Creativity Inspires Children, Local Artist at Art Camp

(Left to right) Hardy intern Megan Bloesch, Josue, instructor Donna Brown, Jose, Emmett, Arturo, Maggie and hardy Intern Mikaela Benner pose with the finished works on the last day of camp.

The Hardy’s 2013 summer Art Camp Program, presented in collaboration with the Gibraltar Summer Migrant Education Program, ended Aug. 8. This year’s camp benefitted five underprivileged children who explored sculpture with the creation of piٌatas.

Local artist and art educator Donna Brown served as the lead instructor, teaching the children the value of color, proportion, and artistic expression in four separate sessions. Hardy interns Mikaela Benner and Megan Bloesch assisted Brown.

Brown has worked close to eight years with the Hardy’s Art Camp. The experiences have forced Brown to think about how to approach a broad age group and keep them from being conditioned or jaded as to what art is.

“It’s seeing the joy in their eyes – the idea of creating something. They love creating. Not to thwart their creativity. It’s reinforcement and you learn from them,” said Brown.

The projects created include piٌatas representative of each student’s favorite animal.

Josue writes, “My favorite part was when we blew up our balloons, then put newspaper on our balloons, then we let it dry. We made our objects for our animals.”

The Hardy’s Art Camp Program, which continues to fill an important niche in our community, stimulates the development of young minds through creativity, strengthening problem solving and critical thinking skills, adding the future academic achievement and success of participants. For more information call 920.854.2210 or visit thehardy.org.