CLASSES AT ARTCAMP ARE MORNINGS AND AFTERNOONS, TOO Each morning David, my husband of a year, and I, set the tone for our new day. He brings fresh, French-pressed coffee up to bed to get us started. We sip and talk about our nighttime dreams and our daytime anticipations around his work schedule and my artCentral tasks which are presently très artCamp-centric. |
Breakfast finished in bed or on the porch, now that we’re learning to make music together, we like to rise up singing:
“Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world.”
"Morning Has Broken" is a popular and well-known hymn first published in 1931. The British children’s author Eleanor Farjeon wrote the words when asked to make a poem to fit the lovely tune of “Brunessan”, composed in the Scottish Islands.
The song appeared first in the USA in the Presbyterian Hymnbook (1955), but became well known only after Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) sang the hymn in 1971 on his triple platinum album, “Teaser and the Firecat”, with the familiar piano arrangement composed and performed by Rick Wakeman. As a result of that recording, since that time “Morning Has Broken” has been included in most hymnals.
Perhaps during artCamp I’ll sing this sweet tune with my artCampers as we gather on artCentral’s expansive porch to set our tone before every artCamp day. Taking place July 9th through 20th, each of our ten days runs from drop-off at 10:00 a.m. to pick-up at 3:00 p.m.
Every camper chooses a single class to attend throughout a day. At noon we take a break to enjoy our sack lunches and juices before spilling onto the lawns to stretch and play until 1:00 p.m., when campers go back to their classrooms to finish their projects.
As I mentioned in my last column, classes are filling up super fast! If you haven’t already registered you wanna-be artCamper be sure to do very, very soon. Registration forms are available in Carthage at artCentral, Carthage Public Library, Cherry’s, The Deli, KOKA Gallery and The Palms. In Joplin you’ll find registration forms at Spiva Center for the Arts, Cleo’s Picture Framing and Design and Crackpot Pottery and Art Studio. You can also go online and download the registration forms from artCentral’s website: http://www.artcentralcarthage.org/artcamp-2018.html.
Here are just a few of the nineteen exciting classes offered in artCamp’s second week:
DUCT TAPE MESSENGER BAG with SARAH SERIO: With duct tape and cardboard and your imagination, you design and construct a talk-of-the-town, awesome, durable, one-of-a-kind bag to carry anything anywhere anytime!
WHIMSICAL SELF PORTRAIT with TERI Y. DIGGS: Why are you special? What makes you stand out from the crowd? What makes you light up and smile? Create a fun, mixed-media self-portrait using a variety of techniques and materials.
“BIG” GREEN SCULPTURES with SARAH SERIO: Take the challenge! Innovatively use ordinary, everyday objects and turn them into your own one-of-a-kind, mixed media masterpiece super sculpture.
WHIMSICAL WIND CHIMES with TERI Y. DIGGS: Assemble a colorfully beautiful set of hanging chimes with beads, strings and lots of pretty objects. These are great to make and to see and to hear!
MAGICAL MAGAZINE MOSAIC with TERI Y. DIGGS: Create a colorful, fun and unique art work with rolled, up-cycled magazine pages. Go abstract or patterned. The results are awesome. You’ll want to display your creation for all to see!
CREATE A UNIQUE FRAME with APRIL DAVIS-BRUNNER: With paint and sculpting, turn an ordinary frame into a work of art embellished with sparkling stones and super cool ornamental decorations.
A GLASS TREE NAMED MAGGIE with JANE McCAULLEY: Ages 9 and up, inspired by artCentral’s very own “Maggie the Magnolia”, make your own glass magnolia tree and a glass magnolia leaf wind chime and a leaf magnet, too.
DESIGN AND PAINT artCENTRAL’S NEW MURAL WALL with SANDRA CONRAD: Take one or both sessions of this two day class. Day One: Learn mural making basics. Conceive! Design! Sketch artCentral’s newest mural for the big wall outback. Day Two: Learn mural painting basics and paint a mural to last on artCentral’s wall that’s ready and waiting for your paints and brushes.
By the end of each artCamp day as artCampers gather to have snacks on the porch while holding their creations and waiting for their rides, their hearts will still be singing: