Learning while creating art
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on June 25, 2017 1:45 AM
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Catherine Thompson, 11, paints a dog's face on a glass plate during the Bee a World Traveler camp at the Arts Council of Wayne County.
Taniyah Lane carefully traced the dog's face on the back of a clear glass plate. Then came the fun part -- picking just the right colors for her canine creation.
She used yellow for part of the ears. For the top of the dog's head, Taniyah chose silver. She painted his face light brown with little white spots on it.
His nose ended up being light brown and his tongue red.
Taniyah was very happy with her painted dog's face.
"I chose all those colors because they are my favorites," the 12-year-old said.
She was one of several local youths in a summer art camp at the Arts Council of Wayne County recently. The subjects were Mexico and Italy.
Martha Kornegay taught about Mexico and Italy was done by Susie Palmer.
The three big projects during the art camp were beehive piñatas and painted glass plates and coasters.
Not only did the youths create art, but they also learned about the two countries.
"Every day we looked in a book about Mexico," Ms. Kornegay said. "We learned some Mexican words and also about the Mexican culture. We also learned about the Day of the Dead, where Mexican people go to the graveyard and clean it. They put flowers and candles there. They cook the favorite meal of the person who passed away. That was very interesting."
Ms. Kornegay said the campers also learned about the Aztec Indians, the Spaniards -- everything we could think of Mexican."
A highlight was a tour of a local Mexican restaurant, where the students learned even more about the culture.
Saralynn Vied with the local Ballet Folklorico taught them two traditional Mexican dances.
"That was awesome," Ms. Kornegay said.
The art project for Mexico was making a beehive piñata out of papier mache. The students even added little homemade bees to their hives.
"They have amazed me at what they can do," Ms. Kornegay said.
During the portion on Italy, in addition to learning about the culture, the campers also made painted glass plates and coasters.
"We even put our faces on the coasters," Taniyah said.
Isabella Rodriguez said the older students made more realistic dog faces on glass plates, while the younger ones made cartoon dog faces.
"The colors I used were a teal blue for the face, glitter and a dark pink at the top and gold for the background," the 9-year-old said. "They are kind of like my favorite colors. And they look pretty on the glass."
She also had fun making her beehive piñata.
"I learned that they are used for festivals and birthday parties in Mexico," Isabella said. "I have never made a piñata before.
She thinks she might give her glass plate painting to her father and use the piñata for her sister's birthday.
Taniyah is planning on giving her coaster and plate to her stepfather and hang her piñata in her room.
Aiden Bigley, 8, painted his dog face with red, blue, green, yellow and orange to make a very colorful creation.
He went to the art camp because he loves to do art. At home, he likes to draw a lot.
Ava Faulk, 9, said the most fun part of the camp was painting the dog's face.
"I got to pick all the colors I wanted," she said. "So I picked light pink, yellow, teal, hot pink and bright pink because I love those color and I like how they just go together."
Isabella said she's always doing art at home and that's one reason she wanted to go to the art camp.
"At home, I like drawing and using things from around the house to do art," she said.
When she's at home, Taniyah is always coloring and doing other art projects.
"Doing art makes me feel happy, happy for what I'm ding and thankful that I can do it," she said. "My daddy's an artist and my mom likes art. I get it from them."
This was Taniyah's third year of attending art camp.
"Art camp is a good place to go," she said.