Clay Play! Camp

June 18-22

July 23-27 (new projects and techniques!)

All ceramics will be explored; wheel throwing, sculpture, mugs, plates, bowls!

This reads: I love, enjoy, devoure, adore, and will never stop doing art!!!!  I hope she is looking forward to being Studio 4 Art's marketing department.

Clay play is always enjoyed by young and old.  Our philosophy in this camp is all about personal style and ideas.  In the beginning of each day, we introduce a new technique or approach in using clay, along with a challenge to build on the creative process.

What can you create with a boxed, hollow form?

The above picture does not show scale, these were created by using a tile as a template, 4x4 and 2x2.  From robots, to mice to jewelry and treasure boxes, all individually unique!  It is our style, no two should be alike, because we are all different!

Fun Was Had at Novato's Art, Wine and Music Fest and Our Summer Camps Have Begun

Novato's Art, Wine and Music Festival!!At the festival we (Kevin Breakstone and myself) gave wheel throwing demo's. It was so fun to throw outside and to see how excited, intrigued and interested people of all ages seemed to be. Remember, wheel-throwing is available everyday (Monday through Saturday) at the studio for children and adults. Studio 4 Art can teach anyone how to work the wheel, regardless of age and even if you have tried in the past and feel as though you failed, we especially welcome you. Come have fun and get a little messy!
Recyclable, Reusable, 100% cotton bags that were painted at Studio 4 Art's booth. The weather was spectacular. Met a lot of wonderful people who had not heard of Studio 4 Art yet and had many families come to create a bag specifically because they knew that we would be there. Thanks to everyone! A special shout out to Novato Chamber of Commerce, EmbroidMe (for the great bags) and to Grant Avenue Florist (for flowers to make the booth look extra spectacular)!


CAMPS!!!
Theme of the week, Mosaics
Our Summer Camps have begun. Studio 4 Art's first week was learning about mosaics and campers had a great time creating handmade pieces to incorporate into their designs. Camp attendees ranged in age from 4.5 to 13. In amongst mosaic making, available options were; sewing, drawing, painting, wheel-throwing, sculpting and hand-building. For upcoming weekly themed camps please check out Studio 4 Art's calendar.

Hand-building Station
A wall vase which looks amazing already. Add flowers and you have stunning. All art that was created in the hand-building area were child initiated. Staff was there to facilitate to make their ideas successful.

Sewing Station
Always popular with boys, girls, younger or older kids. Later in the week, puppets began to come to life, very cool!

Painting Station
Abstract, imagination, observation...all explored.

Sculpting Station
The texture that was added to this dog put it over the top for CUTE! Look at that face, so much expression and it looks as though it is even smiling.



Tomorrow is Monday and I can't wait to see what the kids have in store for me this week. Theme of the week "Eat a Still-life". Fresh cupcakes just came out of the oven, decorations to be added and then we paint, sculpt and finally.....we will eat them!

Camp in Kentfield

As the summer continues to keep me busy with camps I am also working on a few other surprises I hope to share with you soon. In the meantime I want to quickly let you see the amazing portraits the artists made in last weeks private camp in Kentfield. The age of the children ranged from 5-10. We studied the face all week long looking intently and training our artists eye. Each day we specifically looked at just one feature on the face (ie: eyes, mouth, nose, etc.) and then compiled our new learned knowledge into an 11x14 canvas painted with acrylics (using only primary colors)!

Talking about the nose and realizing that it is made up of mostly shadows and highlights. Learning also how to blend our pencil lines to create contour.

Eyes, the window to the soul as I like to say. Well, if this is true this group has souls that soar: vivid, colorful, dramatic, detailed and focused.

Although these look daunting at this step, this is the layered technique the students were taught. We began with the background colors, mixed together primary colors to create a skin tone, then measured where the eyes would be placed on the oval shape. We then let this dry to begin again the next day.

And with a lot of incredible focus over the five days that it took to create these masterpieces, this is Ana's result of her self-portrait. I love it (and so did she!)