This summer students from all over the southeast descended upon the campus at the Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach to get the chance to be utterly creative.  This year’s theme of “Let the Fun Begin” set the tone for what all hope to be an amazing season.

The staff at the Coastal Arts Center planned for months in advance to curate art projects and activities for summer camp. This year was a particularly important one considering that so many opportunities to be creative were limited in 2020. Camp Director, Amoreena Brewton, works through each project with the resident artists on campus, creating practice pieces and determining which projects will be the most fun and inspiring. “I really wanted this year to be special.  We tried to spend as much time being positive and uplifting, as we did being creative.  We want these kids to feel inspired, confident and treasured,” Brewton said.

This year’s art projects ranged from 4-inch clay pieces to 10-foot photo ops.  In The Hot Shop students worked with professional glass blowers, Kerry Parks, Dan Rush and Bill Bollinger to make hot sculpture stars and glass mosaics.  Each student got to choose their own unique color combination and use instruments like torches, molten glass and steel pipes.  Next door in The Clay Studio professional potter, Maya Blume-Cantrell taught the art of hand-building.  Campers used clay to make a three-tiered bird feeder, narwhals and a jellyfish night light. In the Art Studio, Amoreena Brewton worked primarily with paint projects, giving students the chance to pour, splatter, brush and spray paint all in one other-worldly planet project. 

The most challenging assignment of all was the annual “photo op.”  This year the students wove hundreds of yards of ribbon thru 40 feet of chicken wire to make 4 rainbows.  After the ribbon was in place the facilities’ staff used PVC pipe to arch the wire and rebar to hold them in place.  The students got their pictures taken under and over the rainbows in groups, with their families and even with puppies on the grounds.  Weather pending, the rainbows will be on campus for several more weeks for others to use for fun pictures, too. 

There was a mixture of new and returning students, with a handful being a younger sibling now carrying on the tradition of art camp attendance.  Lucy West, whose older sister, Anne Russell, went to camp for three years, was thrilled to finally get her turn stating; “literally molding glass to make a starfish” was her favorite project.  Gus Woerner has been to camp the last three years and the staff has seen him grow up and develop his artistic skills.  He says, “Not only is it fun at camp, but I come home knowing new techniques that I can use on art projects of my own.  It’s a week that I get to spend all of my time doing what I love most!” As camp came to a close, students got to have their own art exhibit so family and friends could see their extraordinary work and experience the gallery in a fun and festive way. 

Upcoming events at the Coastal Arts Center include a Teen Arts Workshop in July and Wonderful Wednesdays, fun art classes sprinkled throughout the summer that are geared toward artists aged 5-12 years old.  Home School Art and After School Art registration will open on August 9^th.  Information on these and other events can be found at www.coastalartscenter.com.