Summer Catalog

26 Rochambeau Avenue    
Providence, RI  02906    
401-331-2021    
eastsideartcenter@msn.com

Kids

Our Summer Semester differs from those in the Fall, Winter and Spring when the kids meet on one day after school for one or one and a half hours (depending on age) over ten weeks. In the Summer, we offer a variety of two-hour classes that meet daily for one week. In that time, we maintain a strong focus and continuity as we accomplish an enormous amount. We provide juice and cookies during a five-minute break. If your child has a special dietary requirement, please provide for that break with whatever he or she would like.

A note about Mixed Media classes listed here:

No matter what age category, each week of Mixed Media features new projects, not repeated lessons. So, if you take more than one of these classes, there will always be something new!

Find the WEEK... Find the AGE... Find the CLASS !

July 7 - 11
July 14 - 18
July 21 - 25
July 28 - August 1
August 4 - 8
August 11 - 15
August 18 - 22
for Teens: 3 Saturdays in July or August.

July 7 - 11

My Beautiful Bird House

Ages 5-7
9:30 - 11:30 am

Here's a lesson that will end with an actual house for the birds, but begins with a child's understanding of what a house looks like, not just the front, but on all sides.

This bird house's uniqueness is based on what the child thinks his or her own house looks like: its shape, colors, windows, doors, chimney and roof. Naturally, we'll start with drawings. Then each child will make a paper pattern that will be used for cutting out the wooden pieces by the instructor. The child will appreciate how everything comes together as they help assemble the pieces. Then paint will add the finishing touch. A little drawing, carpentry and painting for the budding architect or contractor!

Outdoor Pastel Landscape

Ages 8-10
1:00 - 3:00 pm

Just as real artists do, we're going to a nearby location and study what we see. We'll start with a sketch which we will then turn into a pastel composition, learning color blending and mixing.

If the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll work in the studio from photographs.

Mixed Media

Ages 11-14
4:00 - 6:00 pm

This mixed media class, with emphasis on fun, will feature something different almost everyday... drawing, painting, design, sculpture... in a variety of media. At this older level, anything is possible.

July 14 - 18

The Self-Portrait Hand Puppet

Ages 5-7
9:30 - 11:30 am

A fun, multi-media challenge for the beginning artist.

Each child will study and draw his or her face as seen in a mirror. They will also study and draw their hands. These drawings will then be developed into three-dimensional form, using resin clay, wire, cloth, and yarn. The costume will be designed and painted, producing a working hand puppet of themselves.

Learning to Draw Myself

Ages 8-10
1:00 - 3:00 pm

When taught correctly, kids this age can really learn to see things like symmetry and proportion, the way things come together and make the human form.

There's no more fun way than to study themselves as they look carefully at their faces, hands and then draw themselves on paper. When complete, this drawing will be painted, with the end result being a life-sized self-portrait!

Young Impressionists

Ages 11-14
4:00 - 6:00 pm

Following the principles of late 19th Century painters, we will learn to use color and light to create forms that have exceptional vibrancy.

After viewing examples from Monet, Pisarro, Van Gogh and others, we will begin sketching scenes in pencil and charcoal.

Then, on canvas and in acrylics, we'll develop our technique until we have our own impressionistic works of art.

July 21 - 25

My Neighborhood

Ages 5-7
9:30 - 11:30 am

In these ten hours, the kids will really think about where they live, make drawings and a small, environmental sculpture of their house and all of the things that make it their own neighborhood.

Within a 12 X 18" framed space, we'll be using wood, cardboard, clay, paper... anything else that we can think of... and, of course, paint it up so that it can be hung as a 3-D painting or placed on a tabletop.

They will begin to notice things- large and small- they have never been aware of before. Pretty impressive for this age!

Terribly Terrific Table

Ages 8-10
1:00 - 3:00 pm

The kids will start with a blueprint of a simple, small wood table. They will create a design within its structure before enlarging their drawings to actual size. Their design will make them more aware of proportion and three-dimensional space.

Then, with a little hammering and nailing, they will help assemble this 3-D and practical work of art that they can either use or just display in their room (you may even want to have it in your space if your child will let you!)

We'll use patterns and pictures to make one of the most prized pieces of furniture you'll have in your house.

Mixed Media

Ages 11-14
4:00 - 6:00 pm

More neat stuff, but different from the previous session!

This five-day mixed media class will feature something new almost everyday... drawing, painting, design, sculpture... in a variety of media.

July 28 - August 1

Mixed Media for the Littles

Ages 5-7
9:30 - 11:30 am

The kids will enjoy the challenge of developing what they imagine and what they see as they do two and three-dimensional projects. Every day will be a new change in direction as they learn and use a different medium and a new means of expression, including drawing, painting and sculpture.

The Comic Book

Ages 8-10
1:00 - 3:00 pm

We save this course for the summer when the kids have time to develop this comprehensive project.

We begin with the child's own brief story- developed in and out of class - that is the starting point for the rest of the book. Individual frames are developed with illustrations and lettering carefully sketched out (oversized) and penned-in, just as the professionals do. When reduced, color is added and the book is assembled, complete with a plastic-coated cover.

A child's drawing and storytelling abilities are enhanced through the excitements of one project.

Drawing and Painting Your Self-Portrait

Ages 11-14
4:00 - 6:00 pm

Lots of fun, but it won't be easy. When finished, the kids will have something to be proud of.

Using a photograph taken the previous week (we'll schedule that with you), the kids will study positive and negative shapes within small areas of the photos and enlarge them using the grid system (the way highway billboards are painted!)

The portrait will be developed with light, dark and in-between values of color in acrylic paint. Along the way, they will learn color mixing and brush techniques.

August 4 - 8

"My Life" Book

Ages 5-7
9:30 - 11:30 am

A simple story about events in his or her life will start the child thinking about where events were, what they looked like, who else was there, and other aspects of the past up to the present. That's just the beginning of a bound, hardcover keepsake that is more than a "children's book"; it's their own life story! And it's one that they will proudly share with you.

Outdoor Watercolor Painting

Ages 8-10
1:00 - 3:00 pm

We'll be going on-location to a nearby site to draw and paint from nature. Starting with a sketch, we'll develop our compositions as we learn color mixing and brush technique.

If the weather doesn't cooperate, we will work in the studio from photographs.

The Puzzling Pin-Ball Machine

Ages 11-14
4:00 - 6:00 pm

The kids love shooting the real metal ball into play with this working, manual pin-ball game. The goal is to have the ball return without dropping through the many imaginative and sometimes wacky hazards that the kids create and place strategically within their designed playing maze.

It all starts with a sketch, complete with graphics (letters, numbers, pictures) and is followed by the sculptural constructions of wood, wire, dowels, rubber bands, springs and cardboard. Finally, the assembly of the spring-mounted pin, hand-operated defenders and careful painting in colorful acrylic paint.

This game/sculpture will present as many challenges for the pin-ball wizard as it will for "The Puzzling Pin-Ball Machine" designer.

August 11 - 15

Fantastic One-Ring Circus

Ages 5-7
9:30 - 11:30 am

Kids delight in the circus... All of the activity, the animals, the trapeze, the excitement of the crowd. Here's an opportunity to make their own!

We'll start with a simple wooden box with a pole in the middle. That's the basis for the "tent" and everything beneath it, including a painted plaster floor, clay lions, tigers, elephants clowns, and other performers, wire for the trapeze, wood for the ladders.

Photos of actual circuses will get us started, but the real inspiration will come from their imagination.

My Crazy Cushion Adventure

Ages 8-10
1:00 - 3:00 pm

Could it be a Raggedy Ann? A monster? An animal, fish or car? Whatever your child imagines can turn into an over-sized, stuffed usable cushion for play or relaxation.

Using foam, cotton, felt, glue, paint and other neat stuff, we'll develop our creative, imaginative sketches into three-dimensional, colorful forms that you won't find in stores.

Drawing and Painting in the Third Dimension

Ages 11-14
4:00 - 6:00 pm

At this age, kids are into realism and, sometimes, super-realism. Whether it's seeing and rendering buildings or objects, or even comics, making things look dramatically three-dimensional makes their pictures "take off."

This class will teach and refine the lessons of two-point perspective, with "point-of-view", "vanishing points", "horizon line", verticals, angles, all designed to make things look as though they belong in the same fantastic space.

We'll finish with an acrylic painting on canvas.

August 18 - 22

Mixed Media for the Littles

Ages 5-7
9:30 - 11:30 am

Every week is something new as we explore a variety of media...
(see description for July 30 - August 3).

Mixed Media

Ages 8-10
1:00 - 3:00 pm

This mixed media class explores two and three-dimensional projects with a variety of media...drawing, painting, designing, sculpting. We'll try to shift directions each day, sometimes finishing up the previous lesson and sometimes starting something new.

Mixed Media

Ages 11-14
4:00 - 6:00 pm

More intriguing projects in a variety of media as described for July 9 - 13.

for Teens

Impressionist Painting in the Outdoors

Ages 14-17
3 Saturdays:
July 12, 19 and 26. (Roger Williams Park)
and/or Saturdays, August 2, 9 and 16. (Slater Mill)

Two uniquely different experiences. In July, we'll draw and paint the Japanese Garden at Roger Williams Park, studying the beautiful landscaping surrounding the brook. Then, in August, we will be on-site at the Slater Mill Historic Site, studying the architecture. Starting with sketches, we will complete some in acrylics on canvas. Emphasis will be on drawing in the proper perspective from a point-of-view. Kids will open their eyes to what they never before really saw, analyzing shapes, light and dark blending and shading techniques in the manner of the French Impressionists. (In the event of bad weather, we will work in-studio.)