Atlanta Library nurtures children in the arts

[June 27, 2016]  LINCOLN - Think of summer camp and what comes to mind; hiking, canoeing on the lake, or evenings around the camp fire? Well, the Atlanta Public Library has completely reformed that image. For the past several years, the library has offered its young patrons a summer arts camp composed of a week of instruction in each of three aspects of the arts - theatre, music and this year, fine arts.

The brain child of Atlanta resident Cathy Marciariello the arts camps welcome participants from first through fifth grade. Mary Sunday along with her friend Jayne Kindred, both with long careers in education, taught the painting camp for the past week.

Each session met during the morning in the basement of the Atlanta Public Library. The fine art camp, as well as the theatre and music camp, is so popular that they are oversubscribed. “Thirty-two students took part in the art camp this year. Many are already enrolled in the theatre and music camps,” said Mary Sunday. The summer camps are filled with kids who come back year after year for fun filled weeks of creativity and learning.

Student volunteers also helped Mary and Jayne. “These are former arts campers who have aged-out, but think so much of the program that they volunteer to assist in each camp. We are really proud of their commitment to the program,” said Cathy Marciariello.

The fine art camp stressed the elements that go into a painting such as line drawing, color, and different media. This year they studied renowned artists Paul Klee and Laurel Burch to gather ideas about how these two created their masterpieces. This gave the campers a guide to create their own unique images.

The first summer camp, fine arts, just wrapped up with an art show for the young artists who participated. The Atlanta Museum was used for the show because the number of works had outgrown the basement display space of the library. Every wall of the upper story meeting room of the Atlanta Museum was filled with the finished masterpieces by the young artists.

The atmosphere was joyous as the fine art campers hosted their parents and friends to the show. It was a treat to listen to the artists explain what inspired them, how the creative process flowed within them. Parents were heard to remark that their children’s art was definitely going to be hung in a place of honor in their homes.

[Curtis Fox]