Facescape, Natalie, age 11
This project during our Art and Nature week combines elements of traditional landscape painting with 20th century photography. Campers saw examples of artists who have inserted themselves in their work, used their bodies as canvases in their work, or have constructed environments to be photographed as final piece of art.
Revenge of the Goldfish, 1981
Sandy Skoglund (USA, b. 1946)
Silver dye bleach print
27 ½ x 35” (mat window); 44 x 37 x 1 ½” (wood frame)
SBMA, Partial gift of Donnelley and Cinda Erdman and partial museum purchase with funds provided by PhotoFutures
2005.30
Mirror Lake, Yosemite Valley, 1864Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)
German active in America
Oil on canvas 22” X 30
”Gift of Mrs. Sterling Morton"
1960.5
After identifying the layers of space that create perspective in a landscape painting (foreground, midground, background) students chose an environment and determined their three basic compositional elements apart from themselves, ie sky, mountains, trees etc.. After painting the background on the bottom of the box they then drew, painted, and cut out various elements for the fore- and midground which were finally assembled in the painted interior of the box. Painting the face to become part of the landscape was an option that most of the campers chose to round up their facescapes.
The older students applied their own face paint in front of the mirror.
The younger students got their face painted by teachers and Counselors-in-Training.
For the final artwork campers inserted their (painted) face into the box and teachers took various photos (eyes open, eyes closed). The photos were printed on our color copier on 11x17 cardstock and displayed at the Art Show at the end of the camp.
iDolls
Mocha Express, Anna, age 11 
Candy Bus, Samantha, age 7
Blaster Bus, Oliva, age 7
Hippy Van, Isaac, age 8
On the first day of our Building Community camp each of our four groups worked together and constructed a Geodesic Dome after learning about circular structures in general and the history of geodesic domes and Buckminster Fuller in particular. 
This group based project was designed not only as a fun way to build community among the students as they work together to create a large three dimensional structure but also to begin to understand the fundamentals of architecture and structure design.
The youngest campers attached self-portrait plates on the joints adding images of themselves to this community building as well as decoration and stability.
The Ridley-Tree Education Center is located across from the marvelously beautiful Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens and we like to take our campers there to draw from nature as much as possible. Here the children are actually painting on location, combining oil pastels and watercolors on gessoed masonite boards.
Presenting the finished painting of the turtle rock in the pond.
Plein Air Painting, Paola, age 10
Landscape drawings of campers ages 7 and 8
Facescape, Natalie, age 11
Revenge of the Goldfish, 1981
Mirror Lake, Yosemite Valley, 1864
The older students applied their own face paint in front of the mirror.
Piper, age 7, draws campers painting like Jackson Pollock
Pollock Painting, Sunil, age 7 
Action!
Paint was splattered, dripped, and poured to achieve a typical "all-over" composition.
Prior to painting campers developed their color palette mixing tints and shades and choosing an accent color in addition to black and white to achieve a balanced composition.
Pollock Painting, Aracely, age 8
