Summer Camps One and Two at The Bascom + Family Day!

CAMP ONE: Traditional Craft . . . 

Our first week of camp was awesome! We focused on a variety of projects that incorporate traditional craft. 

Students painted bark-lined slices of tree trunks from a felled tree in The Bascom parking lot. 

Using yarn and nails, students learned about design incorporating negative and positive space by creating yarn art. 

They studied and deconstructed barn quilts; and then reconstructed the patterns and shapes into felt wall hangings. 

The final project of the week was a batik on muslin, using clear glue as resist instead of hot wax. And they turned out beautifully! 

CAMP TWO: The Natural World . . . 

Camp number two took place last week, and the kiddos had a blast! The first project that the students created centered around drawing summer insects. They finished this project up with a contemporary spin: super bright watercolors for the insects and simple black ink backgrounds.

The next day the students painted found branches, each creating a wall hanging and Talking Stick.

Throughout the week, the students painted several rocks and hid them in plain sight throughout the campus and on the trails . . .

Next up, the students were inspired by past resident artists at The Bascom; each creating 24″ x 24″ paintings of animals in leafy backgrounds. The leaves were created out of stencils, and the students practiced layering, design, and color mixing to finish out this project.

The final project that the students made was a “no-sew” book. Each student practiced the art of collage on the front and back covers of their books. And on the inside, they collaged interesting compositions with cut paper, magazines, pencil drawings, and crayons. Recently we had a large donation of old National Geographic magazines, and these journals inspired storytelling and imaginative combinations.

    

The next week of art camp will begin on July 10th, after the Fourth of July holiday. The lessons will be themed around recycled art and utilizing reclaimed materials. Find out more here, and join us for all of the fun!!

FAMILY DAY: Make a Miró!!

On Saturday June 23rd, The Bascom celebrated art and families with a fun event that featured face painting, art making, wood turning, and more! One of the stations where visitors could make art was called “Make a Miró”. At this station, young artists collaged a variety of colorful papers in a multitude of shapes onto a white piece of paper before finishing their art piece off with a black handprint. This project was a direct response to one of Miró pieces featured in the collection of artworks in the Bunzl Gallery at The Bascom called Off The Wall, curated by John C. Witty III.

Mr. Witty says this about Miró, “Though he lived alongside and exhibited with the Paris Surrealists, Miró refrained from formally identifying with any of the major art movements of his time. While two of the three prints included in this exhibition have titles that suggest representational subject matter, i.e. a woman standing before a mirror and a woman bathing, the primary colors and amorphic shapes are typical of the abstraction that characterized Miró’s work throughout his career. Miró retreated into his own personal fantasies and childhood memories for the source of his imagery. The uninhibited freedom of his art, suggested by the handprint in the work published in a series accompanying Louis Aragon’s poetry in 1976, is consistent with the values of Surrealist art, despite Miró’s reticence in identifying with it.”

I’ve included the original image below, with several of the art pieces made by Family Day participants. You can learn more about Miró here. Enjoy!