If summer memories conjure images of woodsy art projects and marshmallows by the fire, the Kelowna Art Gallery just might have an option to make life easier.
Every summer, the gallery holds its art programs for kids, Art Adventures, with options from printmaking to recreating the masters’ works to keep kids enthralled by summer’s creative possibility without the adults having to drag out a tent.
“We try to put together quality classes that use quality materials and supplies,” said Renée Burgess, head of public programming for the gallery. “We work with original works of art and we always take the kids into the gallery and work with the ideas that are in the gallery space that summer.”
This year’s main exhibit, Bearing Witness, is here on display from the Vancouver Art Gallery and looks at social justice issues. The images will make good fodder for the older students’ camps, like ART-Rageous, a day camp targeting nine to 12-years-olds interested in producing pieces they’ll hang onto for years to come.
Among the more popular hits are sessions on cartooning, conducted by Centre for Arts and Technology teacher Niina Teto, and a camp to design a skateboard deck and learn to ride.
The gallery brings in guest artists and focuses on taking the kids out for mini adventures, taking trips out to pieces of public art and local cultural faculties like the Rotary Centre for the Arts.
Camps are small, at roughly a dozen students, and there are four assistants working for the gallery this year to ensure each student gets lots of one-on-one instruction.
Whether drawing on the sidewalk or creating great scenes of sand with a stick on the beach, art and summer belong together, so at the end of the day, the main goal is always to have fun.
Camps run July and August and range in price from $70 to $165, with different pricing for members and non-members. Camps are designed for a range of ages including: preschool, six to eight-year-olds and nine to 12-year-olds. The duration ranges from one day to one week and campers are welcome to sign up for multiple weeks.
For information see the Kelowna Art Gallery website or call 250-762-2226 to register.
