2011 - A Smokin' Summer Kids & Teens Art Camp

Leslie Delgyer guides students in 'endangered animal' art

As we all move through our third solid year of an economic downturn, many societal changes have caused such a ripple effect in the education industry that many of the state's art programs in schools have been almost completely slashed. Perhaps that's why this year the Children's and Teen Art Camp was flush with enthusiastic youth. And talented too were they! duCret, who has always held workshops throughout the year for children, also hosts a two week summer art camp each year, which splits into two age groups. Differing from the seasonal 8 week workshops in the Fall and Spring semesters, at Art Camp, the younger group (ages 6 - 10) and the older group (ages 11 - 15) meet at the same time and stay on at the school for two solid weeks. However the agendas of each group are very different, due to the drastic difference in ages.

Liz Velez guides in brush technique

Geared toward helping the talented young to understand some of the basic foundational principles of art, in the younger group, each child in class is encouraged to experiment with varying mediums, in a practice that enables foundational art education-while-creating. Even at the tender age of six or seven, a child knows whether art is a soul inclination. For the artistic borne, this usually manifests in alot of drawing or designing behavior. Starting them this young enables them to absorb the foundational skills at a faster rate so that as they become older, they have the ability to explore their own unique gifts more easily, as they have basic color and value understandings well underfoot.

For the older groups, during their two week stay, they are given the gift of 5 different art teachers so that they may not only absorb different methods of applying foundation skills, but they are exposed to different art styles and views as well. This Fall Semester duCret will run a series of Saturday Workshops for 8 weeks, beginning on October 1, from 9:30 - 11:30am for both groups @ $165.00. Call 908-757-7171 to register.