The Artist Comes Alive at Art Camp

For obvious reasons I am a lover of art – graphic design, interior design, hand-crafted, paintings, still life – I love it all.  That love began early.  My dad was a commercial art major in college and we have tons of his oil paintings at our family home.  As a little girl, my dad taught me how to paint.  It is one of my most precious memories of childhood.  No doubt my brother and I are already fighting over who gets one of his paintings.  Don’t worry, Daniel, I’ve already marked it with a sticky note.

Fast forward to the present.  When Will began school we were introduced to a really incredible art teacher, Celeste Ingraffia (now Robbins).  The artwork Will brought home his first two years of school was nothing short of beautiful.  Celeste was able to work with each child’s ability and they created meaningful, beautiful, frame-worthy art.  They were using tons of different mediums, learning about periods of art history and some of the most famous (and obscure) artists of our time.  It was awesome.  Then Celeste moved away (boo!), but then she moved back (hooray!).

While she’s no longer at our school, she is close by and offers a one-week art camp each summer.  Because we have no art program at our kids’ school – I know, don’t get me started – I make this camp a priority.  Someday in the very near future I hope and pray we begin a bona-fide art program at the school.  Fine arts always gets moved down the food chain of importance, doesn’t it?  I believe strongly in its impact on children.  Art is how we express ourselves and my children did a lovely job of showing me their talents this past week.

After working dutifully on several different projects, the students host an Art Show on the final day of camp.  You should see their smiles of pride as each guest enters the room.  Celeste, thank you for making this week such an enriching one for so many children!

May I present…1,000 words.