Fine Art Camp Programs

Painting, Drawing, Design, Photography, Comic Creation.

The Fine Art Camps and Visual Art Camps offered at Centauri provide an opportunity to develop technique and explore creativity. In Fine Art, programs explore painting (acrylics, watercolour, oils), charcoal, pencil and pastels, as well as clay, plaster, wire and soap carving.

Check out our photography camps here.

At Centauri, campers choose one specialty arts program per session.
To see a chart listing all the programs and their sessions click here.

July 2012 Fine Art Camps...

Stop Motion Animation

Session 1, ages 13-18

Develop skills in art, storytelling and film-making as you devise, design and create short movies using the technique of stop motion. We’ll seek inspiration by watching some of the most exciting stop motion projects ever created. Next, we’ll learn story boarding and work on 2D and 3D art techniques as we create the landscape and characters for our final movies. In the final days, we’ll record our script and film our movie using digital SLRs. We’ve offered stop motion animation as part of a program before, but this time it’s our entire focus, and we can create movies more ambitious than ever before. Final pieces will be premiered at camp, and uploaded to our web site in the Fall for all participants to share and enjoy. Please bring along a digital camera and a USB flash drive on which to record your work.

Fine Art: Myth, Magic and Monsters

Session 1, ages 9-14.

In this exciting new art program we’ll build stuff, sculpt unique creations, draw and paint, letting our imaginations run wild! We’ll use video games as our inspiration as well as superheroes, Greek myths, fantasy movies and cartoons, filling our workshop room - and then the Centauri gallery - with the wildest creatures imaginable! Using clay, wire, found junk, plaster, paper mache, paint, our sketch books and (most importantly), our imaginations, we’ll learn art techniques through exploration, working collaboratively and alone. Discover how to sketch figures, sculpt in three dimensions and make the best use of colour, space and perspective as you draw an audience into the world of your creations. Improve your art skills in this exciting mixed media program but most importantly, let your imagination run wild!

Da Vinci's Workshop: A Classical Approach to Making Art

Session 2, ages 13-18 Instructor: Aaron Alviano

Da Vinci was one of the greatest and most versatile artists of all time, and a true Renaissance persona: an artist, scientist, inventor, and more. In this classical workshop for experienced artists, we will allow ourselves to be influenced by the man and his ideas as we make art of our own, using a variety of media. We’ll explore Da Vinci’s technique, discover his artistic experiments and incorporate both into our own work. We’ll build sculptures inspired by his wild inventions, paint landscapes and portraits, and learn a classical approach to drawing. We’ll fill our books with diagrams, sketches and ideas, as we contend with Da Vinci’s thoughts about art, and create plenty of our own! In this program, technique and creativity take on equal importance as we grow as artists, learning from the masters. Da Vinci was known for his unquenchable curiosity and inventive imagination: we’ll bring those qualities to our own work as we prepare for an exhibition of our sketches, ideas, discoveries, paintings and sculptures for the final day of the session.

August 2012 Fine Art Camps...

An Artist’s Guide to Comic Book Creation

Session 3, ages 12-18

Calling all artists and graphic fiction fans! Discover the ins and outs of comic book creation in this classic art program. From story boarding to page layout, character creation to narrative structure, learn everything you need to create your own comic in book form. There will be a focus on the art techniques essential for all comic book creators: perspective, figure drawing, portrait styles, inking, colour and layout. If you love comic books or graphic novels, and you want to discover a new outlet for your original thoughts and ideas, this program is for you! In addition, since art technique forms the backbone of our work, this program would be suited to any artist interested in learning more about the mediums of pen and ink.

Digital Photography : The WE Project

Session 3, ages 13-18 Instructor: Aaron Alviano

What does WE mean to YOU? In this exciting arts experiment, we will reveal a series of bizarre objects, recordings and newspaper cuttings to three programs on the first day. Using all this as inspiration, the programs will work independently - and collaboratively - on original arts creations, sharing their work in front of an audience on the final day. We’ll begin by learning to take better photographs, exploring the technical capabilities of our cameras and experimenting with photo manipulation in the computer lab. Next, we’ll examine ways to use the medium to create exciting and original works of art, transforming our photographs with paint, text and collage. We’ll look to contemporary photographers for ideas, too, then turn our attention to the WE Project itself! Exploring the meaning of the objects, music and cuttings supplied, we will create and manipulate photographs, then combine with two other departments for an explosion of creativity on the final day. Please bring along a digital camera and a USB flash drive on which to record your work.

An Artist’s Adventure through Time

Session 4, ages 8-14 Instructor: Robyn Gram

Calling all artists! Join us this summer for an amazing journey through some of the world’s greatest civilizations, as we explore and recreate their art! We’ll go back in time together to the early Renaissance and then further, discovering styles of painting, sculpture and calligraphy that emerged in distinct cultures all over the world. Possible projects will include designing our own stained glass windows, making a medieval manuscript, carving Egyptian Hieroglyphics, sculpting busts of the Greek Gods, creating our own Roman mosaic, attempting some Chinese bamboo painting, designing Indonesian shadow puppets, making a Minoan mask and recreating early human cave art. Our materials will include plaster, parchment papers, balsa foam, soft pastels and oil pastels, clay, pen and ink, watercolours and acrylic paint. Learn about yourself as an artist, discovering new techniques and prepare to take your audience on a journey through the some of the most exciting moments in art history, as you prepare your exhibition for the final day!

Art & Design: Two Worlds Collide!

Session 4, ages 14-18 Instructor: Aaron Alviano

Join us as we push the limits of our imagination by exploring how these two disciplines can work together and complement each other! Firstly we will delve into the world of graphic design, working digitally, as well as with more traditional mediums such as printmaking, to create truly original art. Next, we will design specific materials, beginning from an artist’s point of view. We will explore the basics of architecture, constructing the model of a ‘perfect’ home, then move on to interior design. We’ll create packages and posters, looking at the history of their design as inspiration for new pieces with interesting narratives and meaning. What role does design play in the modern world, and how can an artist adapt his skills to meet the needs of an exciting and ever-growing market? This program is intended for artists in search of a new challenge. No experience is necessary, just an open mind and a willingness to push the boundaries of art!

Art Camps 2012
Session 1 July 1 to 14	Stop motion animation(ages 13-18)
Session 1 July 1 to 14	Myth, Magic and Monsters (ages 9-14)
Session 2 July 15 to 28	Da Vinci's Workshop (ages 13-18)
Session 3 July 29 to Aug 11	Comic Book Creation for Artists (ages 12-18)
Session 3 July 29 to Aug 11	Photography: We Project (ages 13-18)
Session 4 Aug 12 to 19	An Artists Adventure Through Time (ages 8-14)
Session 4 Aug 12 to 19	Art & Design: Two Worlds Collide! (ages 14-18)

My daughter talked for hours about how much fun she had at camp. This was her first year taking photography, and she has picked up so many wonderful skills. Thank you all."

"The art and design programs were really fun. I learned several new skills and improved on other ones."