2023
SUMMER CAMP

Hop into the CBK Time Machine and experience a different era of art history each day as a Fine Art Time Traveler! We'll zoom back to the middle ages to study the tapestries that once adorned the castles of kings and queens of the Medieval Era. Then we'll skip over to the late 1800s to learn about Art Nouveau, characterized by the opulent works of Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and architect Antoni Gaudí. Our next stop will take us to the turn of the century, when intersecting art movements such as Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Expressionism gave us some of the most well-known works by Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, and Edvard Munch. As we approach the Modern Era, we'll zero in on Cusbism,  Surrealism, and Dada, looking at dreamy works by Picasso, Magritte, and Dalí before landing in the Pop Art era of the '50s and '60s. As we cruise from century to century, interpreting classic works in a variety of mediums, we'll gain a greater understanding of how the art movements of long ago still influence artists of today.

Art doesn’t just exist in galleries and museums - it’s all around us, it can be found in subways stations, commissioned public sculptures, brightly colored murals, or street art! This week, we’ll be studying the works of contemporary artists whose work is on public display in cities all over the world. We’ll build polymer clay sculptures painted in bold hues, inspired by the ways we get around in the city. We’ll find inspiration in public art found in subway stations and artists like Xenobia Bailey to create textile pieces. We’ll make mixed-media collages inspired by street artist Johanna Toruño and learn about wheat pasting. We’ll discuss the ways each of these artists use their work to interact with and comment on their surroundings and cultures. With our Underground Art Week, inspiration is always right around the corner! 

During our Ceramics & Pottery Wheel camp week students explore the various ways in which artists use clay to make functional and sculptural items. We will learn all basic techniques involved with throwing on the pottery wheels, beginning with wedging and centering the clay. Through repeated practice, they'll learn to shape the clay as the wheel spins, gaining a feel for the proper thickness and form. The students will also get the chance to handbuild with clay not only to add to their thrown pieces (handles lids etc.) but to also make pottery by building with slabs, coils and pinching. Students will learn different glazing methods (brushing, dipping, under layering and more) to give their pottery a finished look. Throughout the week we will gather inspiration from other ceramicists, adding different textures created with a variety of tools and manipulating the functional forms into different shapes to develop their signature style of pottery. Each student will go home with a comprehensive and impressive body of work they will be proud of!

 * Since all pottery needs time to air dry and fire some pieces will not be ready to go home until the following week - we will email parents when the projects are ready to be picked up.

Our advanced after school ceramics class takes classic hand-building, 3D design, and sculptural techniques to the next level. Building on basics we already know - like pinching, coiling, and slab construction - we will create more intricate works of art. We will study how various professional ceramicists manipulate clay forms to develop their signature styles, and learn about different types of clay in the process, including stoneware, porcelain, red clay, and more. We will introduce carving and molding different types of clay into symmetrical forms. Considering the use of organic, modern, realistic, industrial, and abstract works, as well as applique and texture, students will produce several realistic, functional and abstract projects, such as cups, bowls and figures, which will be fired in our kiln. We'll also explore a variety of glazes and glazing techniques such as painting, dipping, and staining.

As many of our other classes have taught us, kids love to build and understand how things work. As such, we have dedicated an entire camp to it with our engineering week. Designed to let your child explore the vast realms of their imaginations inspired by the buildings and mechanizations while working with fine art materials in a group setting. We'll talk about how true innovators and makers are still changing the world around us today. We'll sketch detailed perspective drawings, create simple machines, paper rockets, and build small robots. Students will learn that the process is just as important as the finished project while focusing on mechanics, physics, design, and more. Your child will work on new skill sets and hone in on old ones. This camp week will provide all the answers!

From Super Mario Brothers to Minecraft, the characters kids embody when they switch on their gaming systems were designed by a team of artists working behind the scenes to enrich the interactive experience. This camp explores the artistic side of game development: storyboards, map-making and world building; creating intriguing heroes and villains; designing rewards and special powers, and more! Students will immerse themselves in an epic journey of their own invention using a variety of materials, making sculptures, conceptual drawings, paintings, and even animations. We'll see how the design process contributes to the final playable video games they're familiar with, leveling up our art skills in the process!

***WE WILL NOT BE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES IN THIS CAMP - WE WILL WATCH SOME SHORT VIDEOS FROM BEHIND THE SCENES OF GAME MAKING***    

In this camp we'll explore the tactile nature of textiles! We'll study the coloring, patterning, and structuring of fiber and fabric, and use dyeing, hand-painting, and printing to create one-of-a-kind surface designs. We'll weave, stitch, knit, felt and tuft different types of materials to create both wearable garments and textile-inspired artwork. We'll sew and embroider by hand as well as use sewing machines to create unique pieces using our handmade fabrics. As students develop these skills, they'll be encouraged to notice the impact of textiles in their everyday lives. We’ll touch on the fashion design process to create a simple, wearable piece they’ll want to wear every day!

Leaping out of newspapers and into books in the 1930's, comics have been at the center of many cultural issues and launched the careers of many successful artists the world over. Our week will focus on character & story development as well as world building. Kids will learn about the history of comics and some of the more prominent artists in the genre as we go over everything from penciling to inking to color to lettering and finally - bookbinding as we go from pulp to POW in creating a one of a kind "artist's edition" hardbound book to take home. Additionally, we'll be building a superhero headquarters in the studio, building/painting/collaging 3D letters, stitching our characters out of fabric to make action figures/dolls, special guest artist to do portraits, casting resin to make amulets of power, and more.

Lights! Camera! Art! It's movie week at CBK and your child is in the director’s chair. We'll spend the week working together to create our very own stop motion animated film. Kids will create storyboards and production notebooks to flesh out their characters and narrative. Throughout the week we'll use paint and paper to create various sets, build and animate characters out of clay, record voice work as well as their own foley for sound effects using found objects, and ultimately film the finished project. Students will also design and print their own movie posters and other "marketing materials" to promote their movies far and wide. We're ready for our closeup!

This week, wonder, sorcery, and art collide! Throughout camp, children will create their own art projects based on the fantastical illusions and magic spells from the stories we all love. From Harry Potter to The Wizard of Oz to modern-day magicians like Penn & Teller and David Copperfield, magic has enchanted our imaginations. The projects will center around the mystical objects that give wizards and magicians their special powers - we'll mix magic potions in spooky hand-made bottles, make intricate wands and mysterious magic books adorned with strange talismans, and create mixed-media animal avatars to assist us in our magical (and artistic!) journeys.

This week, students will really get their gears turning as we examine the way inventors have impacted the art world - and our lives as we know it! We'll talk about the ways that innovators and makers that are still changing the world around us today. Our main muse for the week is Leonardo Da Vinci, an artist who used his skills to invent machines that enriched humankind. We'll draw up "blueprints" and help them develop ideas into artsy machines that actually work (or models of ideas too big to fit in our studio!) using a variety of mixed art mediums and materials. From Galileo to Thomas Edison to Ben Franklin to Ada Lovelace to Alexander Graham Bell to Albert Einstein to Steve Jobs, we'll look at how inventors altered the course of history and pay artistic tribute to their legacies.

Ancient Greece was revered for its beautiful mosaics, classic sculpture, and advances in architecture, literature and technology. Students will learn all about Greece’s lasting impressions in these fields as they explore the mythology and craft behind the history. We’ll make relief sculptures from clay much like Ancient Greek masters did, and use plaster to create symbols representing the Grecian gods and heroes and their powers. We’ll learn about early efforts to make paper and create our own papyrus, sketching out our own mythical greek creatures on it with oil pastels. We’ll construct laurel wreath headpieces that they can actually wear, and will work on a multi-layer screen print diptych featuring the iconic black and red figures found all over Grecian pottery. Greek week is sure to awaken creativity of mythic proportions!

Since the 1960s, Pop Art has brought popular culture - from cartoons to advertising to everyday objects - into museums and galleries. Now, a new wave of contemporary artists are piggybacking on the ideas of Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Haring to bring pop art into the 21st century. As we study brand-new works by these up-and-coming contemporary artists from all over the world, students will be drawn in by the exciting ideas, bold colors, and unusual materials. They'll create their own eye-popping projects in a wide variety of mediums, painting, printmaking, textiles, and more, while also learning to approach the images they see in popular culture through an artistic lens.