Connect and Learn
Summer Art Camp 2023
Healdsburg Center for the Arts Summer Art Camp 2023 offers your child a safe, fun, and creative experience.
HCA makes art experiences accessible to all through scholarships and work-study programs. Â Learn more here.
Art Camp fees
Ages 3 – 5: $225
based on the amount of individual attention for younger children, rental and cleaning fees for the space and cost of bringing in assistant(s) in addition to the lead instructor.
Ceramics-Wheel and Handbuilding: $225
based on the expense of clay, ceramics glazes and firing costs.
All other classes: $200
Camps for ages 3 – 5 have both a lead instructor and an assistant and/or volunteer to oversee this age group.
Camps for ages 6 – 17 are led by a teaching arts instructor (with assistants when class size exceeds 8) who works closely with campers to explore and develop new art projects and artistic skills.
Teacher-to-student ratio insures that all students receive individual attention safely, and participants have the opportunity to learn, share, connect, and celebrate their work.
Ages 3-5
Eco Garden Art
Art Lab for Littles
Young artists learn hands-on techniques in drawing, painting and sculpture using a variety of fine art mediums and recycled materials as they take inspiration from the season and nature around them. This class will have a teacher and an assistant.
At the Circus
Each class will be filled with song, story, dance and art with each component complementing the theme. In At the Circus, students create masks and costumes, perform daring acrobatics and dance moves, listen to stories about the circus and create images of a 3-ring performance complete with elephants and clowns, horses and riders, tigers and trainers. This class will have a teacher and an assistant.
Fairies, Sprites and Gnomes
Each class will be filled with song, story, dance and art with each component complementing the theme. In Fairies, Sprites and Gnomes, students create costumes, perform dances in a fairy ring and take off on sprite flights, hear stories about the amazing worlds beyond our own and create fairy houses and garden gnomes. This class will have a teacher and an assistant.
Under the Sea
Each class will be filled with song, story, dance and art with each component complementing the theme. In Under the Sea, students create mermaid and mermen costumes, perform daring aquatic flips and dance moves, listen to stories about the sea, sing sea chanties and create images of the ocean and its inhabitants both large and small. This class will have a teacher and an assistant.
Ages 6-9
Multiples: Printmaking, Stamping and Stenciling
Explore the joy of printmaking using a variety of methods from simple to more complex. Try printing with found objects, mono-printing, Cyanotype, gelli plate printing, linocuts and more. Students create their own stamps and stencils or use those we have on hand to create expressive prints and mixed media projects.
Introduction to Ceramics
Roll, pinch, and coil your clay as you learn all about the tradition of ceramic hand building! Practice basics in shaping and attaching pieces of clay together while creating unique works of decorative and functional art like bowls, pots, tiles, and figurines! We will also use block printing techniques as students learn how to carve into soft printmaking blocks to press into clay to create interesting textures and patterns. All creations will be glazed and kiln fired to ensure their durability.
Studio Painting, Drawing and Mixed Media
Students will draw and paint with various materials such as charcoal, graphite, color pencils, markers, watercolor, and ink pens and fine papers. We will learn techniques in shading, blending, and building texture. Various collage techniques will also be incorporated. Through each medium, students explore the art of various modern and contemporary artists.
Comics + Characters
Get into character! Students will create characters, exploring shape language, exaggeration, and facial expressions. They will then craft their own comics exploring visual storytelling using industry techniques. A great class for students interested in character design, animation, graphic novels, comics, and cartooning.
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Garden Art Makers
We’ll tinker, build, and create garden art using recycled materials and what we can scavenge from nature. Students learn to restore, upcycle, convert and invent everything for the garden including decorative totems, mosaic flower pots, clay animal sculptures, funky birdhouses, wind chimes and colorful fairy houses.
Mixed Media Mania
Students will work with a multitude of mediums – markers, acrylic, watercolor, wood, wire, plaster, paper mache and found and recycled objects – to create both abstract and figurative works of art. Students may learn how to sculpt wired figures, construct an up-cycled animal or creature from paper-mache, make a monster from metal and wire, or design a fairy house or city from scrap wood shapes.
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Ages 10-17
Ceramics: Wheel and Handbuilding
Learn how to throw pottery on the wheel to form functional pieces, such as cups, bowls and plates. This class can accommodate beginning potters as well as those with previous throwing experience. We will also explore hand building with clay using simple tools using common techniques of pinch pottery, coil building, and slab building. Please note: All thrown pieces require two kiln firings, so pieces will not be available for pickup until approximately 7-10 days after class ends.
Ceramics: Wheel and Handbuilding
Learn how to throw pottery on the wheel to form functional pieces, such as cups, bowls and plates. This class can accommodate beginning potters as well as those with previous throwing experience. We will also explore hand building with clay using simple tools using common techniques of pinch pottery, coil building, and slab building. Please note: All thrown pieces require two kiln firings, so pieces will not be available for pickup until approximately 7-10 days after class ends.
Introduction to Digital Photography
In this creative, fun-filled camp, students will learn about camera settings, lighting, composition, posing and more. We will play some photo games and experiment with what we’ve learned – this will definitely be a “learn by doing” experience! Students can use any digital camera with settings (CoolPix, PowerShot or other “point and shoot” or a mirrorless or a DSLR! HCA can also supply basic digital cameras, if needed. Smart phone cameras will also work. Our field work will be in and around the Healdsburg Plaza and in the classroom where we be downloading, editing and manipulating images via a laptop.
STEAM: Interdisciplinary Fun
In this camp, its Linus’ version of STEAM:Â Science, Technology, Environment, Art and Music. Â Interdisciplinary projects will promote learning through play and exploration with a wide variety of activities including nature walks, ecology, ceramics, drawing, primitive radio building, model rockets, and others.
Encaustic, Collage and Assemblage
Encaustic – the art of painting in hot wax – is an incredibly versatile art form.  Students will delight in discovering its beautiful, luminous and shadowy effects. Encaustic is an ideal medium for assemblage, mixed media and collage. Students will layer, glaze, embed, impress, dip and use stencils and screens to create unique works of art with melted beeswax, crayons and/or paraffin in addition to a variety of other materials. Low temperature hot plates, Bunsen burners, gloves and protective eyewear will keep it safe.
Comics + Characters
Get into character! Students will create their own characters, exploring shape language, exaggeration, and facial expressions. They will then craft their own comics exploring visual storytelling using industry techniques. A great class for students interested in character design, animation, graphic novels, comics, and cartooning.
3-D and Mixed-Media
Transform the imagination into three dimensions while learning the basics for working sculpturally with a multitude of mediums. Students may learn how to sculpt wired figures, construct an up-cycled animal creature, make a monster mask, or design an architectural dwelling. They will also create 3D art through a variety of materials such as paper, paint, cardboard, recycled materials and more.