ARTCAMP IS A MAGICAL VILLAGE Visit artCamp’s magical village. See an awesome abundance of magical art at Hyde House during artCamp’s Exhibition and Reception Friday night, 6-8 p.m. I grew up in a magical village—Cammack Village—a tiny incorporated town nestled within greater Little Rock and quietly poised on the palisades plateau above the broad, usually lazy, Arkansas River. My village was filled with white clapboard starter homes, many purchased on the GI Bill by veterans returning from service in World War II. |
Filled with folks moving through daily rhythms of raising families, our village had many basic necessities and amenities. Only a five block walk from my house, Jefferson Elementary School was conveniently located near The Village Store—the ideal stop-off for a nickel, after-school treat selected from the glass-cased candy counter.
In the basement of the Village Community Hall, grownups gathered to cast their Election Day votes. Upstairs was the meeting place for the scout troops led by our parents. The governing body of mayor and village council met here, as well. Eventually The Village Pool and The Village Tennis Courts were built to complete the complex.
Annual pet vaccinations were administered next door at the fire/police station. From here, once a summer, the fire/police chief and his cadre of volunteer firemen, drove the big, shiny red fire truck to The Village Park, beside my house, where children were collected from the slides, swings and merry-go-round then hoisted aboard for horn blaring rides around The Village’s perimeters.
The two-man (one for night, one for day) police force earnestly enforced public safety. When exceeding the 20 mph speed limit, my high school boyfriends paid the steep price of courtship, collecting handwritten tickets.
Like exuberant, love-struck teenagers enroute to artCentral, these last two weeks of July are moving fast, filled with the goodness of artCampers and teachers and interns and donors contributing to artCamp—artCentral’s magical mid-summer village.
We say a special “Thank You” to our seven artcamp Interns—Maddie Capps, Sydney Hartless, Diane Heisner, Allie Lambeth, Owen Platt, Emma Pound and Katie Watson—who’ve freely given precious summer days to nurture our aspiring young artists.
We extend our sincere gratitude to artCamp’s generous donors who make the magic possible: K. D. & M. L. Steadley Trust, Bank of America, N. A., Trustee; Helen S. Boylan Foundation; Ruth I. Kolpin Foundation; S & S Computers; Walmart; Carthage Council on the Arts; Crackpot Pottery and Art Studio; Phoenix Fired Art; Sandy Higgins; Bren and Betsy Flanigan; Ida Ruth Locarni; Elliott and Ruth Potter; and Mike, Lee and Emma Pound.