Summer Art Workshops provide playful and creative opportunities for children entering preschool through 8th grade. This year’s workshops at the Columbus Museum of Art include everything from dinosaur dioramas and Alice in Wonderland to digital design and guerrilla art.

Preschool (3 years old minimum)
Partnership with Columbus Children’s Theater
Duck, Duck, Mother Goose, July 9-13, 2012
Choose Your Own Wonderland, July 16-20, 2012

Kindergarten-1st Grade
Party Around the World, July 9-13, 2012
Wish You Were Here, July 16-20, 2012

2nd-3rd Grade
Land of the Lost: A Dinosaur Adventure, June 18-22, 2012
A Perfectly Playful Puppet Performance, July 23-27, 2012

4th-5th Grade
Craftin’ Bonanza, June 25-29, 2012
Step Right Up! July 30-August 3, 2012

Ages 8-11
Columbus Children’s Theater Workshop at CMA The Write Stuff, July 23-27, 2012

6th-8th Grade
Digital Design: Creature Feature, July 30-August 3, 2012
Top Secret: Guerrilla Art, August 6-10, 2012

See here for full summer art workshops descriptions at the Columbus Museum of Art. Please note: workshop spaces are limited, so register early.  See here for pricing, details and scholarship information. CMA members get first dibs on Summer Art Workshop classes. Registration opens to the general public March 1, 2012.

Summer Art Workshops at CMA have begun, and the creativity of kids’ brains has certainly been on display. Periodically this week I’ve been popping in to check on the progress of our Mythbusters art class for first and second graders.

Over the course of the week, this enthusiastic and creative bunch of kids created Louise Nevelson like wood sculptures (their lesson on balance); Chihuly ‘glass’ projects where they melted plastic plates in a toaster oven to demonstrate how objects can go from solid to liquid to solid again; art ‘inventions’ (everything from a porcupine to a magnetic picker-upper as one girl described hers). They made and painted kites (and then flew them in the nearby Topiary Park). They acted as scientists drawing and inventing new creatures such as the dragonook, a fire breathing, flying, Tigger like dragon. They learned about force and electricity, magnets and speed, and created a roller coaster for ants made out of toothpicks and marshmallows.

But perhaps my favorite project was their project on volume and matter. Each student was given an empty box and recycled materials, and in true Aminah Robinson fashion they used everything they had (buttons, pearls, ribbons, yarn, wood, feathers…). The result: artful dream homes full of colorful lamps, swings, fireplaces, tunnels and bridges, even a lemon-scented TV.

Like the saying goes, there’s no place like home.

Art Speaks. Join the Conversation.

Jennifer Poleon, Digital Communications Manager