Today at Summer Camp we painted color wheels with tempera paints.
The perfect use for cardboard pizza rounds!

The kids started be drawing the lines on their boards to make the sections. Once they were drawn, they were ready to start painting. We discussed primary colors, secondary colors as well as hues & shades. They were given red, yellow & blue paints for the interior ring of solid colors, as well as black & white for the lighter & darker rings. They had to mix all of the colors themselves. I was only their to coach & encourage.

All of the kids did a really good job. Of course, some did a better job than others of staying inside the lines. But then again, it’s art… so who cares, really?! I was just more concerned that they were not rushing through the project. Instead, I wanted them to grasp the concept and learn a little something about color theory.

Those who “complained” that they had already done color wheels before were challenged to do a tougher version. So they had to split their boards into twice as many sections. And then do all of the tertiary colors in between!

When the kids finished their color wheels, if there was still time left, they were then challenged to do a two-color gradation.

So it took me almost a week to get it down.
My summer campers couldn’t stop doing it… so I had them teach me!
Of course, they think it’s really funny to go REALLY fast, or do different variations just to see me struggle. Which I did. But by the end of the week though, I think I was pretty proficient with “The Cup Song.”

What is “The Cup Song” you may ask?
Well, that’s a very good question. All I know is that it is apparently “all the rage” with pre-teen girls these days. And since I was surrounded by them every afternoon this past week, I was introduced to “The Cup Song.” Sure, I’ve heard the song a couple times on the radio and found it very short, sweet and slightly addictive in a guilty-pleasure kind of way. But I had no idea where it came from, or that it is becoming a “sensation” of sorts sweeping the pre-teen world.

Apparently, all the kids know the song from the movie “Pitch Perfect” starring Anna Kendrick. It’s kind of teen-angsty “Glee” wanna-be movie. And in one of the scenes, she sings this cute little ditty and does some fun things with a cup… which apparently catches on very quickly all through the restaurant! Watch the video clip…

Click here to watch the scene in the movie “Pitch Perfect” that apparently started the craze.

And then, if that weren’t enough, Anna Kendrick was making the rounds of the late night talk shows, and performed the scene live for David Letterman. Who seemed duly impressed… perhaps in a slightly sarcastic, mocking, David Letterman kind of way?!

Click here to see Anna Kendrick from “Pitch Perfect” perform
“The Cup Song” live on The David Letterman Show.

So there it is… this summer’s hip trick for pre-teens. As a Summer Camp teacher, you know I feel like I need to be up on all of the latest trends… after all… “all the cool kids are doing it.”

This morning, the kid’s terra cotta projects from Monday came out of the kiln. I attached wires so they can hang their plaques when they get home. It’s always so much fun to see their boundless creativity… the colors, the textures, the whimsy that shows up when they are left to their own devices with a bunch of clay! Especially when you’ve got young kids like this week… mostly 6-8 year olds… with Ollie being the youngest at only 4 years old!!!

Gotta love the sense of wreckless abandon, excessive texturing & crazy glazing! And the wonderful effect that all came together in the end… much to my own dismay!

My morning camp kids were excited when I brought out the big box of yarn. When we started their color wheels yesterday, they found it a little more difficult that they expected. I was sensing some frustration… but they pulled through & persevered. By the end of today, they were all excited, thrilled with their projects and finished it off with some fringe around the edge.

One more day of freedom…
as my Summer Camp “Tour of Duty” begins tomorrow morning
with a room full of 5-8 year olds and a camp called “All Things Messy.”
Yikes… wish me luck!!!!

When I got to the studio tonight, I stopped by my teacher’s mailbox pouch to get my students’
shelf labels. I also found this wonderful note from one of my favorite summer campers.
Completely making my day. So heart-warming that a kid would be so thoughtful. And knowing
that I’ve done something along the way to touch a part of his life.

Thanks Lorenzo – you’re a great kid!!!

As this week quickly came to an end, my campers were working hard on their masterpieces!
Our terra cotta picture frames came out of the kiln and we still needed to paint them gold.
You know that every masterpiece needs the perfect frame. So we went out into the back
alley behind Lillstreet to spray paint them all metallic gold.

As the kids finished their paintings, we started setting up their Gallery Show. So we put
together their paintings with the piece of the still life that were working from. For their
Mondrian-inspired piece, we talked about how they needed to use the color palette from
their flower and express it with proper proportions & color theories.

Once the frames were dry, we started inserting their paintings into the picture frames.
Like these paintings done by the kids in the style of Georgia O’Keeffe.

Plus their paintings in the style of 70’s pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

Or a still life painting in the style of Vincent Van Gogh…

We finished the day by creating a Gallery Show of their masterpieces. We invited their
parents, friends and other summer campers to come through to see their exhibit.

Each of the kids were encouraged to take their turn as docent to give their guests a tour
of the show. While showing people around, they explained the inspirations and how they
made each piece. Explaining how the style of a Master Artist had influenced their paintings,
and how they worked that influence into their own works. They also found it great fun to
quiz the adults with the same 25 Master Artists that they had learned throughout the week!
I’m sure they weren’t too surprised to find out that very few people knew as many artists
as they did!!! Always fun to see kids excited about Art History!

And with that… my Summer Camp “tour of duty” for this year is over.
It was such a pleasure to end the summer on such a high note… seeing that the kids have
indeed had a great time and learned a little something along the way. And had fun too!!!

It was such a great surprise today when I turned the corner…
and there stood my sister Jen and my favorite niece Taylor!!!

Now Taylor is no stranger in coming to the studio, but she’s new to Summer Camp.
So there I was with my roomful of “Masters” campers trying to get everything done
and ready for lunch – when they showed up out of the blue! Apparently, they had an
appointment in the city that had been mis-scheduled. So instead of 11:00am, they
were on for 2:30pm and needed to kill some time. So they decided to surprise
Uncle Gary and show up unannounced. It was such a great surprise for me… plus,
Taylor & Jen got to hang out with me and my campers on the Lillstreet rooftop deck
for a leisurely lunch!!! They even got some homemade brownies from Judy, one of
our other summer camp teachers, who had a few extras from her camp – huge bonus!!!

So the kids are learning more about some Master Artists, memorizing names
and their styles… and incorporating that knowledge into their own masterpieces!
Including their first one in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. So I created a still life for
them to work from. I told them they could draw the whole thing, or “zoom in” on
and focus more on just a few pieces in a certain section.

And then we switched our focus on to the work of Roy Lichtenstein & Georges Seurat. They
both used a lot of dots… but in completely different ways. So we discussed the differences
and similarities. They decided which one they wanted to work from… some Lichtenstein…

While others did Seurat…
And yes, when they do a painting in the style of Seurat, I take away their paint brushes!
No brushing for this one. Instead it’s dot, dot, dot… with a Q-Tip!!!

Part of this week at summer camp is a lesson in art history for my campers.
I like to approach it in a way that they don’t really know what’s happening until it’s too late.
Throughout the week, they will hopefully learn to identify 25 famous artists based on some
flash cards I’ve created for them. During the week, they will also work on creating their own
projects “in the style” of the Masters they’ve just learned about.

So here’s the “Masters Quiz” for you… How many of these artists can YOU identify?!
And to make it even one step harder… my campers know their first names too!!!

1. ______________________________

2. ______________________________

3. ______________________________

4. ______________________________

5. ______________________________

6. ______________________________

7. ______________________________

8. ______________________________

9. ______________________________

10. ______________________________

11. ______________________________

12. ______________________________

13. ______________________________

14. ______________________________

15. ______________________________

16. ______________________________

17. ______________________________

18. ______________________________

19. ______________________________

20. ______________________________

21. ______________________________

22. ______________________________

23. ______________________________

24. ______________________________

25. ______________________________

So how did YOU do?! Been a long time since you did any Art History, huh?!
Not to make you fell bad, but my campers can now name all of these artists!