We have had a fantastic summer here in the art studio. It is hard to believe it is almost over and that kids will all be back in school soon! We have been very busy this summer with lots of camps, classes, workshops, and events. I thought you might be interested in seeing what all of our artists have been up to...

Camps

We started our Summer camp back in May with a mini camp for 4 and 5 year olds. This camp was based on the Reggio approach to art which focuses heavily on process art and uses lots of natural elements as part of the creative medium.

The children enjoyed painting and exploring with our grass and leaf "paint brushes" during our Reggio Inspired Camp.

Between art projects "Mama Gayle" lead the children in various musical explorations, story telling, and movement games.

Our second  camp of the summer was our Art and Science camp. This one was geared to children 6-9. We had a blast experimenting with various ways in which art and science cross paths! Mama Gayle led the children in thinking through the scientific method and forming hypotheses about our various projects.

In Art & Science camp we had a ton of fun experimenting with color and reflections among other experiments.

 We hosted Jody Collins this summer with his Intro to Graphic Design camps. He ran two camps this year, one for 8-11 year olds and one for teens. Both camps were a ton of fun. The students learned basic layout and design principals, they worked on lettering and logos, and they completed a portfolio. The camps both culminated in a portfolio review from professional graphic designers from the Knoxville area.

Jody with the boys from his first group; Paloma was brought in to teach advanced hand lettering techniques in the older group.

We had a ton of fun in our Fiber Arts camp as well. This camp was geared to kids aged 9 and up. This week the group was smaller than our other camps which led to a very laid back and chill group of gals! We worked on a variety of fiber art projects including felting techniques, hand sewing, weaving, and fabric collage.

Weaving trees made from yarn and golden rod branches.

The Gals, showing off their hand sewn bracelets!

Our final camp of the summer was our Art Around the World Camp. This camp was a ton of fun. Each day we explored traditional stories, songs, dances, and art from a different Continent. Mama Gayle went all out finding amazing stories and songs to go with each day's theme. The kids all really seemed to especially enjoy the dances! On Monday we looked at Europe, Tuesday was the Americas, Wednesday we studied Australia, Thursday was Africa, and Friday was Asia. We had so much fun exploring cultures this week, we were left wanting more...there is only so much you can fit into a week after all! We will likely revisit this camp again.
We were very lucky this week to have a student who was born in Australia. On Australia day she brought in some wonderful books and art to share with the group!

Our "Stained Glass Windows," from Europe day.

A camper working her Mexican Folk art inspired mirror; And some Aboriginal inspired dot art.

We enjoyed music, stories, songs, and dance every day, but one of my favorites was the drum circles from Africa day.

Adult Classes and Workshops

Art Show

With the first Friday in June, we hosted an art show called the Nasty Women Art Exhibition. The show was organized by a local artist, Debi Campbell as part of a larger international movement where art shows of the same name raise awareness and money to support women's issues. Our show hosted over 45 artists from all over and 4 separate businesses participated in hosting the show. We were one. The show raised over $1000 which was divided between two local organizations.

1. Knoxville Girls Rock camp, which empowers young girls through music.
2. Knoxville Family Crisis Center, which supports women and families in crisis. 

Open Studio projects are all unstructured, there is no lesson. It is a session open to walk in artists of all ages and they choose what they want to make! These were some projects form this summer.

Can you spot Waldo? ;)

Me being interviewed on WUTK by Janelle aboutthe event; Game Board; A finished "Picasso"

Rock Painting Party; Nayeema, Painted Rocks