Sharpen your pencils, dip your paintbrushes and don your smocks, because Parks and Recreation is offering art classes to youth this summer.
There will be two art camps, one in June and one in July. Each will be held on Fridays from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the community center multi-purpose room. There will be space for 15 K-5 students in each class. The camp costs $25 per student and participants should wear clothes they won’t regret splattering paint on.
Tawney Crowley, the art teacher at Evergreen Elementary School, will lead the classes. This is the first year she’s offered a summer art program and the decision was motivated by high student interest. “I’ve heard from them (students) about how they want more art opportunities,” she said. “I listen to the feedback that I’m getting and try to offer what I can.”
She’s looking forward to having concentrated time with students to work on in-depth projects. During the school year, she only gets to teach for a half hour, which doesn’t provide ample time to support students. “We make it work,” she said of the time limit, but admitted that it wasn’t ideal.
Longer classes with fewer students will allow her to provide more in-depth feedback on each child’s work. “Taking a low number like that might be a little bit frustrating,” she acknowledged, but the enrollment cap will make the class more meaningful. “I really want to be able to take the time to sit here and not just guide them through a craft, but answer their questions, show them how to do something.”
During the summer camp’s 90-minute teaching windows, she plans to dive into a variety of artistic mediums, including painting, sculpture and chalk pastel. Though Crowley will provide structured lessons, kids can bring their own art kits and work on self-directed projects if they prefer. “I don’t want to be as rigid as I am during the school year,” she said.
Like her students, Crowley is excited for summer camp. Teaching art to young children is her passion and she understands the importance of providing opportunities like these, especially in a small community. “I’m biased toward the community of kids out there who don’t fit into the super athletic mold,” she said. “They need a place to figure it out.”
“I really really love what I do,” she added. “It feels like every kid, I think, has a dream to change the world when you’re young, but real-life experiences can kind of knock that dream out of your hands. But for me, this is how I’m doing it. It starts here, in Wrangell. If this is what I can do, I’m absolutely happy to do it.”
Sign up at wrangellak.myrec.com.
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