My DMA summer camp classes. Two down and one to go!

This is picture was taken during the grand finale performance of "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" summer camp at the Dallas Museum of Art. We are telling a Japanese Kamishibai story called, "The Two Tengu's". We had a wildly busy, active week together sharing stories inspired by artwork in the galleries and the students studio art. One of the main activities was learning about Japanese paper theater called Kamishibai. Between 1920 & 1953, bicycling Japanese storytellers would sell candy and tell stories using picture cards as illustrations. With the advent of TV, Kamishibai lost popularity. The people who worked in this artform then created manga art and then anime.

Good grief what made me decide to wear Pepto-bismal pink pants! After I saw these photos, I got rid of them. Now where was I...

Oh yes, the next two photos are from my ArtCycle! Summer Camp. Students created art using non-traditional and recycled materials. This was a FUN class to teach, especially because this is how I create art at home. Also, the museum has a current exhibit called Private Universes that supplied lots of ideas and inspiration for the class projects. I created several art pieces myself for the camp that illustrated how the exhibited art had inspired me.

Here is a picture of the students as they each take a turn to talk about a favorite piece of artwork they created during their week at camp.

I feel VERY fortunate to have the opportunity to teach summer camp classes at the Dallas Museum of Art. It is awesome to have art from all over the world, created by master artists no less, right there on site for the students to observe and learn about. I found in my ArtCycle camp that nearly all the kids were fans of contemporary artists like Jackson Pollack for instance. How cool is that? These youngsters were aged 9 to 12 and already had a great deal of knowledge about many, many master artists. They were eager and excited to be there everyday and took on the task of creating unique works of art with relish!

It was an honor & a blessing to get to work with the students of both camps. That dear readers is the honest to God TRUTH!