Week Ten: The Art of Mathematics, Landscape Drawings, and Chainmaking Studio

This week’s photos were taken by Moses LaSabra.

The Art of Mathematics
Teaching Artist: Jenny Ernst

Campers made works of art with surprisingly beautiful mathematical patterns. They learned to fold Japanese origami and cut paper folds that stretch out to reveal reflecting figures. Campers also used straight lines to create optical illusions you only thought could be done on a computer!

Mixed Media Landscape Drawings
Teaching Artist: Gabriela Nunez

Campers experimented with drawing materials including charcoal, ink, graphite and more! They used the outdoors as subject matter and inspiration. They also explored shading, texture, line quality, and composition.

Wire Sculpture & Chainmaking Studio
Teaching Artist: David Dawson

Campers learned a variety of ways to make shapes from metal wire- from ancient Etruscan and Roman chain patterns to fanciful three-dimensional drawings in multi-colored wire. Basic techniques and tools for manipulating brass, copper, and nickel wire were explored.

Week Nine: Plastic Fantastic and Costumes with David

This week’s photos were taken by Moses LaSabra.

Plastic Fantastic
Teaching Artist: Laurel Nathanson

Did you know Plexiglas can be used for more than just windows and cocktail menu stands? In this course the campers were able to use the transparent properties of Plexi to create one of a kind wall pieces. Using traditional art processes such as collage, painting and drawing, campers worked directly on and under different layers of Plexi creating a colorful multilayered creations.

Costumes with David
Teaching Artist: David Dawson

Build yourself a new face! Not that the one you’ve got isn’t excellent already, but why have only one when you could have two? A costume is art you can wear! In this class campers learned a variety of mask-making, garment alteration and sculpture techniques along with a lot of imagination to make characters come to life on the stage or on the street. Campers transformed plaster, foam, wire, knits and knick-knacks into durable, dynamic and dramatic costumes.

Week Eight: Cartooning, Woodworking, and B Boy/B Girl Dance

This week’s photos were taken by Moses LaSabra.

Cartooning
Teaching Artist: Doug Calderon
Campers learned to develop their drawing skill by exploring cartooning. They explored character development and storytelling. They created their own cartoon characters and comic strips. Drawing and inking techniques were used, in addition to writing a comic book story.

Woodworking
Teaching Artist: David Dawson
Starting with pieces of rare and beautiful wood, campers designed their own box with either a hinged or fitted lid, a secret compartment, and perhaps inlaid mosaic designs. Using handsaws, sanders, files, drills, clamps and glue, they cut, assembled and finished their own finely crafted pieces of functional art.

Intro to B Boy / B Girl Dance
Teaching Artist: Dereek “DerLeek”
B – Boy / B – Girl dancing is an exciting style of breakdancing that goes beyond the basics of breakdancing. In this class the basics to breakdancing were covered. The campers were introduced to the components that are found in “B – Boy / B – Girl”. Some styles included: the breakdown of battles (battle of skills), leg sweeps, power movers and freezes.

Below are pictures of the Friday dance performance:

Week Seven: Clay Handbuilding, Crazy Creature Re-Mix, Pop Art Pet Paintings, Yoga

This week’s photos were taken by Moses LaSabra.

Clay Handbuilding
Teaching Artist: Shuhui Yang
Campers learned how to make pottery and sculpture using the hand building techniques of pinching and coiling. Projects included cups, bowls, and animal sculptures.

Crazy Creature Re-Mix
Teaching Artist: Meredith MacLeod
Campers created their our own monsters out of pieces of other stuffed animals and dolls. They used hand sewing, hot glue and other techniques to make their creatures come to life!

Pop Art Pet Paintings
Teaching Artist: Annie Goodsill
Campers learned about Pop Art while painting colorful pictures of their pets. Techniques learned included line, use of color, composition, and abstraction. If they didn’t have a pet, they painted an imaginary one!

Week Six: Jewelry, Fashion, and Soapmaking

Laurel Nathanson was incredible with the kids in the Mixed Media Jewelry class. The class helped the kids learn different materials and processes in order to create wearable art. Materials included beads, different cords and stringing materials, copper and brass. I was able to photograph Laurel and the campers on the first day of this class. They practiced making coils out of copper wire:

Here they are busy making mixed media jewelry masterpieces:

And here are some of the final mixed media jewelry creations:

On the first day of Meredith Macleod’s Fantastic Fashion sewing class, campers worked with basic patterns and home sewing machines to create pieces of fashion. The campers practiced creating everything from bags to dresses. Before making their final pieces, they practiced sewing techniques on small samples and more basic pieces in order to practice for more challenging work:

Towards the end of the week, Moses took photos of the campers wearing their remarkable fashion pieces. Here are some of the images:

In Soap, Scents and Color, taught by artist Judy Rattner, campers are exposed to creating soap by melting different types glycerin soaps. For each soap one scent is mixed into the soap then the color is added and then the mixture is poured into the mold of choice. For this week’s soap class, campers got more adventurous with the shapes and concepts for their soap pieces. For example, here’s slices of soap molded into slices of strawberry shortcake:

Week 5: Cartooneria, Capoeira, Digital Photography, Exquisite Embellishments & Embroidery

Another great week of classes! The photos this week were taken by Moses LaSabra, co-founder of the camp.

In Cartooneria (Paper Mache) class campers used recycled materials to create colorful 3D pieces of art such as animals, vases, boxes, bowls and plates. Art pieces were then painted and decorated. Here are the campers, along with Artist Instructor Gabriela Nunez:

In Capoeira class taught by Melissa Crago, campers learned basic Capoeria movements and defenses, learned Capoeira songs in Portuguese, and learned how to play the basic instruments used in Capoeira. They focused on basic acrobatics and tumbling. These photos were taken during the Friday performance:

In the Exquisite Embellishments class taught by Meredith MacLeod, campers used fabric paint, photo transfers, raised relief sewing, embroidery, buttons, and sequins to create very special dimensional textile works of art. Here they are working on their pieces alongside Artist Instructor Meredith:

For Moses LaSabra’s class Digital Photography, campers used digital cameras and learned how to take photos. The class was divided into small groups. The campers took turns photographing one another. The focus of the class was portraits and taking people photographs. The photos were printed at camp using a color printer. Students then were given a chance to make their own picture frames for their photos. Here they are taking photos and making picture frames:

Week Four: Fantasy Cars, Frosting Madness and World Textiles

During Week Four Moses LaSabra had an amazingly cool class. Called Fantasy Car Creations, campers begin their project with a rectangular piece of wood and 4 wooden wheels. They then add found objects to create their own unique fantasy car. Working with small toys, pieces of plastic, wooden shapes, beads, shells and other assorted materials, campers attach everything with hot glue. Here’s the campers at work on their cars:

Also, during Week Four, the kids got to take part in Frosting Madness with Melissa Crago. It’s Art with sugar! This class consisted of creating colorful frosting and painting with the frosting on graham crackers. I wasn’t able to watch the end but I assume they were allowed to eat their creations! Yummy!

In World Textiles with Kara Fortune, kids were allowed to explore Indonesian, African and Native American textile and printing techniques. Students created stamps, stencils, tie dying, and also block printing designs and patterns on fabric.

Fun Week!

Week Three: Painting, Sewing, Performance

Week 3 was a great week for me to see what my own daughter was doing. In particular, I saw her in Judy’s painting class, Inside Outside Landscape Painting. She was so excited to share her painting with me. It was a painting of a tree on the campus.

Week Two: Break Dancing and Environmental Sculpture

All pictures from this post by Moses LaSabra, Camp Co-Founder.

Park Day not only teaches visual arts, but it also has performing arts classes. One of its newest instructors, Derrick “DereLeek” (pronounced Dare-Leak) started breakdancing over 8 years ago. He has traveled the world, competed against some of the best dancers in the world, and won some of the most prestigious dance competitions. Here he is in class with the park day campers:

Also teaching this week, Mandy Lockwood, who teaches Environmental Sculpture. Salvaging materials from construction projects such as scrap lumber, windows, cabinet doors, and drawers, Amanda strives to literally impact the environment by keeping materials out of landfills and giving them a second life, while keeping nature and our relationship with it as the ongoing theme in her work. Here are some of her students at work:

Finally, the kids had more free play time! Here are some campers playing together on the campus structure:

Here are some campers hanging out with Counselors in Training:

Here’s one camper with great face paint:

And here are a few campers in the game room building plastic structures:

It was a wonderful week, again!

Week Two: Fun with Soap

Judy is at her absolute best when she is teaching her Soapmaking class. It’s offered this week as well as the week of July 19th-July 23rd.

The kids in the class are actively engage, respond well to suggestions, and love what they are making. I was able to sit in on the Blue Group class this week.

From what I gathered from watching the class, the kids take base supplies like white and clear glycerin. Then they add fragrances and color. They also add cute little accents like in the following photos:

They can also make molds:

Here are some more campers working on the process. They are creating layers, spraying each layer with alcohol to create a barrier, and then adding second layers:

Here is some gorgeous soap, made by all ages of campers during this week:

Week One: Cooking with Elise, Monster Madness, and Mixed Media

What a great first week! I was able to catch up with the teachers and students towards the end of the week. I was blown a way by all of the amazing work the kids were creating. I took too many photos for one blog entry.

I visited Cooking with Instructor Elise. The younger kids, the orange group, were in the classroom at the time. They were enjoying making fun shapes with “oil dough”. It was dough that was covered in oil so that it wouldn’t stick to the kids’ hands. They were taking cookie cutters and creating great shapes like hearts,  animals, and birds. They were having a blast.

Here are pictures from Mixed Media Painting with Instructor Mandy. What a class! The kids were so enthusiastically creating their pieces. Mandy gives them access to amazing things to use— decorated and painted paper, beads, magazines, artificial flowers, and fabric.

Here’s instructor Mandy in front of some of her work as well as examples of mixed media:

Here’s a few of the students at work:

And then there was the Monster Madness Class with Instructor Meredith! Kids love love love sewing. They also love love love Instructor Meredith. The kids in this class were older, the Blue group. Their work was very fine-tuned. I could tell a lot of them had been sewing for a few years. They had great mastery of the machines as well as hand-sewing techniques:

Here’s Instructor Meredith discussing the beauty of one of the monsters made by a student:

Here’s a monster made by Instructor Meredith:

A student busy working on her monster:

Students working at the sewing machines:

Week One: Art

Here’s some artwork from Week One at the camp. Beautiful work.

Week One: Water Play and Quiet Time

Every day there is an structured Quiet Time. It’s a good chance for the kids to read, to rest, and just to enjoy their friends. These photos were taken by Moses LaSabra, co-founder of the camp.

Also, Wednesday afternoons are for Water Play. The kids get to cool off in the water play pools, slide on the water slide, and just enjoy the summer. These photos were also taken by Moses LaSabra, co-founder of the camp.

First CIT Meeting

It was great to see all of the camp counselors, or CITs, today. I recognized some of the faces of the CITs from last year. For those returning CITs, this meeting gave them getting a chance to recall their camp responsibilities and duties. For the new CITs, this meeting was a chance to get a comprehensive introduction to the art camp. Both co-founders Judy Rattner and Moses LaSabra were there. Judy was running the CIT meeting and Moses was working on his own. With Judy was a new CIT instructor, Laurel Nathanson.

Here’s Judy talking to all of the CITs.

Here are a few CITs who have began at Park Day as campers themselves.

Judy was beaming. You can see in her eyes and actions… she truly loves being a part of the CITs summer lives!

Here’s Laurel Nathanson. She’s not only an instructor, but will be assisting Judy with her CIT work. You can see her work at http://www.laurelnathanson.com/.

Here’s Laurel taking part in the discussion.

Here are the counselors brainstorming ways to include all of the campers into the camp’s activities.

Moses LaSabra, the co-founder, was also on campus. It was nice to see him smiling and having fun with the counselors.

First Instructors’ Meeting

The Artist Instructors that work for Park Day Summer Arts Camp are so talented. I am blown away by their teaching experience and artistic backgrounds. I’m looking forward to getting to know them. Here a a few bios:

Annie Goodsill is a Bay Area native who is the assistant 4th grade art teacher at Prospect Sierra. She’ll be teaching Pop Art Pet Painting (Week 7: July 26-30).

Meredith MacLeod teaches in Oakland and Richmond schools. She loves making monsters and sewing. She’ll be teaching Monster Madness (Week 1: June 14-18) and Fantastic Fashion (Week 6: July 19-23). You can see her work at http://www.fostermonsters.com/.

This will be Melissa Crago‘s 3rd year returning teaching at the Park Day Summer Arts Camp, though she has been teaching youth in the Bay Area for 5 years. She’ll be teaching Capoeira (Week 5: July 12-16).

Moses LaSabra, Founder and Co-Director of Park Day Summer Arts Camp, has been teaching art classes to both adults and children throughout the Bay Area for the past 25 years. He’ll be teaching Fantasy Car Creations (Week 4: July 6-9).

David Dawson is a painter, a sculptor, a printmaker, and a full-time art teacher in Oakland. He will be teaching Woodworking (Week 8: August 2-6).

Derrick “DereLeek” (pronounced Dare-Leak) is a break dancer with over 8 years of experience.  His main focus now is teaching future generations of dancers. He’ll be teaching Intro to Break Dancing (Week 2: June 21-24). Check out his work at:  http://www.youtube.com/dereleekfflav.