Camp Bear Wallow introduces local children to art forms4 min read

Camp Bear Wallow, the art camp for kids, will be open for the summer with fun art projects like mural painting, balloon art, sculpted animals, insect paintings, bird houses, walking sticks, origami, Lego sculptures, bubble art, fiber clay sculptures, paint brush making and more.

The camp is held at 333 Schnebly Hill Road in the art cabin, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Ages 6 through 11 are accepted. Camp weeks are June 3 through 10 and July 1 through 8.

The mission of this camp is to inspire and encourage children to explore, create and invent using artist’s tools and the artist’s eye in the hopes of developing a joyful well rounded creative young adult. The goals of the camp are to develop tools of self esteem, confidence and problem solving, art and education tools promoting the Arizona Education Standards and engagement tools of developing playfulness, persistence, experimenta­tion and curiosity.

This program is designed to give access to the arts to all children of different economic situ­ations. At the end of the four weeks, the camp will present a demonstration exhibition tea party where each child will create and explain their favorite art process. This will be a public event with parents invited and refreshments provided. The camp can accept 12 children each week, and they may sign up for one week or all four weeks.

The schedule of classes is as follows:

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  • June 3, Week 1: Mural painting. The chil­dren will learn painting techniques skills, and work with new materials and the color wheel. This session is designed specifically for children interested in painting and painting techniques. They each will create personal abstract and landscape paintings/drawings and be a part of creating a 5 by 10 foot mural. Other activi­ties may be incorporated into the week, such as hand-imations, in which hands/arms are painted to make animal forms.
  • June 10, Week 2: Lego sculptures, science/art projects, sculpting eye balls, house model building and animal/insect sculptures. This session is designed specifically for boys and girls who are interested in art, building things, critical thinking and problem solving.
  • July 1, Week 3: Garden and Art. In this session, the class will make paint brushes, bug drawings, flower sculp­tures, vegetables and the color wheel, painted walking sticks and sculptural tree collages. This session is designed for children interested gardening, planting and the earth.
  • July 8, Week 4: Sculpture and Clay. In this session, fiber clay sculp­ture and balloon sculpture will be included, along with other ideas. The last day of this week is also the garden tea party, where each child demon­strates the process of their favorite art and exhibits their work.

As this is the 20th year of the camp, all previous campers and their families from 1999 to 2019 will be invited to come and celebrate this fun occa­sion. There will be food and refreshments for all.

A professional artist for 40 years, Nancy Robb Dunst presently coor­dinates the Gardens for Humanity’s Celebrating the Art in Earth program in six Sedona and Verde Valley schools. She has been an artist in residence at the Sedona Red Rock High School for two years, other school districts, the Grand Canyon and has taught at ASU, WS, BP and SAC.

Dunst’s art work has been projected on buildings in New York and shown as the Director’s Choice at the Viridian Gallery in New York City. Commissioned by Sky Harbor International Airport, the City of Yuma, Harkins Theaters, the Kierland Resort and others, her work can be seen in numerous art collections. She was Sedona’s first recipient of the Mayor’s Individual Arts Award and she founded the Sedona Visual Artists Coalition, presiding over it for 10 years.

She enjoys working with children and helping them create with new skills. More information about the camp is avail­able by contacting Dunst at 282-0776 or nrdunst@yahoo.com

The camp is run on a slide scale, from $20 to $70 a week, dependent on family income.

The cost has not been increased since 2008, in order to give every child access to the arts.

The camp has been partially funded and sponsored in the present and past by the Shirley Carris Family Foundation, the Sedona Arts Festival, Sedona Visual Artists’ Coalition, Gardens For Humanity, Tutnick Attorney at Law, DuCharm Framing, the Coffee Pot Restaurant and Sedona Dental Arts.

To register, contact Sherie Kennedy at 282-9300 or mail@sedonacreativelife.com.

Larson Newspapers

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