This summer at the Sonoma Community Center, beware of lions and tigers and bears, not to mention whales, sharks and jellyfish! Starting June 18 and running through the summer, the community center will offer weekly art camps for Sonoma Valley youth.
The theme of this year’s program is “Exploring the Environment Through the Arts,” and the Center has lined up an exciting and varied program to appeal to adventurers and artists alike.
Every week, students will experience a different environmental theme through art projects. Themes will include the aforementioned Lions, Tigers and Bears, sure to get those “Animal Planet” addicts off the couch, Rivers, Streams and Oceans, which offers a unique opportunity to explore the mysteries of the depths, and many others, among them Fire, Sun and Light, and Whales, Sharks, and Jellyfish.
Though a theme like Volcanoes, Sand Dunes, and Rainforests might not bring to mind Sonoma County’s natural landscape of rolling hills and bucolic vineyards, the hope of the community center is to provide a broad and exciting introduction to all the possibilities of the natural world – the interactions of plants and animals, explanations of weather patterns, and investigations into the elements that make up our planet.
Community center spokeswoman Terry Updegraff said, “We chose an environmental theme for this year’s camp because it is a natural offshoot of the community center’s strong commitment to promoting both art and education. The kids can use art as a tool to explore their environments, and in doing so learn more about the natural world as well. ”
“Summer art camp is a remarkable experience for young people,” said community center artistic director Shelly Willis. “Students will have an opportunity to work with the elements of earth, air, water and fire to create works of art reflecting the world around them.”
Most of the art projects done in camp will be clay-based ceramics, a medium that, in the process of working, shaping, and firing, requires all four elements to create the final product. The students will also use a variety of other mediums to discover aspects of their environment, such as pencil-sketching in the outdoors, or painting and sculpture. Students might troop down to the plaza to draw and observe the butterflies at work among the flowers, or they might be waiting for their clay volcanoes to come out of the kiln. Every week, students will get to experiment with artistic techniques and mediums, all through the lens of nature, which allows for a dynamic exploration of both the natural and artistic realms.
Each session will also include a special field trip that is related to that week’s environmental focus. The Rivers, Streams, and Oceans students, for example, will visit a local creek to garner artistic inspiration from the running water and grassy shore, as well as learn firsthand about the ecology of creek beds. Other field trips will include museums and natural sites around the valley.
The weeklong camps will culminate in an artist’s reception, where kids can proudly display their hard work to family and friends, and share pizza.
Contact the Sonoma Community center at 938.4626 for more information. Cost is $160 per week ($144 for SCC Members).
