There is still some room available in several of the Kelowna Art Gallery’s summer art camps for children.
Art Adventures camps are organized for pre-school children ages 3 to 5, and two separate camps are offered for children ages 6 to 8, and ages 9 to 11. Full-day camps, half-day camps, and morning-only “mini camps” are scheduled Monday through Friday.
Art Adventures begins July 7, and the weekly camp programs run until Aug. 22.
“Art Adventures is primarily about creating a fun, and interactive experience for engaging children and youth with art,” says Renée Burgess, Head of Public Programming at the Kelowna Art Gallery. “We know many of the kids will be tired of classrooms by summer, so we make sure our skilled instructors take the kids out on fun and exciting off-site trips to inspire their imaginations.”
Leading the art camps and excursions to artists’ studios, Kasugai Gardens, Waterfront Park, the beach, and nearby private galleries this year are two local artist-instructors, Emerald Holden, and Isabella Donati-Simmons.
Holden is a recent graduate from UBCO, having earned her BFA this year. She has lived in Kelowna her entire life and has loved art from a young age. She looks forward to working with children and youth to show them how vast, exciting, and fun art can be.
Donati-Simmons is currently pursuing a BFA intheatre and development at Concordia University in Montreal. Having grown up in Kelowna, she has played an active role in the local arts community, performing in numerous community theatre productions, with Bumbershoot Children’s Theatre, Theatre Kelowna Society, and Shakespeare Kelowna Theatre Society. For the past few summers she has assisted with the Rotary Centre for the Arts’ summer camp programs.
During the camps, children can expect to develop skills in drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media, and sculpture, while being inspired by the current exhibitions on view at the Gallery. Scheduled guest artists play a pivotal role at each of the camps, as they share their expertise with the children to help them develop a better understanding of art.
Class sizes for all of the Gallery’s camps are limited, allowing for more one-on-one instruction to enrich the experience. All programs highlight skill-building and self-expression, as well as the introduction of new ideas and artistic techniques.
In addition to creative exploration for participants, Art Adventures offers parents peace of mind that their children will be spending their summer days with their peers in a nurturing and creative environment.
For more information, or to register your child, please contact the Gallery at 250-762-2226 or online at www.kelownaartgallery.com
