By Katrina Cartwright
The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) is excited to welcome up to 50 campers to its campus on Monday, July 1st, 2019 for its Mixed Media Art Summer Camp (MMASC). Now in its fifth year, this iteration of the MMASC was started in response to the need for an arts-focused camp after the FINCO Summer Art Workshop was discontinued. MMSAC has been popular since its inception and has impacted the lives of almost 400 students since 2014. The camp takes place between July 1st and 26th and is divided into two, two-week sessions.
Mural artist, Angelika Wallace-Whitfield, gives a quick paint mixing lesson.
Children ages 5 to 17 years will join camp counsellors, camp instructors and NAGB staff at the museum, where they will spend their time learning visual art techniques, exploring different avenues of creativity and developing their knowledge of art. This summer’s theme is “Parading through the Caribbean” and will allow campers to explore indigenous festivals throughout the region. Festival experiences include Kandooment from Barbados, Canboulay/Carnival from Trinidad & Tobago, Spicemas from Grenada and Mashramani from Guyana.
Campers will experiment with a variety of art materials, while delving into the stories and histories that are at the foundation of cultural customs and investigating the beliefs and traditions that connect to The Bahamas to countries in the region. The exploration of materials and techniques will pay homage to the complex, unique and colourful forms of expression that are integral to these festivals, incorporate fine art elements and bring traditional street celebrations into the museum.
Participants experience fun, team building activities through the annual mural project, create individual work that span an array of disciplines, interact with and watch demonstrations by professional artists and go on exciting, educational field trips. This all culminates in an exciting exhibition and awards ceremony at the NAGB on Thursday, August 1st, 2019, that showcases each student’s most successful work at the end of the four-week period. Students can proudly show off their work to family and friends and parents will know that their child has partaken in an experience that will be remembered.
Campers will be divided into four age groups: 5-7 years, 8-11 years, 12-14 years and 15-17 years. This allows for a comprehensive learning experience that takes age specific developmental stages into account. Each week has been allocated a sub-theme and relevant work from the museum’s National Collection will be used as teaching aids.
Creativity requires a lot of focus.
MMSAC provides a space where aspiring artists can experiment with diverse materials and explore a range of artistic techniques. It increases students’ exposure to the arts and gives them the opportunity to dabble in new or familiar art forms in different ways. Paint, paper, shells, wood, bottle caps, leaves, straw, mosaic tiles, batik – students will be invited to use them all to create work that pushes the boundaries of traditional art. All of this while exploring the unique visual expressions and musical traditions of Caribbean countries throughout the region!
A special thank you to our sponsors: Aliv, The Central Bank of The Bahamas, Furniture Plus, The D’Aguilar Art Foundation, Marco’s Pizza, Graycliff Chocolatier and Fusion Superplex. It is only with the assistance of companies, organisations and individuals, who are committed to building our country through meaningful, impactful contributions, that we are able to continue to offer this educational, creative experience every year.
To learn more about the Mixed Media Art Summer Camp and our partial scholarship programme please visit nagb.org.bs/mixed-media or call 328-5800.
