When Svetlana Ischenko went for a walk with her kids recently and picked up some pine cones and leaves, she decided to make a bird.
When she got home she worked with her three daughters to colour the cones, add feathers on top, and create some winged creatures. The unique creative endeavor is not surprising considering Ischenko is an artist. She works in both visual and performing arts, and is also an instructor.
This summer Ischenko is teaching four summer camp programs at North Shore Neighbourhood House called Art Blast.
She calls them a “multimedia extravaganza” because they combine different types of media, materials and techniques.
“I just like to expose them (participants) to many different things,” she explains of the program.
That includes building 3-D projects with recycled materials, doing sculpture with air dry clay, which she explains is “like pottery but without the kiln,” painting, plasticine, jewelry-making, and much more.
“It’s interesting to try something different, something new,” she notes.
As a child, Svetlana was interested in all kinds of art and tried many different types of expression. That curiosity and exploration is something she now tries to pass on to her students.
She starts with simple art ideas like mixing colour, and understanding shade and perspective, and then expands to include other concepts. One interesting project she did with a class was to print off a copy of artist Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night and cut it up into eight pieces, one for each of her students. Each student then drew his or her own version of that piece and they brought all the bits together to create their own version of the famous painting.
“It was really amazing,” says Svetlana, noting she is often surprised and impressed with what the kids create.
Even when she gives her own three daughters the same art project she is struck by how different their work is because of their different personalities and expression.
Because the classes explore so many different types of projects, Ischenko says any child is suited to it, and they don’t have to be particularly good at any type of art.
The key concept of the class is fun.
Instructor Jeri Sue Engen will also have her hands full of art projects this summer as she leads three programs through the North Vancouver Community Arts Council.
I Love Vancouver will focus on using the city of Vancouver as inspiration for sculpture, drawing and painting; Fanciful Frolics is about exploring the imaginary world; and Jungle Creations is all about animals. Because as Engel says, “Kids love animals.”
The week-long camps include a variety of activities including clay, printmaking, acrylic painting, chalk pastels, oil pastels, graphite pencils and watercolours.
Engel says the classes are forkids who enjoy expressing themselves and parents who are looking for an opportunity for their kids to get in touch with their creative spirit and build imagination.
“Art is a great thing. It teaches problem-solving skills, and it fosters thinking outside the box and focusing. There’s lots of things that art is very good for,” she notes.
Engel says she doesn’t want the participants to just copy something. She wants them to explore it. She prefers “process over product.”
Everything she does with the kids in class is through reference, either three-dimensional or a photo. She gets them to really look at things.
“When they can reference something and focus on detail they can move away from symbolic drawing,” she notes, and they can really consider details like what does an elephant’s eye really look like? What else does a giraffe have on top of its head beside the ears?
And a lot of times parents are surprised by what their kids have done.
“It’s quite a privilege to get to know that part of the kids, a part of them that maybe even their parents don’t get to know,” says Engel.
She says one of the reasons art is so good for kids is that it evens the playing field.
“Everybody can do it.”
For more information about NVCAC camps, visit nvartscouncil.ca. To find out more about summer camps at North Shore Neighbourhood House visit nsnh.bc.ca.
This story originally appeared in a special section of the North Shore News focused on summer camps.
