Bass Harbor Memorial Library Art Camp 2020
Create, Communicate, Connect

Project list and Journal Prompts

Project List

Phone Numbers for Questions:
Kathie: 207-244-0558 or email: kathie.pratt@bassharborlibrary.com
Dawn: 917-670-5262 or email: dawn@tccmaine.com
YouTube Intro Videos: Kathie Pratt & Dawn Nuding

This year Art Camp’s theme is “Create, Communicate, Connect.” The Pandemic has created a shared experience of confusion, loss and isolation for us all. This has been especially true for people your age. During the past few months you have braved a new way of learning, suffered the loss of sports games, birthdays, time with friends, trips and more. Our theme invites you to use art and all of its possibilities as a way to share your thoughts and feelings and stay connected to who you are and to each other. We want the world to hear what you have to say!

Kelley Farm Installation:

This project, more than any other, is our chance to connect to each other as a group, and to the larger community.  We need your commitment to make it work, each art camper is an essential part of this whole.  Kelley Farm Preserve is part of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.  They are allowing us to install an outdoor “Art Walk” on the grounds for your friends and families to visit safely.  Many people take walks there, and some have garden plots. So this show is for them, too.  

YouTube Videos: Color Wheel and how to use your paint

                              Mixing Paint

                              Color and Contrast

This project has two important parts.

1. Letter signs:

We have signs with one letter on each, to stretch along the road front and spell out our theme “Create, Communicate, Connect.”  This will invite people in, and also tell them what we are doing. It sends the message that anyone, in these times, can do the same in their own way. We need you to paint a letter and bring it back for us to install.  Please be sure the letter shows up. Use contrasting colors to make that letter pop! If your letter is dark, your background should be light. Use the black outline or paint over it, jazz it up, get creative, but make sure you can still read the letter and see it from a distance. Put your name on the back if you want to keep it after the show.

1. Your painting:

We have a 2nd plywood for your painting. We will put it on a signpost and create an art show along the path near the gardens. The subject can be whatever you like. You could paint something you think others may enjoy, you could express a little about who you are or what’s important to you.  It can be big, simple shapes or very detailed, because the viewer will be walking and can pause and look closely at it. Please sign your work, be proud, own it!  (Initials are fine if you don’t want to do your full name.)

The show will be up for two weeks. Then you need to come pick up your work because we have no room to keep it. You can take your letter, too, if you want. 

Journal:

These journals are really special and we are so excited to be able to give one to each camper this year. Inside your journal you will find a list of prompts/ideas for journal projects. We invite you to try a few during the week of camp, and/or make up your own. A journal is a great place to exercise your creative brain and build your art skills, so we hope you continue to use this journal long after camp is over. We hope you will treasure it as a book about you and your personal artistic journey.  

Bonus: You will also find a blank postcard inside your journal. What better way to connect than to send your art to someone!

Cardboard Creations:

YouTube Video: Tips for cardboard

One of the favorite projects of past art camps has been making 3-D constructions from household cardboard.  Make your ultimate house or room, “machines”, people, animals, or crazy abstract art.  You can use any materials from your kit, or stuff you have at home to add to your pieces.  The paper in your kit can easily be attached with a glue stick.  Hot glue is great for attaching cardboard or other objects to cardboard, but we can show you some other ways if you don’t have that.

Challenge Project:

We double-dog-dare you to stretch your imagination and make art from the objects in the bag marked “What can you make with these?”  You can add these to your cardboard creations or start a whole new piece.  You are welcome to cut, fold, poke holes, add other media, or whatever else you need to do, to achieve your desired result.  Don’t worry if it seems impossible at first.  It is meant to challenge your creative brain. Sit with it awhile, inspiration will come.

Collage:

YouTube Video: Tips for collage

Collage is the bringing together of parts to make a whole. The papers in your kit are for you to create collage on the covers of your journal, inside on the pages of your journal, on your cardboard art, and/or on a separate sheet of paper. You could even use one of the larger pieces as the background and collage onto that.  

Banner/Flag:

In these times of isolation, we can’t get out to visit and talk like we’re used to doing.  Many people are using signs and banners to communicate their opinions and ideas. Paint a message with words and/or pictures to hang outside your house or in a window. It could be a cheerful message of hope or a comment about an issue that’s important to you.

Bonus:  If you have leftover paint, you can personalize your canvas tote bag.

OK, go forth and make some art!

There are plenty of choices, you can do all or just some of the projects.  (But PLEASE do the sign and painting!) You can do them at your own pace, and keep going past the week of camp. Think about what it means to you to create, communicate, and connect as you do your art. We hope these projects will inspire you to think of new ones. Thank you so much for being a part of Bass Harbor Memorial Library Art and Nature Camp 2020!  Many thanks to the Witham Family Fund for their generous donation for supplies. 

Journal Prompts

This journal/project for Art Camp is meant to be a place for you to play and experiment. To fill the space between larger projects and to spend some quiet, mindful time. We invite you to try some of the prompts listed below, or to get creative with your own ideas! Some material suggestions will be listed, but otherwise no rules…anything goes!!!!

o   Drawing a Day

Make one drawing in this journal for every day of Art Camp…and maybe even beyond. This can be something that takes a while to perfect and/or a quick sketch or scribble. Also think about using collage or writing. Doing something creative every day is good for our bodies and our minds!

o   Jennifer Judd-McGee

Jennifer is a local artist who has a shop in Northeast Harbor called Swallowfield. She created the coloring sheets included in your journal and has more up on her website: https://swallowfieldshop.com/stuff-to-do. Have fun coloring these and maybe even pick a saying you like and try out Jennifer’s style.

o   Postcards

You will find a blank postcard in your journal as well. Think about decorating it. Maybe even try one of the Journal Prompts listed here. Then send it to someone you miss or haven’t seen in a while.

o   Emotional Landscape

Think a traditional landscape (rolling hills, trees, flowers, mountains, a stormy ocean) but with an “emotional” twist. Create a landscape that shows how you are feeling. Think about what you would include, what is the weather doing? Where is the location?

Materials: Think about including color.

o   Leaf Rubbing

Take a trip outside and forage for some foliage. Look for interesting leaves and ferns. Place these under a sheet of journal paper (you may want to put a scrap paper behind them to protect the next sheet in your book, or not and see what happens). Use one of the materials listed below to color over the area of your paper where you feel the leaf pressing through and see what it reveals.

Materials: You can use most drawing materials. The side of a pencil or colored pencil works well. So do crayons with the wrappers taken off.

o   Spirit Animal

Spirit animals or guides come from Indigenous traditions. Think of the animal or animals that most represents you and draw/paint/collage it. As always, feel free to get creative and make up an animal or use an animal from the magical world.

o   Monochromatic

Make a drawing using only one color. Play around with using different shades of that color (dark green, light green, yellow green, turquoise, etc.)

Materials: Something with color and a variety of it like colored pencils or markers.

o   Mandala

Mandala means circle in the ancient language of Sanskrit and they are used in Eastern traditions as a meditation tool. A lot of mandalas have a geometric pattern. Art Therapists study mandalas a lot and have found that creating and/or coloring mandalas is very calming to our minds. You have probably come across mandala coloring pages at home or at school. To make your own mandala, start by tracing (or if you are brave drawing) a circle. Small plates work great for tracing. To create a geometric pattern start by either finding the center of your circle and working your way out, or start your pattern on the outside edge of your circle and work your way in. You can also just draw an image or create a collage inside the circle. Remember that you are not a robot, so your pattern may not be perfectly symmetrical.

Materials: A circle to trace. Drawing, collage or paint materials.

o   Draw your Dream Room

If you could have any room, what would it be? Think big, maybe it looks like your room now but with an upgrade. Throw in a swing or a slide. Maybe even design a whole house.

o   Favorite Song Drawing

Play your favorite song and use lines and colors to show the melody. Or draw a picture about how the song makes you feel or a memory it reminds you of.

Materials: Your favorite song, colored pencils, markers, pastels or gel pens.

o   Drawing from the Right Side of Your Brain

This is taken from the book Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Betty developed a way of teaching people how to draw realistically by training them how to see things in a different way. Some of the exercises seem a little weird, but they are meant to help you use the right side of your brain to really look at what you are drawing rather than trusting the left side of your brain to interpret what it sees. For this exercise find a picture from a magazine that you would like to draw. Now turn that picture upside down and do your best to draw it. Make sure to look at the lines and shapes and spaces and do your best to recreate them on your page.

o   Scribble drawing

Fill the page with random scribbles. Now look at your scribbles and see if you can find any images in them. Use a different color or material to color in those images. With two people, you can each create a scribble and swap to see what images you find. You can also use your scribble as an abstract coloring page.

o   Safe Space

Draw or collage a picture of a place where you feel totally safe and comfortable. Think about all of the things you would want to be there. It may be real or imagined or even a combination of both.

o   Self Portrait

Grab a mirror and take a look at yourself. Draw what you see. This is a great project for using pencils. Think about using shading  instead of lines to make things like the curve of your nose. If you like drawing faces, see if you can get someone in your family to sit while you draw them too!

o   Still Life

Grab a bunch of fun objects and create a still life. Experiment with different shapes and sizes, maybe even something transparent like a cup or bottle. Set the objects up on a flat surface like a table or a desk and draw what you see. This is another good practice for improving drawing skills.

o   Design a Mask

Masks are a new part of life for now, but why not make them fun. Design your dream mask. What would it look like? Would it have any cool functions…like air conditioning or lights?