The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center has opened registration for their annual Summer Camps.
Each summer, the center offers two weeks of art, nature, exploration and outdoor activities through four different half-day sessions for youths of ages 7-12.
The 5-acre setting of Webster’s Woods, including wooded trails and sculpture park, provides ag backdrop for integrating art, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) principles, nature exploration and outdoor fun.
The camps, organizers note, use principles of outdoor education to “encourage inquiry, build students’ curiosity and creatively apply science learning principles while teaching art concepts and skills.”
While each camp session focuses on a different theme, all programs include outdoor adventure, nature education, art and collaborative problem-solving. “With all these elements, students play, learn, and build their creativity at the same time,” organizers note.
Camp offerings for 2024 include “Nature Art and Creative Design: Mosaics,” Aug. 19-23, and “Design, Create, Animate!” and Creative Engineering: Kinetic Sculpture,” set for Aug. 26-30.
Cost is $130 for PAFAC members, $150 for non-members. To learn more and register, visit pafac.org/programs/youth/summer-camp-2.
More opportunities
For educators looking to complement their classroom learning, the PAFAC also offers field trips to the gallery and sculpture park at no cost. Students can learn about a range of topics: the history of Port Angeles, architecture, ecology, stewardship, team building and more.
Teachers are invited to schedule field trips based on themes related to the current exhibition in the gallery or contact staff to help create an experience based on their curriculum.
Learn more about the field trip program or schedule to bring a class to the center at pafac.org/programs/youth/fieldtrips.
The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center also works with local schools to offer arts integrated education through the Creative Start Grant from the Washington State Arts Commission awarded to the Port Angeles School District. Each year of learning culminates in the “Blooming Artists” exhibition, where students get the opportunity to see their artwork on display in the Esther Webster Gallery.
“Blooming Artists” will be on display from June 4-30.
For more information about this program contact PAFAC youth education director Mandy Miller at education@pafac.org.