The Mountain Empire Creative Arts Council's "A Taste of Art" Summer Art Camp 2008 gave nearly 30 young people from the Mountain Empire region the opportunity to learn woodworking as well as sketching and acrylic painting. Several crafts were also taught, including glass mosaic and decoupage. One of MECAC's goals is to put quality art materials in the hands of and give quality art instruction to the children of the Mountain Empire region as funds for the arts are not readily available within the school district.
The highlight of the four days of classes was the design, sanding, painting, and racing of pine derby cars, led by MECAC Treasurer and Pine Valley resident
Marshall Chapman and his very able assistants
Mary Chapman and
Jenny Murrell. In the above photo, Mary Chapman helps our budding artists with the design of their cars which Marshall then took home and cut each car according to the design of each artist. The next day the artists carefully sanded their cars using several grades of sandpaper, some stapled onto dowels for ease of use. On the third day, each artist painted his or her own car, and on the final day, they raced their cars on a wonderful track built by Mr. Marshall himself.
The artists/racers were divided into two groups according to age: the Junior Division (ages 8-10) and the Senior Division (11-14). But before the racing commenced, all participants and all adult helpers voted on their favorite car design in each division, considering both the contour and the paint job. In the Junior Division,
Benjamin was voted the winner with
Jessica as runner-up, and in the Senior Division, the winner was
Timothy with
Sierra as runner-up. And then the racing began! The Junior Champions were: 3rd Place,
Matthew; 2nd Place:
Briana; and 1st Place:
Julia. In the senior division, the champions were: 3rd Place:
Michaela; 2nd Place,
Kaelyn; and 1st Place:
Aaron M.. A final race took place between the Junior Champion and the Senior Champion, and (pictured below)
Julia, the Junior winner, won the Championship Cup! 
The Sketching/Acrylics class was taught by Pine Valley resident and long-time MECAC participant
Pat Elliott. The first day's activities involved the sketching of various shapes and learning the art of shading to create three-dimensional images.
Subsequent activities included learning to mix acrylic paints to create a color wheel (see above photo) and painting "washes" that provided the backdrop for sunset or seascapes painted in black paint against the colorful wash. The artists learned several methods of sketching and painting this week, thanks to Ms. Pat's tutelage.
The third class offered on all four days was a crafts class led by
Myrna Mora, a Pine Valley resident, MECAC Youth Director, and art docent at Pine Valley Elementary School.
The first craft involved glueing pieces of colored glass onto small glass candle votive holders to create designs in mosaic. The second day the artists used white grout around the mosaic designs (see above photo) to further attach the glass to the votive and make the colored glass stand out (and let the candlelight shine through). Other crafts included decoupage: gluing down pictures and printed sayings onto wooden plaques and then using layers of decoupage glue over the entire surface to create a unique wall hanging. Wooden plaques were also used as the base to make three-dimensional designs out of tissue paper. Myrna is a favorite among all of the students at Pine Valley Elementary, and her crafts classes were a very popular option for our young artists.
An impromptu music class concluded "A Taste of Art," led by Pine Valley resident and MECAC Music Director
Teri Antti, involving drawing, acting, music, and singing. This musical extravanganza created the perfect conclusion for four days of art classes.
MECAC extends special thanks to our adult helpers, without whom these classes could not have taken place:
Judith Dupree, MECAC Director;
Susanne Barrett, MECAC Secretary;
Stephanie Wells, MECAC Board Member;
Dru Arnold of Descanso;
Mary Altergott of Redding, and
Pam Villalobos, Art Docent Director at PV Elementary.
MECAC also gives grateful recognition to all who brought their children to the classes, to all who helped set up and clean up the Clubhouse each day, to the
PVIC for use of the Clubhouse, to the
Southern California Center for Youth, Nature, & the Arts in Alpine and to the
Mountain Empire Collaborative for their kind donation of funds for art materials, to our terrific art teachers and volunteers who went above and beyond the call of duty, and to all in the Mountain Empire region who support and promote the arts.
We hope to see you all next summer for another "Taste of Art"!
