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Summer Arts Camp promotes fine arts
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Youths from kindergarten to 12th grade are exploring more than fine arts at the Summer Arts Camp being hosted by St. Patrick Church.
They’re learning about their creative abilities and discovering artistic talents.
Kris Harper, director of music and religious education at the church, organized the weeklong camp that began Monday and concludes Friday with a program at 1 p.m. for family and friends in the parish hall, 1420 Oak Hill Ave.
Sixty youths are participating in activities of singing, drama, handbells, boomwhackers, hands-on visual arts, creative writing and poetry and individual tutoring on musical instruments.
Sounds of happiness from children engaged in those activities are emanating from the parish hall and next-door South Side Academy, where camp sessions are taking place.
Harper explained the camp came out of a meeting with personnel from South Side Academy, which will occupy the former church school, and parish council. “We wanted to provide an experience in the arts for children on the South Side,” he said.
Harper, who has a master’s degree in music education, has some 30 years experience working in the music realm with youths and adults. He is director of Mahoning Valley Chorale.
Sessions are being taught by artists from the parish, community and Youngstown State University and other colleges. Harper said the camp was funded by the evangelization committee of the church and private donations.
“We want to share the beauty of the arts with children so they will find beauty in them,” Harper said. He added that many of the instructors, who are in college or young working professionals, provide good role models. “They show how fine arts can turn into a career,” Harper said.
Kids can express themselves through the arts, which also are therapeutic, he added. “We’ve already seen the kids coming together, getting along and working together,” he said. “They interact in the activities and the shy ones are coming out of their shells.”
In one classroom, Jim McClellan, a singer and actor with Easy Street Productions, was working with children on a scene from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.”
In another room, David Timlin, a sophomore music-education major at Bowling Green State University, was giving a one-on-one guitar lesson to Jonathan Bell of Girard. The 7-year-old aspiring musician said he “likes guitars and wants to play.”
Timlin said the camp provided “an opportunity to work with kids and share his joy of making music.”
Dan and Pam Susany of Lisbon were leading a drum circle, in which youngsters were playing djembe, a West African drum. The drummers will play two selections at the Friday presentation. “It’s really coming along, and they’re working together,” Dan Susany said.
Pam Susany added, “You don’t have to be musically inclined to drum. There’s no mistakes made. Everyone can play.”
Burhan Noble, 13, of Youngstown said he “likes to make the beats and likes the drums.”
Elizabeth John, a music teacher at St. Joseph the Provider School, led a group of third- and fourth-graders who were learning to sound out “Kumbaya, My Lord” on boomwhackers while singing the lyrics. Boomwhackers are plastic tubes that produce various notes, John said. They’re “played” by striking against the palm of one’s hand. “They’re kid- friendly,” she said of the brightly colored tubes that produce a hollow sound.
Mia Gaudio, 9, of Youngstown said she “liked music, and playing the boomwhackers was fun.”
Ashley Dillon, a YSU piano-performance major, is working with campers to produce a work of art that reflects Youngstown and landmarks such as the Home Savings clock tower and the Butler Institute of American Art. The artwork will be shown Monday through Aug. 14 at Trumbull Art Gallery in Warren with an invitation to “make an offer.” Funds will benefit the Southside Fine Arts Academy, a new program to be launched by Harper.