Doha: The first four courses of Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar’s (VCUQatar) 2016 Summer Art Camp concluded successfully.
Eight more art and design courses will be held from July 31 to August 18 at VCUQatar.
Children and high school students of 4-7; 8-12; and 13+ age groups learned art and design techniques at the camp in late June and early July at VCUQatar at Education City.
In the ‘Art Fun – Tea Party’ class, children in 4-7 age group had a fun-filled week as they learned about art and design by making cakes, ice creams and all things sweet with materials such as coloured clays, cards, and paints.
Students in 8-12 age group at the ‘Art Exploration’ course learned how to design and create mythical creatures by using painting, collage and clay skills to great effect, while children of the same age group in the ‘Print Workshop’ created eye-catching two-colour prints.
Participants in the ‘Fashion Illustration’ class were introduced to fashion drawing styles and processes being used in the fashion industry.
The teachers and assistants described students’ attitude as “wonderful” and “inspiring” as the youngsters wasted no time in getting to grips with the materials at hand.
Yousra Ahmed, one of the assistants in the Art Fun class, was impressed by how quickly the children learned. “It was an eye-opening experience to see the skills of these kids grow to such an extent in such a short amount of time.”
Nour Elbasuni, who assisted in the art exploration programme and created a stop motion movie of the children’s mythical creations, said it was wonderful to watch the children open up to the possibilities of art and design and see how they reached into the “infinite spring of creativity that is inside every one of them”.
Najla, a student who participated in the Art Fun class, said: “I love this summer camp because I love art”, and Ahmed, a student of the Art Exploration course, said: “I enjoyed this monster week because I loved the way I expressed my ideas.”
One- and two-week programmes are available for all age groups starting from the age of six, including drawing and illustration, print, collage and creative discovery, arts and design intensive, fashion illustration, and fashion design portfolio.
Registration is ongoing and details are available at http://www.qatar.vcu.edu/community/summer-program. The classes are designed to engage young students in art and design from an early age and are taught by art educators and VCUQatar alumni, with the assistance of VCUQatar degree students.
The Peninsula
