Art Camp II

2019 Themes Below ( 2021 Descriptions to follow)

Each week we will focus on individual and community growth both as artists and responsible citizens. We will explore different artists and art styles each week, as we create our own projects within the subjects provided. The different mediums include, but are not limited to: Paint, sculpture (clay and assemblage), textiles, graphite, pen and ink, and more.

Week 1 -Environmental Art: Nature, Art, and Science

Description: In Environmental art we will be exploring nature and science by using natural items to make art and art supplies. Every day will include a nature walk through the Lake Merritt Botanical Gardens, where we gather information in our sketchbooks in order to come back to the classroom and recreate some of the things we found.

Week 2 -Creating Stories with Art: A class on Illustration, book making, and story writing.

Description: In “Creating Stories with Art,” We will be learning about storytelling through art and writing. We will discover how to create interesting characters, write comics and mini books, and how to bind books. In addition, we will be looking into some of our favorite books and stories and explore how the covers of these books were created.

Week 3 -Coastal Art

Description: In “Coastal Art,” we are going to be exploring art and culture of the California Coast. This means we are going to be looking at the art of the local coastal artists, including the Ohlone, Ocean Art Activists and Preservationists, and some of the science behind the ocean’s ecological systems.

Week 4-Exploring Identity- Exploring who you are and who you want to be through the act of self expression through art.

Description: This week we will be exploring personal and community identity through the act of drawing, painting, and sculpting. We will be learning about artists who work primarily in figurative art (The act of drawing people) and identity. In addition to this, we will be learning about the formal elements of art, and how to mix colors.

Week 5-Ancient Art: Exploring ancient civilizations through their art.
Description: In Ancient art, we are going to be exploring ancient civilizations through their mythology and art. We are going to be exploring cave drawings, take a look at items found in archeological digs, how they are preserved, and finally we are going to begin looking at a serious question; Should the artifacts belong to the museums or should it belong to the communities it was found in?

Week 6- Exploring the Ugly: All art is not Pretty, let's make something that's both ugly and interesting to look at.
Description: We are going to be exploring a bit of the Anti-Art Movement. We are Anti- “What makes art Pretty.” The Dadaists meant to turn our world upside down, to make it seem weird and absurd. They meant for us to rethink the items that surround us so that we might rethink our world. In light of that, we are also going to be making weird and absurd art in its many forms.

Week 7- Recology Art: A Focus on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and ways that artists help combat waste.
Description: We are going to take a look at how artists of the SF Recology Center take garbage and recyclables and turn it into beautiful and useful pieces. Then, we are going to take some of our own recyclables and turn it into new works of art. We are going to be working with recycled textiles for weaving and sewing, recycled and reclaimed wood and other items for assemblage sculptures, and more. 

Week 8- Culture and the Arts
Description: In “Culture and the Arts,” We are going to be looking at the heart of different cultures, globally, and what makes them beautiful. In addition, we are going to be exploring local, nearby parts of Oakland in order to see the art that’s happening in our own culturally-diverse community.

Week 9 - Art for Social Change
Description: In “Art for Social Change,” we are going to begin looking at Social Movements and how Art can help make a positive change in the Community. We are going to look at both Local and Global Movements. In addition, we are going to be learning how to make the kind of art that makes a movement so powerful.

Week 10- Art and Sound
Description: This week we are going to be exploring how sound is made and how we might create our own instruments. We are going to be looking at the history of musical inventions and how art works side by side with music.