Pottery Camps are a relaxing, yet exciting and enriching experience (source). Students in MUSEO’s Pottery camps learn to create fun and functional pieces of art that stand the test of time. Pottery is one of the world's oldest art forms and MUSEO is committed to bringing the magic of this ancient artform to today’s students. MUSEO’s Pottery camps are a unique and hands-on experience which allows students to imagine and create real world items and bring them to life.

A Dual Approach to Pottery: Hand-Building and Wheel Throwing
Each Pottery camp covers two main projects: hand-building and pottery wheel throwing. This approach allows students to explore multiple concepts and creation methods in a single day.

Recent research underscores the significant impact of art and drawing on child development. Engaging in artistic activities like drawing enhances memory recall, fine motor skills, emotional intelligence, creativity, and communication skills (source). At MUSEO, we strive to enrich the lives of our students by nurturing their artistic growth. Our summer camps are a memorable and fun way to help promote a well-rounded and fulfilling life for our students. MUSEO’s Drawing Camp (one of our most popular), integrates these elements to offer a holistic learning experience that will benefit these young artist for many years to come, wherever they go.

​At MUSEO Art Academy, we understand the profound impact art has on child development. Engaging in painting not only boosts creativity but also improves cognitive functions and emotional expression (source).  MUSEO’s Painting Camp offers an immersive experience where young artists can explore their creativity, develop essential life skills, and create priceless memories for years to come.

At MUSEO Art Academy, we recognize the profound influence of art on developing young minds. Sculpture, as a hands-on artistic medium, plays a vital role in enhancing spatial awareness, fine motor skills, and imaginative thinking. It’s also a healthy way to manage anxiety and stress (source). MUSEO’s Sculpture Camps are designed to provide a fun experience that fosters these abilities and helps prepare children for a creative and enriching adulthood.

​Mixed Media has an almost magical ability to unlock creative thinking and problem-solving because almost anything can become or be communicated through art (source). These skills not only serve kids during their formative years, but well into adulthood by giving them practical opportunities to play and think outside of the box. MUSEO Art Academy Mixed Media Camps provide a safe and engaging environment in which students are encouraged to experiment and explore new and captivating ways to express themselves creatively.

Space is limited and our (ages 5-13) camps are filling up fast for a summer filled with creativity and learning--ENROLL TODAY!

• - Mixed Media Camps​
• - Drawing Camps​
• - Painting Camps
• - Sculpture Camps
• - Pottery Camps

​
More MUSEO Programs:

• Weekly Classes (in-person)
• Weekly Classes (online)
• Birthday Parties

When we practice drawing a person either by creating a portrait, or drawing the full figure, we’re developing skills in character design. So what exactly is character design, and why is it important in animation or graphic novels?

Character design is the visual development of a character’s appearance. While it sounds straightforward, it’s more than just creating an awesome looking character. Artists use character design to further tell a story.

Consider your favorite cartoon, animation, or graphic novel. Who is your favorite character? You can also probably describe what features about this character make them so appealing to you. This is character design!

While the writing and dialogue in a graphic novel or animation are important for explaining a character; how that character looks, dresses, moves, and emotes, describes who a character is as a person. Character design will help you create a character that is not only appealing to those who view your work, but also tells a story about who this character is. You may even design someone’s favorite character one day!
​
Let’s cover a few skills we learn by drawing a character’s portrait or a full figure in class, as well as ways this can be applied to character design.
​

Proportions
We use proportions to make sure each facial feature, or body part, is drawn accurately. More importantly, proportions allow you to consistently draw a character multiple times "on character".

In graphic novels or animation, characters appear quite a bit throughout the story. You also see them from different angles (up close, far away, etc.). Imagine if a character looked slightly different (off character) each time you saw them. Wouldn’t that be confusing? Using proportions helps prevent this, and makes a character that can be drawn on character time and time again. By practicing drawing the body and face, we’re learning how to accurately and effectively use proportions to design consistent characters.
​

Visual Storytelling
When you look at a character you see many things. How old they are, what type of costume they’re wearing, how they style their hair. Did you know that these are also methods of visual storytelling?

A character who is just starting out on their first adventure looks different from a world-weary traveler. Likewise, a character from modern day looks very different from one 200 years ago.

How we design a character’s costume, or depict their age, are all tools we can use to tell a story about a character without writing or speaking a single word. Practicing adding costumes, assigning different ages, or using various hairstyles in our projects helps us learn how to create a wide range of different characters.
​

Emotions and Expressions
Emotions and expressions are essential for showing how a character feels at any given moment. This can add more interest and depth to your characters, instead of showing the same emotions all the time.

It’s exciting to know how a character feels about something; that’s what makes them so relatable! Practicing drawing expressions and poses are two ways we can learn to convey emotion in our characters, making them seem more real.

Exploring Different Style and Designs
While it’s common for many visual artists to create characters in a similar style, it’s not so good when all their characters look identical to one another. In Additionally important to building consistency in rendering a single character is creating diversity in multiple characters. What attributes dinstinguish one from another?

Experimenting with different proportions, eye designs, or other stylistic elements allows an artist to make a wide range of varying characters each with new unique appearances. Each time we create a portrait or figure in class, we have an opportunity to create a new character!
​

Great question! Art isn’t about learning something once and moving on from it forever. The more we practice and utilize these skills, the better we get at each technique.

Think about drawing a person. You’ve probably drawn a person when you were very young. Compare that to your character drawings from you recent Manga class. Are they the same? Probably not! This is because you’ve practiced drawing a lot since then.

You’ve also had many life experiences that have allowed you to observe people and put that into your work. Manga is the same way. The more you practice, the better your work will become!  
​        
We asked our Manga instructor, Gavin Cheng, about the importance of revisiting a concept over time. He said, "I actually have one character that I regularly redraw over and over again to see how my skills have progressed over time.” Gavin even provided us with examples of some of the character drawings he’s created over the years.

Notice how Gavin continued to practice his character design skills as he transitioned from traditional art materials (2007 - 2013) to digital art (2015 and later). “What I’ve learned from redraws is that there is no age or time limit when it comes to improving your art.” He suggests, “Always leave your progress open to improvement and you never know how your craft will change over time.”
​
Point being, just how Mr. Gavin has grown and improved his skills over time, so can you! Keep experimenting with the concepts and techniques you learn in class, and try pushing the boundaries on the characters you create. The more you practice character design, the more elaborate types of characters you can create.

Art classes can be structured in many different ways, so it’s important to know how and also why a studio structures their classes as they do when you’re looking to find the right place for your child.
 
Some studios might offer classes that last 4 or 8 or 12 weeks and then “graduate” students to the next level (like Painting I to Painting II), some studios might have classes geared around specific subjects like, “Animal Drawing”, or “Landscape Painting”, some might have one-time classes where you would sign up to learn how to create one specific work (like our Master Nights), or learn a specific technique or focus on a specific theme (like our Manga Nights).

The Philosophy: why we structure our classes like we do:
For us at Museo Art Academy, our art classes are structured around the concept of Process over Product.

If you’ve followed our blog much, you’ll know we talk about process over product ALL THE TIME, because we believe it’s suuuper important to children’s education, especially when it comes to art. (If you need a detailed refresher on what exactly process over product is, start here).
 
But to quickly summarize, process over product means we value HOW your child creates the product (what techniques they learn and utilize properly, whether they use creative problem solving, etc.) as opposed to valuing how the end product turns out (whether it’s “pretty” or looks exactly like the teacher’s version, or Monet’s version, etc.)
 
That means that in our art classes, we don't want our students to look at a teacher’s example and just try to re-create it, which could be simpler and take less time, but instead, we want to make sure that our students have the time necessary to learn each technique we discuss, to practice it, and to be able to understand WHY an artist would apply that particular technique.
 
Because we believe this provides the best and most well rounded education, our classes are structured over a longer time span, taking multiple weeks to complete a more complex project, as opposed to a short-term structure focused on producing a finished product after just one hour.​

​Emphasis on Personal Growth:
With a long-term approach to our classes, personal growth is also a huge focus in our teaching.
 
While spending a longer time focusing on the process of one medium, students get a chance to really practice their skills and develop their techniques.
 
Why? Because once students have learned about the concept of “perspective” in drawing class, for example, that doesn’t necessarily mean they can check that concept off as understood and move on to the next thing.
 
It means the concept of perspective can be and must be applied in an unlimited amount of new ways in whatever is being drawn and so practice and discussion and problem solving and new understanding must be happening each time that technique is used.
 
These skills and techniques don’t only apply within a single art form! One of the great things about the visual arts is that every aspect of art can help build skills in other areas.
 
In our General Art classes, we might have a drawing focus project one month, and a painting project the next. However, once we finish the drawing project, we don’t leave our newly acquired skills behind. We continue discussing drawing as we move into a painting project, and specifically cover how our drawing skills can be useful in planning out our painting. This works for all visual art forms, as the application of each helps develop a student’s understanding of the elements and principles of art. 
 
 
To summarize!
Our classes are structured as long-term, on-going weekly classes so that our students can learn and practice skills and techniques and then be able to apply them to the project at hand.
 
Our classes are not structured to simply turn out a beautiful copy of the teacher’s example. They ARE structured to turn out artwork that your child has put their own effort into learning and applying real art techniques and skills to in the best way that they can.
 
Learn more about our art classes here, or just jump into searching for the one your child is interested in here.

We’ve written before about the many, yes, many, benefits that come from participating in arts education, but as we’re approaching this new, exciting school year, and as we're being inundated with Back to School everything at Target, we’re inspired to talk about just a few of the specific ways participation in arts education affects and IMPROVES school participation, achievement, and life-long learning behavior.

​Higher SAT Scores

Yes, you heard that right, not just any test, but THE test that can determine which college your child gets into and what scholarships they get can be improved through arts participation.
 
Though there have been claims about and independent studies on the correlation between those in arts programs and high SAT scores for over 30 years, one study that sought out to test the claimed correlation found that it was an accurate claim and that “Those who take four years of arts courses have higher scores than those who take less than four years’ worth.” The more art, the higher the scores.  This study determined that “Those who study the arts are consistently higher academic achievers than those who do not study the arts.”

Specifically, Higher Scores in Verbal and… (take a guess now…) Math!

Art can have a major affect even on the seemingly most-unlikely subjects. With students who took four years of art classes, they out-preformed those who took only 1 ½ years or less of art by a significant 38 points on the math portion of the SAT and a whole 58 points on the verbal portion. 

Higher Critical Thinking Abilities
​
Named one of the 21st Century’s most prized skill and a high-determining factor for success in both higher education and the workforce, critical thinking is the ability to use logic and reasoning in problem solving.
 
Art education teaches students to look at the world more closely, to observe, to hold off judgments, to examine and analyze the details, to draw connections, and to question what they see; it “develops skills for comparing, hypothesizing, critiquing and exploring multiple view points” - all parts of thinking critically that then help students use these observational and analytical skills in other areas on their lives and subjects in school.

Art education and the skills students learn and develop while in art classes lead them on to success, not only in their favorite painting or clay class, but in multiple school subjects, on important skills-assessment tests, and into higher education and the competitive workforce.
 
What they do today creates the foundation of tomorrow, for them personally, but also for the world we live in.
 
If your child is interested in expanding his or her horizons and broadening their skill sets, read more about our art classes here or take the plunge and jump into finding the best one for your child here. Don't forget we're available by phone or email for ANY questions you may have over our programs.

Adult paint nights and “Paint and Sips” have gained massive popularity in the past years for providing a relaxing atmosphere to be creative with friends and family.
 
But paint and sips are not just for Friday nights with the girls - participating in art creation with your coworkers and employees could be just the thing your office needs to create happier and healthier relationships between team members that results in boosted company morale, increased communication, and over all improved productivity.
 
Here are few reasons to choose a painting event for your next team-building initiative:

​1. Relaxed environment

​There may be many options out there for team-building events, but not many of them provide a relaxed, stress-free environment in which to interact with your team like an art-making event. The painting activity serves as a focus task that provides common ground rather than a high-stakes project where perfection is the goal. Instructors lead your group through the pre-planned project that can be easily followed along, while leaving room for chatting, bonding, and general enjoying oneself and the company of those around. 

2. Refreshed Creativity

​The act of creating a painting encourages participants to utilize their creative problems-solving skills and can encourage even “art-phobic” students to gain confidence in their creativity when they see what they can accomplish.
 
Creativity in the workplace doesn’t mean prettier spreadsheets, but translates to creative thinking and creative problem solving. By practicing creativity and practicing as a group, you’re making an investment in your team’s outside-the-box solutions and ability to see and meet challenges differently.

3. Low-Stakes Risk Taking

​We often see participants who are SURE they are terrible at creating art and that they would NEVER be able to make a successful painting. But by working step-by-step with our team-building instructors, we show participants how to break the challenge of the painting into smaller achievable parts.
 
By the end of the class, they have their own beautiful rendition of the painting and teams leave with a sense of accomplishment, and excitement for conquering a fun challenge together as a group. Not only does this create a closer bond between members and a boost to personal confidence, but by providing a positive experience that pushed them outside their comfort zones, they may be more willing to step outside their comfort zones in the future as well.

4. Reduced Stress

Stress in the office not only decreases productivity, majorly lowers moral AND accounts for many employee absences, but it’s also contagious.
 
However, the act of art making has been proven to reduce stress and can have positive effects on your employees’ bodies and minds. A 2016 study showed that up to 75% of participants who participated in an art session experienced a reduction in their cortisol levels (the stress hormone).
 
 
Team painting events provide an excellent way to foster unity in a non-competitive, creative environment with an experience that focuses on self-expression, creativity, and relationship building.
 
Learn more about our Team-Building Paint Events and how we can benefit your next office group activity here.

This year, we’ve been talking about each of our summer camps in a way we never have online before: we’re giving you the low-down on all of our camps and what goes on in them in our Camp Focuses blog series.
 
And now we’re on the final installment of our Camp Focuses series: Pottery Camp (check out our most recent post: “What is Drawing Camp?” for the others in the series). Our Friday Pottery Camps are different from our other camps in three main ways:

1. They’re only one day long, whereas our other camps are four days long.
2. They’re a full day of camp (9am-4pm), whereas our other camps are half-day camps (either 9am-noon, or 1pm-4pm).
3. They're always on Fridays.

 
Why? Short answer is: we’re working with low-fire ceramic clay and that material lends itself better to a full, one-day camp, as opposed to smaller periods of time spread out over a week.
 
Our Friday pottery camps are a fun way for campers to get their hands dirty, explore all things ceramics, and get personal with low-fire clay!

To ensure that pieces remain fully intact through firing, campers must be sure to follow all of the rules of hand building. This means building pieces that are well thought out, avoid components that are extremely delicate, and correctly use the very important attaching technique of scoring and slipping.
 
Students even have to think about airflow through their pieces, and avoid accidentally trapping pockets of air inside, or their creation could explode in the kiln!
 
During camp, campers regularly follow the guidance of their instructors as well as use creative problem-solving skills to create a successful final product.  

Of course, the most popular aspect of pottery camp is the pottery wheel!
 
The pottery wheel is a machine that is used to shape a vessel. During pottery camp, campers work one-on-one with an instructor to create their very own pottery wheel vessel.
 
Creating on the wheel is a fun and messy process, and campers learn how to utilize their hand-eye coordination and their muscle control to manipulate the spinning clay that results in specific shapes depending on how you hold your hands and interact with the clay. 
 
Once students create their vessel on the wheel, campers have a second wheel experience where they’re able to trim the excess clay off the bottom of their sculpture, a vital step in creating pottery, allowing a clean-finished piece.

​ 
One of the benefits of attending multiple pottery camps is that campers become more familiar with the processes. Like any kind of skills, the ones campers learn on the pottery wheel and while hand building take practice to get better and to be able to create more intricate and advanced works.
 
Multiple experiences on the pottery wheel allow campers to have better control on the wheel and make more complex vessels. Familiarity with multiple hand-building processes also allows students to combine more than one process into a single project. 
 
We often have campers who sign up for pottery camp after pottery camp because they love it so much and look forward to continuing the development of their skills.
​
 
Our pottery camps are very popular, and typically fill up quickly. If you’re still hoping to get your child into one of these camps this year, we’d suggest enrolling them as soon as possible – check out our schedule and sign up for a camp here. We'd love to have them!

​This week in our Camp Focuses series, we’re taking a close look at one of our all-time most popular summer camps: Drawing Camp.

If you have questions about one of our other camps, you can find so many helpful answers on our earlier blogs on Painting Camp, Sculpture Camp, and Mixed Media Camp. (and stay tuned for our next blog coming soon: Pottery Camp!)

But now back to Drawing Camp. We have a couple guesses on why this camp is one of our most popular:

1. Drawing is a helpful skill which encompasses many of the basic techniques that are utilized in many other forms of art, in other words, it’s a great foundational discipline to start with.
2. Parents and children both know what they can expect from a drawing camp, simply put, their child will be learning to draw cool things.

But there is SO MUCH MORE than just “learning to draw cool things” going on, so let’s dive a little deeper into what exactly your child will really be learning at our Drawing Camps this summer, so you truly can know what to expect.

​But let’s break each of them down a bit.

Perspective
​
Perspective is the way of representing drawn items on a 2-D plane (like a piece of paper) how they appear to the eye in real life. For instance, how telephone poles get smaller to our eyes the farther away they are – that’s perspective.

Perspective is an obvious element in landscape drawings (you’ve probably done one before with a road or railroad tracks, making them disappear in a small point on the horizon), but is still applicable to any other object you hope to make look realistic from humans to animals to flowers in vases.

With any new object we draw, campers get a chance to practice perspective that may challenge them in a new way each time, since they will never be drawing or re-creating an exact work they’ve done before. Even though it’s the same technique, it’s a skill that always needs refining with each new object.

​Observational Drawing
​
One of the most important techniques we work with our campers on is observational drawing. Observational drawing is when an artist observes the world around them, and then translates their findings onto a two-dimensional surface (such as a sheet of paper).

To do this, artists measure the size and shape of their subject matter, break each object down into basic geometric shapes, and use proportions to accurately draw their subject.

In many instances, our campers find that using measuring, and breaking down their subject, makes their final project look more realistic.

​​Our campers also learn how to use their observational drawing skills and to apply them to a more stylized drawing project, as opposed to a realistic one. One of our most popular drawing projects from last year’s camps was our inked animal project.
 
For this project, campers learned how to break down an animal’s form into simple geometric shapes and use those shapes to carefully draw the animal’s form on their paper. 

​Campers then check proportions, adjust their shapes, and finally add details to their animals. They took their drawings a step further by inking them with pens, and even adding hatching and cross-hatching in some areas.

For our fun final step, students had the chance to experiment with loose ink, and added color to their animals with a variety of inking techniques, from using a brush to adding some splatters.


Do you have any other questions about what goes on or what your child will be learning in our Drawing Camps? Send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 425-391-0244, we'd love to hear from you and we'd love to fill you in on any other details. In the meantime, check out all of our summer art camps and save your child's spot before they're full.

​We’re back for another round of our Camp Focuses and this week we’re introducing you to our popular Painting Camps.
 
Parents always want to know more about what their child will be learning and doing in our summer camps, so we’ve been spilling all the beans here on our blog (check out our previous Camp Focus installments,  “What is Mixed Media Camp?” and “What is Sculpture Camp?”).
 
In our Painting Camps, campers explore all things painting. Each day, campers get a chance to work with a different painting medium (aka different types of paint) ranging from acrylic, watercolor, gouache, or even combining two painting mediums for a more mixed media feel.

Fundamentals:
The main focus in painting camp is all about proper painting techniques and application. Each unique painting medium provides brand new skills and techniques for campers to learn and practice, as, of course, you paint differently with watercolors than you do with acrylics. It’s almost a whole new world to explore with each medium.
 
During camp, we discuss super basic fundamentals such as the proper way to hold a brush, how to create the most effective brush strokes with each medium, the correct way to mix each type of paint, and believe it or not, even the right way to clean a brush (because your tools last longer and allow you to paint better if you take care of them!).
 
Developing these essential fundamentals gives students a solid foundation to explore more in-depth concepts that are so critical to painting, such as color theory and tinting and shading.

​Color Theory:
Color theory (which is explained in this short video of ours) is an artist’s guide to first creating and then successfully utilizing color.
 
Often when painting, an artist might want a specific color that they don’t have already mixed on hand. Let’s say a yellow-orange. To do this, an artist must use their color theory knowledge to know that when mixing a yellow orange, one needs a higher ratio of yellow paint to the red paint that will be mixed in.
 
Beyond color mixing, color theory can be applied to using specific colors within a composition.
​
In painting, and any other time an artist uses color, we must consider how all the other colors works together to create a composition, so we discuss color theory often with our Painting campers.

 
​Opposite colors, or complementary colors, can be used to make a specific area or detail of a composition more pronounced, such as when you see the bright yellow of van Gogh’s Café Terrace against the background of the dark blue night.
 
Analogous colors (or colors close together on the color wheel) all blend together creating a unified composition, such as the purples, blues, and greens in van Gogh’s Irises in a Vase.
 
Tints and Shades:
We also discuss with our campers tints (colors mixed with white to make them lighter) and shades (colors mixed with black to make them darker). Last year in our Painting Camps, to practice this our knowledge of tints and shades, we created monochromatic paintings using just one color, such as purple, and then only adding white and black to the purple to create a monochromatic composition. 

 
One of our most popular projects last year was a van Gogh-inspired landscape. Students began with a simple landscape drawing featuring foreground, middle ground, and background. Next students began painting a simple base layer for each object in their drawing working back front. Once their base layer was created, students had the chance to run wild with different brushstrokes, replicating similar styles found in van Gogh’s Starry Night, and Wheatfield’s with Cyprus. ​

We love seeing how our Painting campers learn and grow and apply their new skills and knowledge throughout the week. You can still sign your child up for one of these popular camps here. We can't wait to see what they'll be creating this year!

​You ask, we answer. This is our second blog in our Camp Focuses series (see the first one on Mixed Media Camp here), where we are breaking down what each of our summer camps are about and what you can expect from them.
 
Where some art camp programs may combine multiple mediums in one camp and do, for example, a painting project one day, and a sculpture project the next, and then a drawing project and so on, our summer camps are divided by art form, or art medium.
 
Our camps focus on just one specific art medium, such as just painting, or just sculpture, so that we can really dive in deep and spend the whole week exploring different forms and different projects within that one medium.
 
So when we talk about Sculpture Camp, that means we’re going to be exposing our campers to a wide range of sculpting styles and materials.

​Extra-Brief Background on Sculpture
Sculpture has been the most enduring form of fine art throughout the ages. From the Great Sphinx in Egypt (circa 2558 BC!) to the Terracotta Army in China, the moai on Easter Island to Michelangelo's David, sculpture as an art form is not only ancient, but also incredibly varied.
 
However, in the 20th century, sculpture became even more varied. The 20th century saw a massive change not only in the increase of new and different materials used for sculptures, but also in the subject matter. Sculpture changed from being mainly a representational art form, or one that imitates forms of real life (like the examples in the above paragraph), to also being nonrepresentational, or abstract and not necessarily based on the real world (like, for instance, The Bean in Chicago, or many Chihuly sculptures).

 
​In our Sculpture Camps, we do our best to broaden our campers’ ideas of what sculpture is by using a variety of sculpting materials for our projects, ranging from wire, paper mâché, air-dry clay, polymer clay, fibres, found objects, and many, many more.
 
The only material we don’t use in sculpture camp is ceramic clay, due to the nature of the medium. (Although, if your child wants to have a ceramic clay experience, our Friday Pottery Camps are a MUST!)
 
Different Challenges
One of the most important techniques we cover in Sculpture Camp is thinking “in the round,” or the idea of creating a piece of art that can be viewed from all angles.
 
Many campers start our camps with experience in 2-D media, such as drawing and painting, which is great, but these mediums only cover one surface. Sculpture presents an additional challenge: in sculpture, an artist must think about every angle of their work, because ideally, someone could walk around their sculpture and view every side.
 
Our campers must be sure to make a complete top, bottom, and sides of their work, and can’t hide any unfinished areas.
 
Another aspect campers also have to consider with sculpture as opposed to 2-D art is how their sculpture takes up space in the world. Thinking about scale, and composition is crucial to making a finished sculpture.

​
​Art vs. Toys
Sculpture camp also gives us a great excuse to discuss the concept of art vs. playthings, or art vs. functional objects.
 
We often make fun sculptures, such as colorful polymer clay animals, which might look like something you can play with at first. However, to do so would possibly break the sculpture, or the work of art. We talk about how the presentation is very important in art, and how a finished sculpture is presented differently from a toy, which is an interesting concept for children especially.


"What projects will you be doing?"
Our camp projects always differ from year to year, and even slightly differ from week to week during summer, so we can't say exactly what your child might be making in one of our Sculpture Camps, however, we can give you examples of past projects and the processes campers went through in creating them.

One of our most popular projects from last year was our Chibi animal sculptures.

Sculpture Camp provides children with a new way to create - not just with a piece of paper and a pencil or paintbrush, but by putting a variety of different materials together and forming them into something with their own hands. These camps are great for those children who love to touch everything they come in contact with - it gives them something productive to funnel that kinetic energy into.

We hope this answered your questions on Sculpture Camp! You can still sign your child up for our summer camps here, or email us at [email protected] with any other questions you may have.

Welcome to our first blog in the series of our Camp Focuses! Every year we have countless emails and phone calls and in-person questions from parents wanting to understand our summer camps and how they work a little bit better.
 
Don’t get us wrong, we love the questions (keep ‘em coming), and we love that you care to know more about what your child will be doing when you sign them up to hang with us over the summer; we just want to make that information more easily accessible to you.
 
We often discuss these types of questions and information on our social media (such as our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), but we thought it might be nice to round up all our wisdom nuggets and put them all together in helpful (and easily shareable) blog posts.
 
Camp Focus: ​Mixed Media
It’s appropriate that we begin this series with our most inquired-about camp, Mixed Media. In fact, “What is Mixed Media?” even made our Frequently Asked Summer Camp Questions list because we hear it so often (so if you were looking at this blog post thinking, “but just what IS mixed media?” – take comfort; you’re in good company).
 
Let’s break it down:

 What is “Media” in art?
Media is a word we hear almost every day in our adult lives and usually we associate it with the mass communication and all the ways that communication reaches us (TV, radio, publishing, the internet, social platforms etc.).
 
However, when we’re discussing art, we obviously do not mean mass communication sources.
 
Media is the plural form of medium, which, in art, has two different, although overlapping, meanings:

1. The form or type of art (i.e. drawing, painting, sculpture, etc.)
2. The materials used to create art (i.e. oil paint, paper, wire, canvas, graphite pencil, etc.)

 
So while sculpture and painting are considered to be different art mediums or media, if we were to create a sculpture out of wire, we could say the sculpture was done in the medium of wire, or if we were to create a painting, it could be done in the medium of watercolor or, perhaps, oil.
 
Mixed Media, then, can refer to both the mixing of the types of art (sculpture and painting together, for example) or the mixing of the materials to create a work of art, such as a drawing that features charcoal, chalk pastel, and gouache paint. 

​The Benefits of Working in Mixed Media:
Mixed Media is a great opportunity to experience multiple art materials and processes all at once, and in our Mixed Media summer camps, we encourage students to try out as many mediums as possible in fun and creative ways.
 
The challenge of using multiple mediums utilizes campers’ creative problem-solving skills and exposes them to many art materials, often ones not traditionally found in the classroom.
 
While campers break the boundaries of traditional art applications, they also have to pay special attention to the function of each material to ensure that it will work with the introduction of other mediums. 

​What Does Mixed Media Look Like?
Mixed Media is, admittedly, a vague term, but it has to be to cover SO MANY possible outcomes. The possible projects are incredibly varied, as you can see from the different versions of "still life" projects above. Mixed Media sounds great, but what exactly does it mean in a summer camp art project sense?
 
In the past, students have combined watercolor and gouache paints on multiple surfaces, made sculptures out of everything from air-dry clay to cut paper, created collages out of found items, and experimented with fibers and fabric dying.
 
One of our favorite past projects was our marbled paper portraits. Students used shaving cream and food dye to marble Bristol paper. Next, using acrylic paint, students drew and painted their faces onto the paper. The result was a fun portrait with a colorful marbled background.

STEM, STEAM, STEM, STEAM, what does it all mean? (and yes, we were just as tickled about the rhyming as we're hoping you just were).

STEM, the collective term for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, became a focus in education in the early 2000s in reaction to statistics showing the United States falling behind other countries in those subjects in our education system and work force. 

While there is no doubt that these four subjects are incredibly important to the progression of the country as a global leader, it turns out that art not only complements these subjects, but increases chances of success in STEM subjects as well. 

How so?

Proponents for STEAM (with the added "A" for art), instead of simply STEM, demonstrate that the study and practice of art increases what educators call the Four Cs: creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, all vital skills necessary for success in STEM fields. 

In fact, Adam Grant found in his research for his book "Originals: How Non Conformists Move the World" that Nobel Prize-winning scientists were seven times more likely to have a hobby of visual art than their non-Nobel-Prize-winning peers, and 22 times more likely to be involved in a performing art than their non-winning peers.

And according to the Arts in Education Partnership’s 2013 report, Preparing Students for the Next America, The Benefits of an Arts Education, “Creativity is among the top ranking of 'in demand' qualities. 65% of Americans believe that creativity is central to the U.S.'s role as a global leader. 97% of business leaders agreed that creativity is of increasing importance in the workplace. However, 85% of employers seeking creative candidates had trouble finding qualified applicants.” Creativity is an essential precursor to innovation, which is the key to moving STEM fields forward.

There are plenty of ways you can challenge your children at home with fun and simple STEAM activities to keep their brains fresh during the summer, or just over the weekend, and they probably won't even know they're learning through the fun! We've rounded up a few of our favorites, let us know which ones you try and how you liked them!
​

1. Pendulum Painting

A pendulum is a weighted object that hangs from a pivot, or a bar, and swings based on it's gravitational pull. You and your child can experiment with the way pendulums move while creating pendulum paintings either inside or outside on the sidewalk. You can test different heights of the bar, different lengths of the string, or different amounts of paint in the cup and see what kind of designs these pendulums come up with. Full directions and even sidewalk paint recipe can be found here.

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2. Shadow Art Science

Shadow art is a perfect summer activity for the kids - gets them creative and gets them outside. Check, check. Up the science factor by first discussing how the sun's position in the sky affects how our shadows look on the ground. This blog​ post here runs through the steps for the art project, but also suggests their other post, "Human Sundial Shadow Science Experiment" as the precursor science intro.

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​3. No-Cook PlayDough Sculpture Lab

Let the kids experiment with creating their own art materials! No-cook playdough is easy to make with simple ingredients you probably have in the house already (but things could get a little messy so prepare the space accordingly. Maybe this calls for an outdoor lab on a nice day). Set up a playdough science "lab" for the kids to conduct their experiments with mixing different materials to form the perfect no-cook sculpting clay, suggestions and recipes can be found here. Then encourage your kids to use their newly concocted substance to create fun sculptures.

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4. Sharpie Tie-Dye Experiment

We've done a Sharpie and fabric tie-dying experiment in our summer camps before, but here's a great how-to to recreate this art experiment at home. After coloring a design in the fabric (or t-shirts for this particular project) with the sharpies, use rubbing alcohol to make the sharpies bleed and "dye" the fabric. This is a great way to explore primary and secondary color mixing as well.

​
These are just a few great ways to integrate STEM and art to create STEAM-focused activities that work both sides of the brain at the same time. If you're still looking for more ways to sneak art into your child's daily activities, check out our variety of summer art camp options with new projects every week for ages 5-14.

 
Developing a healthy and positive self-esteem is a vital key to happiness and success in life, which is why, as parents, we’re always doing what we can to encourage our child’s sense of confidence.
 
We read books about it, we read blogs, we listen to podcasts, we become their biggest fan and largest cheering section (“You brushed your teeth! Excellent job!”); we hang their kindergarten crafts on the wall, we brag about their many talents in front of them, we constantly celebrate their wins, and we sign them up for activities that will give them sense of pride and help them feel good about themselves.
 
Studies show that participation in the arts increases self-esteem and self-efficacy. Long-term participation can certainly have greater and more pronounced benefits, but even a week at a summer art camp can make a huge impact.
 
Take a look at how summer art camps can do what you as a parent are always trying to do: boost self-esteem in your child.


​1. Art camps encourage self-expression.
Art, unlike craft, is the about the expression of ideas and feelings. When children are encouraged to express and create based on their own thoughts and emotions, they learn that what they think and feel is important and valued. 

​3. Art camps introduce new experiences.
Trying new things can be scary for children (and adults, who are we trying to kid?), but it can also increase confidence in their own abilities the more they do it.
 
Art camps provide a supportive environment to take risks, and they encourage campers to do new things every day, from working with new materials, to mastering new skills, to attempting new projects. When campers experience the successes they have trying new things at camp, they feel more excited and confident to try new things elsewhere as well.

4. Art camps require effort.
Don’t get us wrong, requiring effort does not mean art camp isn’t a ton of fun! Creating anything requires effort, so we select projects that are cool and exciting so they don’t even realize the high level of effort they’re putting into them.
 
No one else does the projects for them so the pay-off with their accomplishment means a lot to them.
 
When campers are able to pour themselves into a project, challenging themselves to make their own creative choices, practice technical skills, apply new-found knowledge, and problem solve in a creative way, they learn to trust themselves and their abilities.
 
They learn that through effort they can plan and create entire works of art that they are proud to show off. A sense of accomplishment and pride comes when children work hard at a project that they care about.


When campers and students expand their confidence and develop a healthy self-esteem, they are curious about learning new things, and at Museo Art Academy, our main goals are to instill an appreciation for art and a love of learning in all of our students. The confidence they build in our art programs enables them to take risks and work hard for success in other areas of their lives.
 
Learn more about our summer art camps for kids and teens here.

In pre-schools, elementary schools, day camps and stay-over camps alike, ‘arts’ and ‘crafts’ are words that you have likely seen bundled together. With these two terms being packaged and sold as one generalized subject and hobby, many treat the words as interchangeable, so that when we say “art camp”, often “arts and crafts” is actually what it is taken to mean.
 
However, arts and crafts are not the same thing; they are actually different and distinct forms of creativity.
 
So if they are different, what is it that distinguishes arts from crafts, from an educational standpoint, and what’s the big fuss about anyway? Why does it really matter (or does it?)? 

First Things First: Why It Matters
 
Education wise, arts and crafts differ in the type of instruction given, the type of skills being learned and practiced, the type of projects chosen, and the type of outcomes strived for and achieved.
 
Because of this, the difference between the two matters depending on what you hope your child is learning and practicing in an art class and art camp.
 
Alright, let's jump in. 

Summed Up: Arts vs. Crafts
 
The main difference between the two is the end goal in creation, all other differences stem from this one.
 
Art is more focused on using tools and materials to express an emotion or idea, while craft is more focused on using tools and materials to create a specific tangible object or product.

The Breakdown:

​Crafts
With crafts, because there is a specific end goal in mind, like the caterpillar clothes pin project, there have to be specific steps that must be followed in order to reach that end.
 
For example, say you wanted to make a turtle using a paper plate. You might have green paint for the plate, green paper cut outs of legs and tail and head, and a couple of googly eyes. 

​Now in order to do this project and actually have it come out looking like the cute little turtle it's supposed to be, there are not too many variations you could make; the structures are rigid. The tail would need to be glued opposite of the head, the legs have to be glued two on each side, and the googly eyes would need to be glued next to each other on the head section.

In terms of creativity, it's possible to be creative with a craft, but the parameters of what you can be creative with are narrow, otherwise you’re making a different project.
 
Say, if you glued the turtle tail next to the head and put four feet next to each other on one side, and glued the googly eyes to a foot, you would not have anything close to a recognizable turtle, and so would not have actually completed the intended project.
 
With crafts so focused on the end result of making something that looks cool (aesthetics are part of the goal), there isn’t too much room for in-depth art learning.
 
Instead, you’re mostly learning how to follow directions and maybe how to re-create the craft again, while practicing fine motor skills. ​

Arts
While crafts are focused on making something that looks good and can be reproduced, art is not focused on either of those things.
 
First of all, art is not necessarily about aesthetics, as it is informed by emotion, so a work of art can still be art without being traditionally beautiful.
 
Secondly, art also cannot be reproduced, as artists create many different works, instead of just making the same thing over and over again (as if you were to make many paper plate turtles). As one writer put it, “There is only one true Mona Lisa, all the rest are simply imperfect copies.”

So if you’re practicing direction-following skills with crafts, what are you learning and practicing while creating art?
 
Great question! Let’s give an example. Let’s say we’re doing a masters study with our students. A master study is where we re-create a master artist’s work.
 
Waiiit, hold up! you say, Didn’t we just talk about how art can’t be re-created? And doesn’t that sound like you have the end goal in mind, aka craft?
 
Yes, yes, while we may be having students recreate the work (but remember, there is only one Mona Lisa), the focus in this project is never on the final outcome; it’s on the journey to get there.

​Starting the project, our instructors always go in depth about the history of the piece and the artist, discussing topics like: Why is this artwork important? How did it contribute to history? What is our goal for recreating it? (For instance, we might be recreating a van Gogh to learn how to utilize various brush strokes.)
 
Once we begin the painting, the discussion is still on the process of the work. We may look at how an artist did a specific technique, and then use that example to walk students through learning and utilizing that technique.
 
In these art projects, instead of a rigid structure, students have room for their own interpretation of the technique, and their personal application shows.
 
We're also always talking about personal observations of a master study, asking students what they see in the work and how they can apply what they see in their own piece.
 
By the time we finish the project, it’s a great painting that has been informed by the artist’s own touch and understanding and usage of artistic techniques, but it’s also only the finishing touch on a long conversation about the process that went into it’s creation.

​This conversation about process is a part of all of the projects that we do at Museo Art Academy. Let’s say we’re in a camp and we do an ink project of an animal. We might have an example that students can reference, but we’re also asking students to think about their work, what they’re seeing, what techniques will be used, and then to apply what they think is the best solution (within artistic reason. If there’s something that can be done in a better way artistically, we take that teaching opportunity).
 
In this way, you can see students are learning SO MUCH MORE than simply how to do a specific craft, or how to follow directions.
 
Instead, those who participate in art are learning and practicing creative problem solving, critical thinking, use of imagination, curiosity, creativity, and innovative thinking, along with artistic techniques, art elements & design principles, and art history.

​
Both arts and crafts can be awesome activities, but they are not necessarily equal. When choosing an art program for your child, it's a good idea to know and understand what type of projects your child will be doing to ensure that they are getting the most out of their experience. 

To read more about the what your child is learning while also having a blast creating art, check out our blog about What Your Child Learns in Summer Art Camps.

But don't just read about our programs, try them out for yourself. Save your child's spot in one of our summer art camps now and let us know what you think!

After all the deliberation that goes into choosing the right summer camp for your child, many parents want to know what they can expect from the camps they choose.

It's summer and time for fun in the sun, so you, of course, want to know your child will have a great time and enjoy what they're doing, but the best camps are the ones that can be a blast while also teaching campers valuable skills they may not even know they're learning. 

Art camps are not only creative and colorful fun, but can also be a great way to keep your child's brain fresh and exercised during those long summer months. Let's take a look at all the things your child learns while making their beautiful works of art at camp.

1. Artistic Skills and Techniques
We’re sure you were hoping that by sending your child to an ART camp that they’d actually pick up some artistic skills and techniques. Not to fear, that’s first on our list!
 
Our art camps are like intensives in each discipline. While we seek to create curriculum that is fun and exciting for kids, we also want to make sure our campers are receiving the best in visual art instruction.
 
In Drawing and Painting camps, campers learn observational skills - how to take what they see in real life and transfer it to their paper. They’ll learn about perspective, about using simple shapes to outline objects, they’ll learn about lighting, and how to add values for depth, they’ll learn about color theory, how to mix colors, and how to use color to hide or enhance objects in their work.

​3. How to Take Constructive Feedback
​Ah, yes, everyone’s favorite skill to cultivate: taking constructive criticism! Okay, so it may not be our favorite skill to actually practice, but we can certainly agree that it’s an incredible important life skill to have, since in order to develop ourselves in anyway, we have to be able to take feedback and learn how to apply it to our situation.
 
Our job as instructors is to help campers understand how to apply the skills they’re learning correctly, and how to make adjustments to their work to make sure those skills are being applied in the right way. We keep our campers to instructor ratio small so that we can give individualized instruction when needed in a helpful and empowering way.

We also use our camps to teach students how to evaluate their own work. At the end of the week, if time permits, we have campers go through their work and choose their favorite and least favorite piece they made. They then get to share with the class why they chose each piece, and share where they believe they did well, and where they could have done better.
​

​4. To Try New Things
Our camps seek to give campers new experiences in a safe and supportive environment – whether it’s learning how to draw an animal from a picture, or it’s carving a woodblock for print, or it’s manipulating wire to create a wire sculpture portrait, campers are being exposed to new materials and techniques.
 
The more exposure to learning new activities not only creates and strengthens neuron pathways in the brain, but also builds confidence and helps lessen the intimidation of trying new things in other areas of life. The more positive experiences children have with trying new things, the more open to trying something new they will be in the future.

​Art camps are a great opportunity for children to push themselves and grow in many different ways over the summer months. Here at Museo Art Academy, we seek to cultivate a love and appreciation of art in each of the students and campers that come through our doors, through making art fun and approachable. 

Museo Art Academy offers a wide range of art camps at our Issaquah studio for campers to choose from – drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, and pottery, with a new project every week. Learn more about our art camps here. 

No matter what your income, we all want to get the most for our money. During the summer, there are so many options and fun activities that can make us feel like money is flying out the window of a car on the freeway. So, let's stop the madness.

At Museo Art Academy, our art camps aren’t just another summer “time-filler”. They’re valuable art lessons and hands-on experiences rolled up into a whole lot of fun! We hire the best-of-the-best instructors who use professional grade materials to teach our high-standards curricula in an entertaining and memorable manner.

Because of this, we don't believe in discounting our high-quality art camps, but we do believe in rewarding YOU for sharing the news about us.

So we've devised two super easy ways you can save on summer camps by sharing the good news about Museo - AND you can save even if you've already signed up for camps and paid.

​2. Become a Museo Ambassador at your workplace.
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It's simple - we'll send you a Summer Camps flyer with your own special promo code on it for you to post in your workplace. Every time someone new to Museo signs up with your promo code, you'll get a $10 referral credit on your account (and they will too - win-win!).

If you're interested in being a Museo Ambassador - send us a quick email at [email protected] and we'll send you your own flyer with your personal promo code to print out.


We look forward to your child joining us for camp this year; we have lots of fun projects planned and are getting more and more excited as the dates get closer! Thank you for valuing high-quality arts programs and for sharing about us with your friends. 

If you haven't yet signed up for our summer camps, check them out asap and snag your spot!

We interviewed Ms. Allison, one of our instructors, and asked her how she celebrates with art. Check out her fun answer below:

​We love to incorporate art into our every day lives at all times of the year, but the holidays present a special time that calls us to be thoughtful, to be intentional, and to focus on meaningful activities in our life - all of which creating art encourages.

So, we're focusing on sharing ways we celebrate with art and the ways that you can also celebrate the holidays with art this year - both with us and on your own at home with the fam.

One way you can start off the holiday season as it approaches is creating Favorite Holiday Memory Artwork. This is a great activity for the whole family to do together and a great way to set intentions for the upcoming season, OR can be used as just a fun art prompt for the kids to get them into the holiday spirit. 

​The prompt: create a work of art the displays your Favorite Holiday Memory. This can be favorite OF ALL TIME, or if you do this more years in a row, you can pick the last year's memories to choose from. 

Why do it: This activity requires each participant to reflect on all the many holiday memories you've had, and you may be surprised by who chooses which memory to focus on. For instance: one of my favorite holiday memories is when our power went out one Christmas Eve and we cooked our Christmas dinner over the kerosene heater and opened presents by flashlight - completely not planned and definitely chaotic, but we had a blast being in the "adventure" together. 

Once everyone is done with their piece of artwork, take turns presenting the memory you chose to memorialize - why it was the one chosen, and why you made the artistic choices you did in the work. You can then discuss how to make time to recreate those favorite memories this year - if one art work depicted making holiday cookies with grandma, or reading on the floor next to the Christmas tree, make specific plans to do those activities again.

You can even make a specific album of "Favorite Holiday Memories" with your new works of art and add to them each year for a creative way to keep track of your family's favorite times.

We'll be posting more about how you can celebrate with art at home. For now, check out how we're celebrating in the studio.

Are you interested in having your child begin an art class, but just not sure which class would be the best one to start them in?

We get this question from parents often, and to be perfectly honest: there’s not really a set “right” answer.

But we’re happy to talk through the options with you and to provide a little more understanding of why you might choose one class over the other. So here we go:

Our First (& Best) Piece of Advice: Follow the Interest

Should we really give out our best secret first? We’ve already hinted so fine, we'll spill: the best place to start is in whichever medium your child has expressed interest (if they have at all). 

And I know, you’re like “my children would literally eat only cheerios all day every day if I let them, how are they qualified to make decisions on their education?” Fair point. However, studies show (as does probably our own assessment of how we spend our days) that we all are naturally more motivated to put effort into activities we like.

This New York Times Opinion piece by Adam Grant encourages parents who want to raise creative children to let their children’s natural interests determine the activities we sign them up for, instead of forcing our own interests or ideas of what we want them to do on them. (Not that we necessarily 100% support all the opinions expressed in this piece, but he brings up a good argument to consider.)

So, instead of bribing your child into a drawing class when they’ve been begging to do clay, you could have them start in the clay class and see how they do (and we can always transfer them to a different class later.)

Or maybe you both could work out a compromise of 6 months of clay and 6 months of drawing.  
​
OR another good compromise might be in one of our General Art classes.

​Can’t decide on just one? Try General Art.
​
If you’re ever unsure of where to start your child or what they might be most interested in, our general art classes are great starter classes because your child will gain exposure to the widest range of media that we offer.

General art works great as a compromise between classes, as a class to test interest, or a class for those who love to try new thing often.

Out of all of our classes, our general art classes have the strongest art history element and provide a well-rounded curriculum in a range of media: drawing, painting, sculpture, fibers, clay, mixed media and others. Because our curriculum is monthly project based, each month your child will be working with something new.
​
If after a while in this class, they decide they’d like to focus on one particular discipline, we can always transfer them there, but we often have students who chose to stay in general art classes because they prefer the variety.

Okay, but what about Drawing vs. Painting?

First, we still hold to what we said earlier: whichever one your child is more interested in is a great place to start.

Secondly, there is no specific order necessary; drawing and painting do go hand in hand and you’ll get a bit of both in each class.

Painting is more color based, drawing is more linear and value based. Both classes will have projects where your child will learn and utilize elements of the other discipline.

That being said, drawing is the basis for most everything in art and design. The first thing a person usually does to visually process the world around them is to draw it out. Training your hand to draw what you see will be beneficial no matter what medium your child ends up working with. But you don’t always have to start there.
​
If your child is interested in painting and wants to be great at it, somewhere along the way, taking a drawing class will greatly improve their paintings, but it certainly isn’t as a pre-requisite. 

3D vs. 2D?

Working with 3D vs. 2D materials are only a matter of personal preference. Some children prefer or even focus better when working with more tactile materials, while some prefer to stick to what comes out when they put their paintbrush or pencil to paper.
​
In our clay classes, we often have students draw out their design (again, see above what we wrote about drawing being a great way to visually process the world around us), but they don’t need to be master sketchers to do this. 

Polymer clay or Ceramic clay?

Polymer clay is a type of colorful modeling clay that can be baked in the oven, and it’s a little easier for smaller hands to mold. As we do offer classes for 7-9 year-olds in both Polymer and Ceramic clay we believe both can learn to use either type; however, sometimes we recommend that younger students and students who are still working on fine motor skills to start with Polymer clay before moving to ceramic clay that takes a bit more hand muscle and control to sculpt.
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Or, if your child is just more drawn to the colorful clay, that’s a great reason to start there too. 

In Conclusion
For those of you who were stressing that you’d start your child in the wrong class and forever ruin their arts education, we hope we’ve relieved your fear a little because that probably won’t happen.
​
For those hoping we’d give you a more of a set road plan, we’d love to talk with you and your child about their interest and goals for these classes. We can certainly come up with a recommended long-term plan together that can be edited at any phase to account for changing interests and goals along the way. If you’d be interested, email us at [email protected]

We talked about Process over Product in our last blog post, what it means, why we care, and why it makes a HUGE difference in your child's education (head over there if you haven't already!). 

But now we want to show you what Process over Product looks like IN ACTION (aka in our classes).

To briefly summarize key points in our education philosophy, valuing process over product means we believe in taking time to learn and practice techniques and skills before worrying about producing a perfect product.

It also means your student will not be drawing one landscape before we declare they are done with landscapes and never need to draw one again. As they gain more skills and move through our classes and programs, we teach them more techniques that can be used to create a more realistic landscapes, they have more time to practice values and perspective and slowly, their landscape drawings will improve.

So when you hear your child is drawing *another* landscape or portrait, that means they are getting another chance to build on their skills and learn and practice more, NOT that they're just doing something that they've already done before.  

You wouldn't expect your basketball player to shoot and make one basket and call themselves "done'. You'd encourage them to keep practicing over and over until they've honed their skills. 

Let's take a look at a simple portrait as created in each age-grouping of our classes to show the progression of skills and techniques as students learn and age. We'll also briefly discuss the skills that are introduced and focused on in each age-appropriate level.


Ages 3-4
When we've run classes for this age group in the past, we mainly focus on an introduction to art materials, and focus on emotions and color. When drawing portraits, we discuss basic facial features.

​
Ages 4-5
In our Intro to Art class for ages 4-5, we continue to introduce art materials and what they are used for. In this class, we begin to use simple shapes to draw facial features and begin discussion of facial proportions. 

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Ages 5-7
In this age group, we continue to have students practice utilizing simple geometric shapes to create facial features and continue developing an understanding of proportions on the face. We begin a slight introduction of shadows and students being associating art history with art techniques. 

​
Ages 7-9
Using a photograph foundation, students being to thoroughly explore the form of the face by using light and shadow in this age group. A photograph foundation allows students to not be overwhelmed, and to be able to put their attention into the lessons we want them to focus on as we introduce how facial features move to show emotion and how to capture that in our drawings. Students will also begin replicating historical processes with a more in-depth understanding. 

​
Ages 9-12
Returning to a photographic reference, students further their understanding of the face by using a variety of values to establish a realistic portrait. Students begin to use value (light and shadow) instead of line to define facial features. By now, students' more in-depth understanding of art history helps us to teach them how to apply that knowledge to further their learning. 

​
Ages ​12+
At this point in our classes, students begin to develop their own project ideas while still functioning within a visual art principle. Students use value to define facial features, and consistently use measuring to define proportion. Students also begin to explore manipulating the elements of design to express their own artistic style. 

In all of our classes, we emphasize the importance of practice and effort over the importance of the look of the finished product.

Some students have a natural tendency towards art and drawing, and others have to work harder to produce the same results, but by emphasizing process, we want to make sure each of our students is working hard and pushing themselves, not to achieve a certain set result, but to achieve the best of what they can personally do.


Take a look at our class options here and find one that's right for your child. 

​

These craft-type projects require less artistic skills and more direction-following skills. Can your child put six dots of glue on a clothes pin and put six pom-pom balls on top of the dots? Yes? Perfect, he’s done.

Process over Product
While these types of projects have their place in kids’ activities and while learning to follow directions is certainly beneficial, these are not the type of projects we do in our summer art camps (or any of our classes, workshops, or on-site enrichment classes). Because our summer art camps (and classes, workshops, and on-site enrichment classes) focus on the process of creating art and on building of artistic skills, our students are given tools to practice creative problem solving and using imagination in every piece of work they do, instead of simply following a prescribed list of tasks.

Building Skills​ on Skills
For instance, if we’re teaching our drawing classes or camps to use perspective, our instructors will explain the process and procedure of drawing in perspective, and students may even go step by step through creating the perspective drawing. “But if they’re creating step by step, what’s the difference between the caterpillar craft and this perspective project?” you ask. The difference is, students are learning a skill that they can apply to later problems they run into while creating. They are learning how to draw in a way that conveys and depicts the depth that we see in the natural world. Once they’ve drawn one perspective drawing, are they done? Have they learned all about perspective and now they can check that off their list and move on? No, because the concept will come back again and again and need to be applied in different ways in different circumstances. ​

So if your child has attended our camps and drawn a self-portrait before, or has made a coil pot before, or has painted a landscape before, or has worked on the potter's wheel before, they've only just started shooting the ball at the basket. We don’t expect our kids to be "done" with basketball if they went to one practice, or done with gymnastics once they learn to cartwheel; it's the same with art. So to answer the question, what campers will be doing different the next time is: building on the skills they've begun exploring.

And if you find yourself asking, "will my child enjoy that?", chances are if they enjoyed learning and participating the first time, they will probably enjoy more chances to hone their skills and apply their newly-acquired knowledge.
​
​What is your child's favorite camp? Leave us a comment - we'd love to hear. 

(And if you're still looking for summer camps, you can ​view our Summer Art camp option here.)
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