Today I completed our exploration of basic “color theory” with my Summer Campers!
They’ve already mixed their colors in paint to create their secondary & tertiary colors.
And we ended the week with collage projects where they had to “transfer” their own
color palette onto a collage kite! Squares of colors arranged in a color gradation!

Once they all had finished their collage kites, we did one last “teambuilding” project
where they all worked together to put their color theories to work one last time for the week.
With Christian in the lead, they all worked together to create a large mural using only the three
primary colors – and a lot of blending & mixing to create their color spectrum.

Okay… sometimes it’s best not to tell me your birthday is coming…

So one of our all-time favorite Summer Campers was in camp this week.
And made the “mistake” of telling me that her birthday was Friday… today!
So I figured I just had to make her a birthday tiara out of pipe cleaners
and “force” her to wear it all day long! And she did… Happy Birthday Maya!!!

So we moved on from our Monday clay project and on to some basic color theory.
Since I have two different classes this week (morning & afternoon), I’m trying to
cover the same topics but in slightly different ways with different projects!

We started our discussion about color theory with primary, secondary and even
tertiary colors. Each kid then chose two primary colors and did a quick mix & match
to paint their own “color wheel” for their chosen colors. Seven different colors with a
nice gradation from color #1 to color #2. Today we continued our project on color
theory projects to reinforce what they’ve learned.

The morning class is now working on their color theory “collages.” They spent today
cutting out small squares from magazines that represent each of their seven colors.
Tomorrow, unbeknownst to the kids, they will take these squares and carefully collage
them in a smooth gradation on the face of the handmade kites they made yesterday!

The afternoon class continued their color theory project with abstract paintings.
Each of them followed my “cryptic instructions” to draw the abstract design. They
then carefully painted in all of the segments suing their seven colors. Here’s the catch…
each and every segment of the abstract had to be painted separately, and no two
adjacent segments could be the same color!

Tomorrow the morning class will continue the collaging & finishing their kites.
The afternoon class will “kinda continue” their color theory with some groovy tie-dye!
Not everyone remembered to bring in their shirts to tie-dye today… so I had to “label”
a couple of them to remind them… no shirt no tie-dye!

We’re getting close to the end of summer… and Summer Camp. But not until
we make some more great art with the kids! So this week I have a very wide range
of kids – both in age and demeanor! It’s a challenge… but I’m always up for it.

So this week, we started with our clay project which was going to be woven plates.
But all of a sudden when I showed up Monday morning, my class “age range” was
somehow lower than I expected… so we shifted gears just a little and added in
some easier pinch-plates for the younger ones! The kids made their clay pieces and
squished them into Chinet plates as a slump mold. Add a little colored underglaze…
then a little clear glaze – and they’ll get their finished plates back on Friday!

Well, the week has ended and therefore so has my week of “Wild Things.”
And today was a big day for the campers as we finish the week & their projects.
The day started with them getting the masks that they made on Monday back from
the kiln. As expected… the masks were all adorable! Including Jasmine’s panda,
Sarah’s T-Rex, Shane’s dog, Trudy’s buffalo, Yulia’s cat… and my demo bird!

Then the kids worked to finish their animal sculptures by painting on the details
with acrylic paint. It’s always amazing to me how their “vision” comes together –
as they always seem to “have a plan” for their sculptures… and what I was “questioning”
before suddenly makes sense as they paint on the details. They’re amazing!

After our field trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Tuesday, my campers came back
inspired and ready to tackle some animal sculptures of their own. We’ve got some
whales & giraffes, plus an octopus, a black leopard, a vampire bat, a lion & a stingray.

We started with sketches of the animal they wanted to create. We then discussed
armatures and how to create their animal’s pose and environment. I helped them
create the base and wire armature and then they started to fill it all in with newspaper
& masking tape. Once the basic shape was complete, the kids started covering the animals
with plaster gauze… kinda like paper maché but easier, cleaner & stronger! Tomorrow,
we need to complete the sculptures and paint them to bring them to life!

This week it’s all animals all the time!
A week full of “Wild Things”… and I’m not talking just about my summer campers!

It’s special theme camp called “Wild Things” where all of our art projects are animal related.
Yesterday we made terra cotta animal masks! Today we took a field trip to Chicago’s
Lincoln Park Zoo for a little more inspiration. We split into two different groups and set off
to see the animals and do a little “quiz.” We all met up again for lunch – followed by some
drawing & watercolor painting of their favorite animals! Go figure…

After a long day at the zoo, my group was exhausted and ready to head home for the day!
My six kids and “assistant” Angela… while Gus was off with his group of kids.

Plus our favorite tag-along… Phineas!
He’s the son of our Summer Camp Coordinator at Lillstreet. He came to zoo with us
and his uncle. I don’t know if he was more excited about the zoo… or the bus ride?!

It’s been a great week with a lot of great kids, great focus & great creativity!
They’ve all worked so hard to get their chess sets to this final stage… adding color!

And with just a bit of color underglaze, the chess sets really come to life. Luckily,
everyone completed their set just under the wire. The will be clear-glazed next week
and fired. Brian & I will then separate, organize and re-group each kids’ set,
box it up and get it ready for them to come back and pick it up. Once it gets home…
they can play chess everyday and cherish their masterpiece for years to come!

Well, we’re in the final stretch. Tomorrow is the last day of Chess Camp.
And fittingly, today the kids had some big deadlines to meet… and they did.
Our mission for today was for the kids to finish constructing all of their
chess pieces. They’ll be drying overnight so we can “finish them off” tomorrow!

The other part of “the big deadline” was that they each had to paint their thematic
chess boards. They too are drying overnight and tomorrow we’ll give them a little
shine with a protective coat of Mod Podge… and I love that memorable smell.

Tomorrow we will finish off another wonderful week of camp by painting
all of their pieces with colorful underglaze to really bring their pieces to life!
This has been a great week with a bunch of really great kids!