Flyer by Naomi Rose @na0mir0se
LOCATION UPDATE - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION ADJACENT TO RHIZOME, OUR FIRST SEVERAL WEEKS OF CAMP (AND POSSIBLY MORE) WILL TAKE PLACE AT MAIN STREET PEARL, JUST A FEW BLOCKS AWAY ON CARROLL AVENUE. We're very happy to be partnering with Main Street Pearl. They have a wonderful indoor and outdoor space that is well-loved by many neighborhood kids. It's a great fit for us and all of our planned activities!
Summer Arts Camps at Rhizome, in Takoma! Be creative, learn something new, make new friends, have a blast! These will be small, friendly, relaxed camps. The focus will be on creative collaboration and open-minded engagement with the material in a fun, zero-pressure environment. Fees include all materials.
Masks required when indoors.
Email info@rhizomedc.org with questions.
Scholarships available if the cost is a burden. We can also offer a sibling discount of 25%.
Registration form HERE.
Morning and afternoon camps can be combined for a full day 9am-4pm. There is no extra charge to stay through the lunch hour.
June 20-24 * 9am-4pm * Paper Mache Sculptures * $420 * Ages 8-12
Did you know that papier maché or paper mache translates to “masticated paper” and is an ancient form of art with historical significance in many cultures? This week we will construct frameworks of animals or people and then get messy covering them in layers of torn paper and paste. Once the layers are dry we will paint and then embellish the sculptures with a variety of exciting materials. We’ll learn about and take inspiration from the rich paper mache traditions of India, Haiti, and Mexico. Instructor: Kanchan Balsé
June 27-July 1 * 9am-noon * Mixed Arts – SculptureStories * $210 * Ages 8-12 (FULL / WAITLIST)
Campers will work on a variety of projects that will tell stories about themselves and the world around them such as shadow box “televisions,” wooden environments, or animal adaptations. They will participate in large-scale group projects like a sculpture forest from a variety of different materials. Participants might make colorful melting ice sculptures on a hot day, or an indoor cardboard city on a rainy one. Instructor: Caroline MacKinnon
June 27-July 1 * 1-4pm * Mixed Arts - Paper Play * $210 * Ages 8-12
Participants will use many types of paper to create projects including recycled papers, folded paper toys, wheatpaste stickers, and magic books. Campers will make popups and spinners, flipbooks and masks, and get the chance to play with their creations. Instructor: Caroline MacKinnon
July 5-8 (Tu-Fri) * 9am-noon * Mixed Arts - Color Jam
* $170 * Ages 8-12 (FULL / WAITLIST)
Participants will get the chance to experiment with color using different art materials. How do colors mix and layer when we use watercolor spray paints compared to when we tie-dye? They might create blue photograms or a green leaf collage, or try rainbow paint on glass. Instructor: Caroline MacKinnon
July 5-8 (Tu-Fri) * 1-4pm * Mixed Arts - Loose Parts
* $170 * Ages 8-12 (FULL / WAITLIST)
Campers will try out different techniques such as monoprinting, drip painting, and more throughout the week. They will play different group art games like pass the portrait and exquisite corpse, building on each other’s work through play. Participants will try out techniques such as assemblage, collage, and décollage with found objects and miscellaneous papers. Instructor: Caroline MacKinnon
July 11-15 * 9am-330pm * Storytelling Camp * $400 * Ages 9-12 [HALF DAY POSSIBLE - 9-noon or 1230-330]
Calling all kids 9-12 years old who like creating and sharing stories! Storytelling Camp includes everything from building fictional worlds, writing great bad guys, cutting up narratives, and making stories go, go, go! Practice and play with elements of story, power of language, and secrets of plot. Each day will include receiving and giving stories from around and inside us. Expect independent and collaborative creation, physical movement, and storytelling games. This camp is prepared for and inclusive of a spectrum of writing and orating abilities. Fear not! You belong! Instructors: Leslie Bumstead and Anna Josephson
July 18-22 * 9am-noon * Mixed Arts - Lost and Found * $210 * Ages 8-12
Participants may not need to look very far to find inspiration for their art projects - on the ground, up in the sky, or in the refrigerator. Campers will play art games together and work on individual projects made from found objects and recycled materials. They may make paintings with water beads and try leaf printing as well as explore concepts such value and contrast. Instructor: Caroline MacKinnon
July 18-22 * 1-4pm * Mixed Arts – Opposite Week * $210 * Ages 8-12
This creative camp will focus on ideas often seen as opposites such as artificial / natural, individual / collective, temporary / permanent - and what these may have to do with artmaking. Participants may make temporary mandalas with objects found on a walk, plant sculptures out of plastic or even sew fantastic animals. We will also explore ideas about color complements and texture, and play group drawing and sculpture games. Instructor: Caroline MacKinnon
July 25-29 * 9am-4pm * Printmaking and Patterns * $420 * Ages 8-12
This week we’ll explore the diverse and delightful world of printmaking as we play with pattern, color, repetition, composition, and movement! We’ll make our own block print and collagraph tools and try interesting ways to etch into paint to make monoprints. We’ll print on paper and fabric and create individual and collaborative pieces. Instructor: Kanchan Balsé
August 1-5 * 9am-4pm * Abstract Painting * $420 * Ages 8-12
This camp is all about expressing feelings and ideas with paint. We’ll learn how artists including Etel Adnan and Helen Frankenthaler used color, shape and texture to communicate feelings and ideas. We will follow our intuition and embrace letting go of the figurative with tools and techniques such as palette knives and squeegees, soak-stain, drips and splashes. Instructor: Kanchan Balsé
August 8-12 * 10am-3pm * Hand Puppets * $275 * Ages 8-14
Hand Puppets are a fantastic introduction to all theater, especially puppetry. This camp includes (not all at once!) drawing, recyclables, papier mache, sanding, painting, gluing, sewing, wigging, costume, music, props, and plenty of expression. Hand puppetry is one of the very few styles of puppetry that allows a single puppeteer to have more than one character onstage at the same time. Instructor: Rachel Gates
About the facilitators:
Kanchan Balsé is a teaching artist and curriculum developer with over 20 years of experience working with children in and around DC. She uses a variety of media in her own art and in her work with children and adults. Her classes center the work of artists who have been excluded from mainstream art education. Kanchan facilitates fun, inclusive, and inspiring experiences where students gain the confidence to develop their unique visual voice.
Leslie Bumstead is a poet and writer who teaches creative writing to all ages in the DC area. Her collection of poems, Cipher/Civilian, was published by Edge Books in 2005. Other works, including essays and translations, have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies. She loves to collaborate with students to help them find confidence in their writing through experiment, exploration, and play.
Rachel Anthonisen Gates is an award winning puppeteer who founded Rhizome Puppet Lab, now in its third year. She is also an educator for MCPS (Stonegate Elementary School), and a parent in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Anna Josephson is a homeschooling parent in the District. She grew up in Alaska, where she received Socratic seminar education starting at age 12. She is a published author currently shopping her first novel. "Anna’s class turned my reluctant writer into a storyteller. In addition to producing a 75 page story in the class, she has started on the sequel and has three to four other stories in various stages of production. Writing has become her favorite thing to do."
Caroline MacKinnon is a parent, artist and educator who lives in Takoma Park, MD. She teaches ceramics classes to children and adults at the Takoma Park Community Center. She also holds art workshops for small groups in area schools and has previously run arts camps at Rhizome. She likes meeting people, making art and collecting things.