Over the past two weeks, Greenville ISD has hosted a summer art camp for grades 3-6 at Lamar Elementary. The camp was broken up into two weeks, week one being for grades three and four, and week two being for grades five and six. Teachers Kim Fake, Samantha Phillips and Shannon Manley led the camps. 

 

"We selected several art pieces to do that incorporated a variety of mediums for the students to learn about and to work with.We talked about shadows; perspective and the basics of how to paint, such as cleaning brushes, etc." said Fake.

 

During week one, the students did a self portrait, which incorporated their shadow into the piece using colored pencils and paper. They also worked with clay to create a tile by pressing different pieces of pasta into the clay before it began to dry.The third and fourth grade students also created paper sculptures. "We had some very creative pieces," said Fake, "One that comes to mind is of two children on a see-saw."

 

Week two carried over the same design principals but with more advanced techniques for the older students. The fifth and sixth graders did a self portrait using the zentangle method. "We took a photograph of each student and placed it on a white poster board.  The students then used the zentangle method to draw in their hair.  These self portraits were absolutely wonderful!" said Fake. Students also did match box self portraits where two matches created the legs for the self portrait body and the students had to draw their torso, neck and head. They used aluminum cans to create a face, then used paints to draw a face on the crushed aluminum can.

 

Both camps worked on collaborative group projects during the week as well. The third and fourth grade students crafted a large paper dragon, while the fifth and sixth graders panted a design on a 3x3 canvas that were hung to create one large art installation. Students also made their own t-shirt by creating a stencil and created a necklace using washers and colored ink.

 

"The thing I like about art camp is that students get to make pieces of art and use different art supplies that they may not have otherwise had the chance to do or use.  It exposes them to different techniques and methods of art creation," said Manley. This was the second year that the art camp has been held. "It is a nice to see what the students create and how they explore the world of art. We are thankful that GISD has continued to support art camp for it's students.  We already have some ideas for next summer's camp!" said Fake.