Art Studio summer camp offers eclectic fun activities
The dog days of summer are approaching as schools begin their summer breaks, and kids and parents are often wondering and planning how to spend their time off.
The Art Studio, Inc. has the plan by again hosting its annual two-week ARTSkool, July 23-27 and July 30-Aug. 3, at the 720 Franklin St. location in downtown Beaumont.
Parents can sign students up for morning and/or afternoon sessions that offer Drawing and Color Theory, Printmaking, Mixed Media Project, Ceramics and Raku, Film Photography and Papier Mâché. Students will get exposure to all the sessions each week and get to show off their work with an opening reception each Friday evening.
Paisley Polk, instructor for the papier mâché and co-instructor for the photography section, said the course offerings have something for everyone.
“The idea is for students to get a good, hands-on experience with making art,” Polk said. “Art is about getting your hands dirty, and The Studio is a good place for students to interact with working artists and see how they work. I think it is a very genuine experience.”
Polk is teaching at ARTSkool for the second year and has been involved with the program for three years. In addition, her mother, artist Gina Garcia, is the ARTSkool program director.
“I love teaching, I love seeing the kids learn and how they react when they make something,” Garcia said. “We always have a lot fun, and the students get a real experience from it that is unlike anything else in the area.”
Polk added that students should be willing to sweat a little bit and work hard and to “dress for the mess.” She reminds parents and students to pack a sack lunch and that the famous Studio pink lemonade, along with water, will be available to attendees.
“It’s a great art experience. Students get to practice a medium — it’s not just some random arts and crafts class where kids make a set item,” Polk said. “They get to explore and learn about different media — it is an art education class, not just busy work.
“We explore major movements and artists throughout art history.”
Polk said it is great to work with her Mom.
“It’s easy. We have many similar influences we share like Basquiat and modern abstract art,” Polk said. “So yeah, we get to spend time together making art, and it’s a great experience for both of us.”
Polk encourages students to bring spare parts and pieces of toys or items to include in their papier mâché work.
“It’s not required, but, for example, last year some students brought pieces of circuit boards and toys to put in their work, and things came out really cool,” she said.
ARTSkool director Garcia said she sees the program as something for students to build on.
“Students that come to ARTSkool really get a foundational exposure to art,” she said. “Our hope is that the classes encourage kids to explore their creative side more and that the classes also give them some of the technical knowledge of how to produce their ideas and how to problem solve.”
Garcia said she saw the idea germinate when her daughter Paisley was a student in the program.
“We give students the tools and knowledge so that when they go home they can continue to be creative and work on their ideas,” Garcia said. “We’ve had students like Avril Falgout that took one session and then took their interests to the next level with winning major art contests and earning scholarships and study abroad opportunities.”
Port Neches native Falgout, then 17, won the 2015 TASIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Member Jurored Art Exhibition) competition over 66 other entries and was invited to the Lawndale “Big Show” for contemporary art in Houston. She is also graduate of the Texas Academy of Leadership in Humanities at Lamar University and after completing that program was accepted into an art history degree program at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
“It’s learning at your own pace,” Garcia said. “It’s very individual, and students get to make what they want and develop their own ideas, and The Studio wants to share that process with other kids in the area.
“This is an opportunity for students of all skill levels. The class builds their confidence. It’s a chance for them to build on their ideas to the next level if that is what they want. We say to the kids that, ‘Hey, you have this talent within you. This a chance for you to develop it however you want.’”
Garcia said students are broken down into age groups and experience levels so they can pursue their interests. Some students return to ARTSkool for multiple years, and Garcia said not all the students will need the same instruction or direction to begin.
“My daughter is an excellent teacher because she has a great rapport with the kids,” she said. “She definitely has her own point of view as an artist, and I love seeing her work her ideas out with other students, and sometimes she can convey an idea better than the adults can.”
Garcia said she hopes students leave with the skills and tools to grow and create art in their day-to-day world at home and decide in what direction to take their work further.
Classes are for ages 8 years old and up, and each session, morning or afternoon, is $100 a week. Morning sessions are from 9 a.m.-noon, and afternoon sessions are from 1 p.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday.
There is a weekly exhibition each Friday evening from 5 p.m.-6 p.m for students and their family and friends. Students take their projects home after the reception on Fridays.
For more information, call 409-838-5393, or visit www.artstudio.org.
Story by Stephan Malick, ISSUE staff writer
