Science meets art in special summer camp
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
PHOTOS BY ROB BENCHLEY Elliot Thornburg, above, snips away at a cardboard fish he is making at the Artists Association studio This week in a camp sponsored by the Maria Mitchell Association in collaboration with the Artists Association of Nantucket, children are learning about different animals, then writing about them in a nature journal they made as well as creating a related art project.
Animals and Art is in its third year and is sandwiched between six weeks of regular art camps the AAN is hosting for children six to 13. Animals and Art is for children ages seven to nine and fills up quickly, well ahead of its schedule.
Caitlin Domagal leads the MMA portion that runs three hours in the morning and then assists AAN teacher John Carruthers as he guides the group of 16 kids through their afternoon project at the studio on Gardner Perry Lane.
"There is so much competition among things for kids to do. This is pretty popular, "said Carruthers, who has taught summer art for children for five seasons. "We keep the kids educationally entertained. It's extremely interactive."
Chloe Healy, above right, works on the pages of her discovery journal at the Artists Association. Monday's topic was fish. On Tuesday the children learned about turtles and tortoises, today the subject is whales, tomorrow they study snakes and Friday they learn about birds. The MMA portion, held at one of its Vestal Street properties, is a mixture of providing information on each animal to the group followed by an activity. The children go on a field trip and play games that reinforce what they learned earlier. After lunch they walk to the studio and begin their art project.
The educational morning on fish covered a variety of species, how they navigate and find food, and how they can adjust their buoyancy by taking in or releasing air. Next, they "fashioned a fish" using images of fish that show different colorations, mouth sizes, methods of reproduction and shape. Each child drew a fish of his or her own imagination, named it, gave it a habitat, and shared what he or she decided was the fish's means of survival. One child created a "striped sucking fish" that lives in the Virgin Islands, while another drew a "wambusia fish" that lives in the Amazon. Still another child made up the "green light-bellied fish" and a camp mate envisioned a "torpedo fish" named Frieda.
Daisey Dias and sisters Annabel and Alexandra Edwards listen to the discussion at the MMA At the AAN studio, the group made nature journals they will write in each day this week. They drew, cut out and devised three-dimensional cardboard fish - one girl chose a happy mermaid - that they glued to the front cover of their book and decorated with colored pencils, tissue paper scraps, pieces of colored construction paper and yarn. On Tuesday they made papier-mache, bobble-head turtles and today they will make whale mobiles. Tomorrow's project will be to create wire and clay snakes, and on Friday they will craft cardboard and paper birds. At the end of the camp, all their animals will be shown in a sizable art eco-system backdrop made by Carruthers.
Regular art camps for children resume at the AAN studio July 28 and run from 9:30 a.m. to noon for kids ages six to eight and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. for children nine to 13 years old. There is still room to sign up. The last weekly camp begins August 18. Call 228-0722 for registration information. Materials are included, but kids are asked to bring a snack. I
 A 3-D fish of colored construction paper makes the cover of this journal |
