Crealde Summer ArtCamp offers children, teens professional artist experience
 
WINTER PARK, FL — Every summer, children and teens from the tri-county Central Florida Region are immersed in a comprehensive environment of artistic development, thanks to Crealdé School of Art. The non-profit organization boasts a faculty of professionals that work with young artists (ages 5 to 17) to provide lasting experiences of creativity and accomplishment. Crealdé hosts a year-round curriculum dedicated to the younger audience of Central Florida, but ArtCamp highlights itself as the pinnacle of youth programming.

ArtCamp graduates get to showcase their work in an art exhibit at the Showalter Hughes Community Gallery on the Crealdé campus, located at 600 Saint Andrews Boulevard in Winter Park. The gallery exhibition lasts from August 21 to September 25, with the opening reception on Saturday, August 21 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Fabiola Hansen is one of several Crealdé instructors who lead the ArtCamp classes. She has been teaching ArtCamp every summer for the past 11 years of the program, which was established in 1982. “The teachers at Crealdé are real artists, so children learn to make real art, not ordinary school art,” says Hansen. “The kids do incredible art, have great healthy snacks and have a beautiful sculpture garden to play in. I haven’t heard of one child who didn’t want to come back!”

Crealdé art studios are fully equipped to teach the fundamentals of ceramics, printmaking, painting and drawing, photography, and sculpture. Each student completes a project under the guidance of about 10 professional artists, including Hansen. Although this is a premium program, at least 10 percent of spaces are made available to economically challenged children.

ArtCamp sessions for summer 2010 begin June 14 and last until August 12. All students are placed in age-appropriate groups of up to 13 participants. In addition to one- and two-week sessions, six-week classes are also provided as part of Summer Saturdays for all age levels. The Advanced Art Studio allows students aged 13 and up to concentrate on one medium exclusively for one week, including 16 to 20 contact hours. The two-week sessions for students grades 3 through 8 offer 64 contact hours in the program, while the younger students, grades kindergarten through 2,receive 15 contact hours. .

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Crealdé School of Art is a community based non-profit arts organization established in 1975. It features a year-round curriculum of over 90 visual arts classes for students of all ages, two galleries, the ContemporarySculptureGarden, and award-winning outreach programs. Crealdé’s second campus, the HannibalSquareHeritageCenter, opened in 2007 in partnership with the City of Winter Park, offers innovative programming in the arts and humanities with a focus on local history, cultural preservation, and southern folklore. Through the award-winning Heritage Collection, the center pays tribute to contributions of Winter Park’s historic African American community. For more information, call:

Crealdé School of Art: (407) 671-1886  www.crealde.org; open M-Th. 9-4, Fri. & Sat. 9-1.

Heritage Center: (407) 539-2680  www.hannibalsquareheritagecenter.org , open Tu.-Th. 12-4, F 12-5, Sat. 10-2.