Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Oak Harbor High School art teacher Elly Gilbert continues to find ways to get students involved in art, and the latest example of that was on June 6 with a student showcase that culminated a one-week summer art camp oriented toward kids in first through third grade.
“We are a very small community,” she said. “We don't have many offerings for art in this area, so I'm trying to expand our program a little bit and offer more. I'm trying to fill the need or the desire that a lot of our community members have who don't have the ability to drive all the way to the Toledo Museum of Art or all the way to Cleveland or something like that.”
With the camp now in its third year, Gilbert said she also welcomes kindergartners or older elementary students who want to participate as well. The camp is first-come, first-served with a waiting list every year.
“I do surveys at the end of every week, and the one comment everyone asks is to expand this, so I offer more weeks of art camp throughout the summer,” she said. “Word of mouth has been a huge thing for us. It’s very much desired.”
Gilbert said the event is not only a way for kids to be creative and explore what they may have a skill or passion in, but it’s a way to educate the students. Each year’s camp has a theme. Last year, was Under the Sea. This year is Welcome to the Jungle, which helped teach kids about the rainforest.
“We learned about the different layers of the jungle and the birds,” Gilbert said. “We learned about the great horned owl. We learned about anaconda snakes. This was not just for visual appearances of things. It was to educate students about the jungle.”
Gilbert said the students heard from an artist during the camp who worked with the wood that was burned down from the jungles and how he recycled them. That led to recycled wood projects at this year’s camp and a further education on how much we know – and don’t know – about the rainforest.
“We talked about the different birds of the rainforest and then we talked about how, you know, we only know a snippet of the amount of animals in the rainforest,” she said. “So we made our unique birds that might exist there, but (also) might not because we don't know everything that's in there. It’s is a very educational day as well.”
Next year, Gilbert plans on collaborating with the Spanish teacher to offer a multi-cultural art show with discussion on Hispanic artists and learning more about different artists from Europe.
“I stick with a theme and then I try to expose students to as many different media as possible within that week so they can get a feel for if art is something that they want to pursue and what direction they want to go in it with that,” she said. “From there we develop these projects, and we talk about museum etiquette in the classroom so students know how to behave in a gallery setting. I really try to make it a well-rounded experience for them.”
The camp itself consists of art camp each day for a week. Each day lasts approximately two hours. Then, the camp concludes with a showcase of the projects they worked on - for family, friends and the community. This year, that took place on June 6 at Oak Harbor High School.
“We primarily will do one project, have a little snack time, then do a second project,” Gilbert said. “Sometimes projects require more than one day so we'll start it one day, let it dry, and finish it the other day. So it takes a lot of planning to figure things out exactly how they're going to work out.”
Gilbert said the camp has been a huge hit with the kids.
“The kids love it. It's a huge confidence booster,” she said. “I have students who have not participated in camps prior to this that come and participate and the one thing at the end of the week I always hear is, ‘Can we come back, can we come back?’
“Even the kids who sometimes are a little timid to do things outside of school are comfortable by the end of the week. They're comfortable with this, and they're proud to show off what they're creating.
“And that's really important, too. Sometimes they try to conform and be like other people, and when they go to an art camp like this, they really have that opportunity to stand out, make something unique and their own, and then to show it off to community members, family, friends, parents, in a way that they can really prove (to) themselves that we are awesome, that we can create great things and celebrate together.”
For more information on the camp or other art endeavors at Oak Harbor, email Gilbert at egilbert@bcssd.com.
