Bowdoin Summer Art Camp

Ages 6-7

9:00am- 12:00p

Wild Art: Nature-Inspired Art with Alice Webber

Explore our natural world with an artist's eye. We will experiment with elements from nature to create new pieces each day. We plan to explore the wide range of plant colors, learn nature illustration, and construct 3-D sculptures of found natural objects, while gathering inspiration from all the shapes and textures available right outside our doors!

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Color, texture, pattern with Yasamin Holland

Come along for a joyful exploration of vivid color, layered texture, and thoughtful pattern. Artists will engage in printmaking, sustainable sculpture, bookmaking, and painting, while drawing inspiration from life experience and identity to add depth and human connection to the experience of making art.

Ages 8-10 

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Color, Texture, Pattern with Yasamin Holland 

Come along for a joyful exploration of vivid color, layered texture, and thoughtful pattern. Artists will engage in printmaking, sustainable sculpture, bookmaking, and painting, while drawing inspiration from life experience and identity to add depth and human connection to the experience of making art.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Zines! Comics & Graphic Storytelling with Josie Colt 

For this week of camp we will explore comics and graphic storytelling to create zines! Sines are little books that can be about anything. They can consist of writing and drawing (comics!) and other fun mediums. Comics are a powerful way to express ourselves and tell our stories and zines are a great tool for self-publishing and sharing information. Let's make some zines!

Ages 11-13

9:00 am-12:00 pm 

Paper Mâché and puppetry with Josie Colt

We will spend this week exploring the possibilities of paper mâché and puppets!  Campers will design and create masks out of paper mâché to represent a character or creature of their choice. Using our mask as inspiration, we will then venture into shadow puppetry, and create little vignettes to perform for each other.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm 

Fiber Art, Felting Style - Exploring Wool as art in 2D and 3D With Alice Webber

Let's take a deep dive into the world of needle felting! Artists will be introduced to the tools and techniques of using wool roving to create both 3D sculptures and 2D artworks. We will experiment with the various colors and textures of both natural and dyed wool, and craft our unique colors through blending and layering different fibers.

Ages 6-7

9:00 am - 12 pm

Color and Collage with Ted DeMille & Susan Pelis

In this workshop, students will integrate painting, collage, songs, poetry, and games into a week of creativity. Young artists will make hand-painted, textured paper with watercolor on wet paper. They will use salt, sponges, Plexiglas, plastic wrap, straws, and marbleizing techniques to create a variety of natural settings illustrating water, sky, various lands, and times of day. These papers will be the raw materials for creating collages that tell picture stories.  Collage themes will be self-directed, but the collage illustrations of Leo Lionni, Lois Ehlert, Steve Jenkins, and Eric Carle will be shared as inspiration.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Surprising Surfaces with Yasamin Holland

Let’s play around with a variety of media and surfaces on which to make art during this weeklong dive into materiality. Resin, wood, textiles, hanging sculptures... we will look to contemporary and modern artists who expand wide-held beliefs of what art is and can be to break the mold ourselves through unconventional and highly creative processes that are experimental, fun, and enlivening.

Ages 8-10

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Map Making and Miniatures with Audrey Parker

Create a new world and explore it through drawing maps and pictures, storytelling, and miniature building! This mixed media workshop will expand the many ways you can tell a story through art.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Color and Collage with Ted DeMille & Susan Pelis

In this workshop, students will integrate painting, collage, songs, poetry, and games into a week of creativity.  Young artists will make hand-painted, textured paper with watercolor on wet paper.  They will use salt, sponges, Plexiglas, plastic wrap, straws, and marbleizing techniques to create a variety of natural settings illustrating water, sky, various lands, and times of day. These papers will be the raw materials for creating collages that tell picture stories.  Collage themes will be self-directed, but the collage illustrations of Leo Lionni, Lois Ehlert, Steve Jenkins, and Eric Carle will be shared as inspiration.

Ages 11-13

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Entomological Explorations With Leonid Eichfeld

Are you an exuberantly excited entomologist?  A beaming believer that bugs are beautiful and benefic? Or perhaps you’re an itty bit icked out by insects… but don’t look away! You’ll get to explore the wonderful world of bugs through artistic exploration! Join this Entomological Explorations class and create reclaimed and found object sculptures inspired by our tiny friends. Outdoor exploration and artistic play will really make time fly! 

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Animal Illustration & Collage with Audrey Parker

Bring animals to life in new ways! Campers will learn how to draw animals and practice the art of collage with their illustrations and found imagery. From idea building to drawing, designing, and collaging with materials familiar and unexpected, masterpieces will emerge!

Ages 6-7

9:00 am - 12 pm

What's Your Style with Sarah Navin

An illustration workshop in which campers will learn about and experiment with different drawing styles. We'll explore some of the major design elements that distinguish one artist's style from another's (lines, shapes, space, color, and value), and campers will refine their own approach to create a portrait of themselves or another subject in a style that's all their own.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Color and Collage Craft with Ted DeMille and Susan Pelis

This workshop will utilize the same techniques as those in Color and Collage but will offer an opportunity for alternative exploration. Using the paper making and collage technique students will create collages of assorted sizes and fashion functional items such as journals, refrigerator magnets, key chains, bookmarks, and craft paper boxes. Students do not need to have taken Color and Collage Sing to sign up for this session.

Ages 8-10

9:00 am - 12:00 pm 

Color and Collage Craft with Ted DeMille and Susan Pelis

This workshop will utilize the same techniques as those in Color and Collage but will offer an opportunity for alternative exploration. Using the paper making and collage technique students will create collages of assorted sizes and fashion functional items such as journals, refrigerator magnets, key chains, bookmarks, and craft paper boxes. Students do not need to have taken Color and Collage Sing to sign up for this session.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Creatures of the Garden with Hannah Tower

In this session, we will be exploring the use of natural and found materials in art with an inquiring lens towards ecofeminist art as inspiration, as well as an avenue towards strengthening our connection to nature and our understanding of the relationship between art and nature. Mediums we will explore include clay, paint, plaster, found objects, and more. We will strive to find joy and whimsy in our art and our creating.

Ages 11-13

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Color, texture, pattern with Yasamin Holland

Come along for a joyful exploration of vivid color, layered texture, and thoughtful pattern. Artists will engage in printmaking, sustainable sculpture, bookmaking, and painting, while drawing inspiration from life experience and identity to add depth and human connection to the experience of making art.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

What's Your Style with Sarah

An illustration workshop in which campers will learn about and experiment with different drawing styles. We'll explore some of the major design elements that distinguish one artist's style from another's (lines, shapes, space, color, and value), and campers will refine their own approach to create a portrait of themselves or another subject in a style that's all their own.

Ages 6-7

9:00 am - 12 pm

Seeds & Plants & Moss, Oh My! with Jessica De Paiva

Collected treasures from the woods, gardens, and beaches. In this class we will use everything from acorns and pinecones to flowers and moss to seashells and driftwood to create masterpieces both big and small. Imagine pressed flower sun-catchers, seeded paper-mâché, plant prints, and terrariums. Paired with recycled goods and art supplies our options are endless! The young artists will be encouraged to use their imagination while drawing inspiration from the nature around them. Natural items will be provided; however, students are welcome to bring in their own found treasures to add to their art. Please join us at the end of the week to see your artist's creations on display in our student art exhibition.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Large Scale Abstract Landscape Painting with Yasamin Holland

Sometimes, it’s fun to work BIG! Artists will play with color, shape, layering, repetition, and various types of paints and materials to create large abstract landscapes of places known and unknown, based on reality and fantasy. We will look to mentor artists for ideas relating to composition, scale, mood, and symbolism. These sure to be gorgeous works will brighten your home and transport the viewer.

Ages 8-10

9:00 am - 12:00 pm 

Books and Blocks: Block Printing and Bookbinding with Izzy Van den Heuvel

Students will be introduced to the process of carving rubber blocks in order to create a series of relief prints. Alternating between printing and carving, students will have a record of their block at various stages. Prints will then be assembled, ordered, and altered as best suits the story each student would like to tell. On our last day, students will assemble their prints into a simple book structure.

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Paper Mâché and puppetry With Josie Colt

We will spend this week exploring the possibilities of paper mâché and puppets!  Campers will design and create masks out of paper mâché to represent a character or creature of their choice. Using our mask as inspiration, we will then venture into shadow puppetry, and create little vignettes to perform for each other.

Ages 11-13

9:00 am - 12:00

Zines! Comics & Graphic Storytelling with Josie Colt

For this week of camp we will explore comics and graphic storytelling to create zines! Zines are little books that can be about anything. They can consist of writing and drawing (comics!) and other fun mediums.  Comics are a powerful way to express ourselves and tell our stories and zines are a great tool for self-publishing and sharing information. Let’s make some zines!

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Books and Blocks: Block Printing and Bookbinding with Izzy Van den Heuvel

Students will be introduced to the process of carving rubber blocks in order to create a series of relief prints. Alternating between printing and carving, students will have a record of their block at various stages. Prints will then be assembled, ordered, and altered as best suits the story each student would like to tell. On our last day, students will assemble their prints into a simple book structure.