Art and creativity should be fun. That’s what SPARK art camp organizer Meg Dickie says.
The camp has been growing more popular each year, and expanded to three weeks instead of two this summer.
Youth from Barrhead, to Westlock, to Athabasca all come together to share in something they love: art. The five-day camp, which has been at the library the past two weeks, is meant to be a learning environment where each group of young artists could feel safe in venturing outside the box of conventional art.
The paverpol bird sculptures, which seemed to be the most popular activity, is a great example. Though the sculptures took on the shape of a bird, the girls were encouraged to think of their own design and colour schemes. A bluejay could have some splashes of blue, but who’s to say there can’t be some pink or yellow in there somewhere too?
Creative freedom teaches youth it’s OK to be different.
The activities weren’t specifically limited children either. Whether it was block printing, creating art journals, or oil painting, each skill could be applied later on if the campers chose to pursue art as a young adult.
The response from the campers says it all. Not one negative comment was said about their time at the library.
Having local artists come in to run workshops with the camp has been a hit each year. This gives students the opportunity to have fun in a somewhat formal teaching environment.
Not only were the campers excited to learn about different artists and various techniques, but they were happy about spending time with people they didn’t know and forming new friendships.
