Back at summer camp, the kids are focusing on some of the master artists they saw
during their field trip to the Art Institute on Tuesday. I created a beautiful still life
for the kids to work from. We first had them draw the still life in their own style.

Then, we had a great discussion about some famous artists. There were ten new names that
we discussed and the kids started memorizing some good art history. All the while thinking
it was just fun… and not an art history class! We covered classic masters like Pablo Picasso,
Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Salvador Dali, Paul Gauguin… as well as
more contemporaries like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe, Piet Mondrian & Roy Lichtenstein.

After sharing some art history & anecdotes, the kids switched to their first painting
“in the style of” Georgia O’Keefe. So we discussed some of the identifiable characteristics
of an O’Keefe painting… and then they started off sketching & painting their own version.

More artists… and more painting tomorrow…

So it’s another week of Summer Camp (my last for this summer)…
and this time it’s a week all based on famous artists & famous paintings!
Throughout the week, the kids will all be making their art “in the style of”
famous artists. It’s going to be a crash course in art history… they’re going to learn
a lot this week, and they’ll never see it coming!!!

Today we all took a field trip to the Art Institute downtown… after too many Mr. Pibbs!!!
So my busload went downtown, spent some time in Millennium Park, visited The Bean,
and ate lunch in the park. The into the museum to expose the kids to a LOT of art!!!
Many of them were surprised when they finally realized that everything in the museum
was “real” and not a fake… as well as how old many of the pieces are!

Just a quick “thank you” to the broken Coca-Cola machine just outside the room
where I’m teaching my summer camp this week.

And I would just like to “thank” them for giving us a broken machine!
Let’s just say the kids love it more than I… as every time they buy a can of Pibb Xtra
(yes, that’s extra sugar & extra caffeine) the machine gives them TWO cans!!!
Yes, two cans for the price of one!!!

Just what the summer camp kids need… more caffeine & more sugar!!!
Especially when we were headed off to the Art Institute for the day!

And I will once again be teaching the Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing
class on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm. Whether you’ve thrown on the wheel
before, or you’ve never touched clay, this is the class for you. You’ll be surprised at
how quickly you’ll be making handmade pottery… with ten-weeks to “perfect” your skills.
Plus, this session will take you right up to the holiday season. An ideal chance to start
making your own handmade gifts for the holidays!

The new 10-week Fall Session will begin on Tuesday, September 13th.
But sign-up today to guarantee yourself a seat in my class… it usually fills up fast!!!
Stop by or call Lillstreet… or register online at www.lillstreet.com.
Plus, sign-up before August 29 and receive $20 off your class enrollment!

So there it is… another week of camp done. Check… and check mate!
And the kids were all working feverishly to finish their sets by the end of camp!
Plus, I brought in some music “to calm the savage beasts” and give us all a little
more vocal entertainment throughout the day. Especially Andrew who not only sang
along with a lot of the songs… but also decided to “bust a move” frequently too!

So they tackled the day head-on with a lot of work on the docket. They had pretty much
finished building all of their pieces. A few more here & there, but generally finished.
We pulled out the underglazes and they started painting… all the while being very careful
not to break of their fragile greenware pieces. Okay… so we had a couple mishaps,
but nothing that couldn’t be rebuilt in our spare time.

So they kept painting their pieces with colorful underglazes all day. Which really brings
them all to life. It’s always so much fun to see their “vision” come together!

By the end of camp today, every camper had completed their entire Chess Set.
They were very excited, as was I… always so impressive that they can finish a project
this large in just five days! Plus, we finished with time to spare… so we all shared in a
huge ice cream social with potluck toppings brought in by the kids! I always love filling
the kids with sugar at the end of the day and sending them home all jacked-up
to Mom & Dad!!!

Thank you again to all of my campers for making this another successful week.
They were all so energetic & entertaining. I laughed with them all week long.

So one of my kids has been entertaining me all week long.
Not only is his chess set coming together quite nicely…
And not only has he persuaded me to download the app “Plants vs. Aliens”…
But he has also been serenading the class all week long! Which is not only incredibly
entertaining… Andrew actually has a really good voice too! So it’s been a LOT of fun!!!
And you can check him out on his very own YouTube video!!!

The film quality is not all that great, and the beginning is a little shaky. But make sure
you wait until the chorus of the song really kicks in… Andrew’s got a great voice for a
13 year old!!! Watch the video, give it a “LIKE” rating if you can… and I’m sure he’d
love to get some good Comments too!!! Click on the link below…

Andrew Johnson on “YouTube”

So the kids have been very focused this week…
with their themes in place and the terra cotta quickly forming into chess pieces!
It’s been an assembly line of pawns, and then a lot of scoring & slipping along the way!
Some of the themes this time around include…
* Land Animals vs. Water Animals
* Plants vs. Zombies… apparently a hugely popular app with the kids?!
* Health Food vs. Junk Food… matching chess sets by my two overachievers!
* Star Wars
* Soda Pop vs. Fruit Juices
* Plates vs. Bowls… which I don’t really get, but he’s VERY into it?!!!
* Forks vs. Spoons… again, what’s with the utensils???
* Tofu vs. Meat

Too bad that not all of my overachieving kids “understood” that the slip should go on their
pieces, not their hands! At least they’re following my #1 Summer Camp Rule… Have Fun!

Along the way, in between making their pieces, the kids also started to paint their
chess boards today. With colors & thematic elements to coordinate with their chess sets.

After lunch, the kids who have finished making all of their pieces started painting their
chess pieces with colorful underglazes. This is always fun because it’s when all of their
hard work really comes to life! And the chess piece personalities really begin to pop!

And with kids this adorable… how could you NOT love Summer Camp?!!! They have been
too funny! Great attitudes, funny stories, good karaoke, bad jokes… all WONDERFUL FUN!!!

So last night, a former student of my wheelthrowing class stopped by again
with special homemade treats! This time, it was homemade ice creams with some
wacky flavors! Every time Cam makes treats to share, they seem to have unusual
ingredients you wouldn’t expect to taste in the same place. But somehow they always
seem to work. I guess that’s what makes him a chef… and not me?!

So one of them was made with blackberries, goat cheese and sage.
It was quite different because it was more savory than sweet.
But the collective class “favorite” was a wonderful concoction of strawberries,
sour cream, basil and balsamic vinegar! Fantastic frozen fun!!!

Another week of camp… and this time it’s all about Chess!
The kids are going to make an entire thematic chess set out of terra cotta.
So today we started the day with some great brainstorming to help the kids
come up with their themes. Some of them came into the day with a theme
already in their head, others needed some help. So we came up with a lot of ideas…
and it was funny to see where there minds were coming from! We had a list with
lots of video games, vampires and crazy inanimate objects!!! Once they each
decided in their theme, I had them fill in a worksheet to figure out what each
piece in their set will be. A quick demo… and then they started forming their pieces!

It’s going to be a very long week… they’ve got a LOT of work ahead of them.
With 32 chess pieces to make, plus their thematic chess board, they’ve got a lot of
handbuilding to do! So my job is to keep them focused… and their job is to keep me laughing!

After a week of clay & metal, my summer camp kids finally pulled everything together
to make their dinnerware sets come true! They’ve made their clay plates, bowls, cups,
platters, cups, whatever. And then made metal forks, knives, forks, spoons, bowls,
chopsticks, whatever. Today we finished everything & had a wonderful potluck feast!

We started by pulling all of their metal pieces out of the tumbler… all polished and
hardened from a night of tumbling. The kids loved seeing their pieces all shiny!

Then they assembled their pieces by inserting the metal pieces into the clay handles
that they made on Monday. A little epoxy… and voila’… instant handmade cutlery!!!
And a few pieces that were all metal. Cut, textured and metal handles riveted in place…
like my new salad tongs!!!

As some of the kids had already assembled their dinnerware sets, and we still had time
to make a few more pieces, some kids moved onto forming metal bowls from a flat sheet
of metal. Fun with torches & a lot of hammering!!!

Finally it was time for lunch and we got to use some of out new pieces for The Feast.
It was so nice to actually use the kids pieces to eat their lunch. Serving pieces, forks
and plates!!! And from the looks of it… we had quite a Feast. The kids brought in
a LOT of wonderful food to cap off our wonderful week of camp!