Creative Arts Day Camp 2022

Following a two year pause, Creative Arts Day Camp returned in 2022 with a month of engaging activities for children rising into grades K-9. This year’s theme was care and each week, graduate and undergraduate Art Education students led a new cohort of young artists through exciting projects in digital media, painting, drawing, printmaking, bookmaking, fibers, and more. Each session wrapped up with an exhibition for students to share their work with their families.

Below is a sampling of this year’s projects. To learn more about Creative Arts Day Camp, visit https://tiny.cc/cadc.

Eric-Carle-Inspired Collage

Teacher Name: Dakota Van Houten

Grade Level: 3-4

Project Description: Campers began with an in-depth study of the function of a color wheel, with an emphasis on creating new colors out of red, yellow, blue, black, and white. After reading artist and author Eric Carle’s book “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse,” campers experimented with different painting techniques in order to capture ranges of colorful hues and patterns. The project culminated in collages, cut from the color-decorated paper, featuring animals that campers care about.

Materials: paper, tempera paint, brushes, various texture-making tools, glue, scissors

Techniques: painting, print-pulling, collage

Thinking About Time. Making Frame by Frame Animations.

Teacher Name: Ethan Williams

Grade Level: 7-9

Project Description: Students make animations that talk about the concept of time through the medium of stop motion animations, drawing, and claymation.

Materials and techniques used: Google & The Wick Editor, Paper and Pencil, Clay

Love Language Cards

Teacher Name: Shahar Smith

Grade Level: 5-6

Project Description: What is your love language? Students discussed how to take care of others and that not everyone takes care of others the same way. Students created a card and learned how to make prints using styrofoam and ink to create Continuous Line Drawings of loved ones.

Materials and techniques used: Watercolor, Ink, Brayers, Sharpies, Continuous Line Drawings

Altered Books about Care

Teacher Name: Zoe Brinson

Grade Level: K-2

Project Description: Students have each been given an old, thrifted hardcover book to repurpose as their personal art journal. In this week’s lesson, each student has been instructed to practice their painting, illustration, and collaging skills within their altered books. Each day when entering class, students are assigned a prompt about what “Care” means to them. Throughout the week students have had open access to materials to express their ideas and artistic abilities within their books. Students have been encouraged to continue creating art within their books after session 1 classes end as a form of self care. 

Materials and techniques used: Magazines, modge podge, acrylic paint, water color paint, pens, pencils, markers, scissors, repurposed books, glue; Painting, Illustration, Mixed Media Collage

2022 Camp Co-Directors Marzia Farhana and Ke Xiao, Art Education PhD students