reviews have been really positive, said camp co-director Sarah Helen Epp, a fourth-year visual arts and psychology undergraduate at York. "Summer Art Intensive has been an exciting two weeks filled with colour, music and fun. It was a pleasure to collaborate with the young artist,creating paper mache projects along with a group mural. Together we created a caring and creative environment. I enjoyed meeting parents from the York community and look forward to providing their children future programming."
Epp and classmate Christina Akrong co-founded the Winters Community Art Club last year to offer local children creative after-school activities and give York fine arts students a chance to design and present arts-based programs. Since last fall, the club has offered sculpture, painting and drama programs to children aged 7 to 12.
At the summer camp, the children spent their days working individually and in groups on sculptures, sketchbooks and new painting and drawing techniques.
Right: Christina Akrong, with guitar, leads campers in a singalong
During breaks, they played games or sang songs together outside with co-director Akrong, a theatre grad now enrolled in York’s Graduate Program in Education.
Summer camp facilitators were Claudia Corradetti, a visual arts major, and Reiko Shindo, a master’s student in political science.
Financial support for the art project comes from Winters College, the Faculty of Fine Arts, the Creative Arts Student Association at York, and the Pepsi Fund.