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Class With Flying Colors

Tribune photo by KELVIN MA

Instructor Nanette Dailey helps Austin Gage with his painted foot cast at the Tampa Museum of Art's summer art camp.

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 5, 2008

WEST TAMPA - WEST TAMPA - In just a week, the children in the Tampa Museum of Art's Summer Art Camp were introduced to paper sculpture, earth clay, plaster casting, paper mobiles and junk sculpture.

Despite their whirlwind of assignments, the children - ages 6 to 10 - remained energetic, curious, creative and smiling.

Hunter Loiselle was at a table perfecting his junk sculpture. He had made a car from a half-gallon milk carton and used toilet paper rolls as wheels. He was going to cover the car with construction paper and debated whether to paint it.

Hunter, who will start fourth grade at Gorrie Elementary in August, was participating in his second Summer Art Camp but the first at Centro Espanol de West Tampa, 2306 N. Howard Ave. The museum, which has been offering the art camp since 1979, moved to the city-owned historical building in March while its new building is under construction in a redesigned Curtis Hixon Park. .

"It is a lot of fun," Hunter said. "You meet new friends. You learn a lot about art."

Across the table from him, Alejandra Corio was working on a flower vase designed to resemble a bird with an orange beak. The arrangement had papier-mache flowers and small birdbaths on the cardboard stand.

She was still working on the bird's wings.

"I think pink because pink is my favorite color," said Alejandra, 7, a second-grader at West Tampa Elementary.

Her brother Ricardo, 17, came to pick up her and her brother David, 8, at the end of the day.

"I think the program is great," he said. "The kids learn to interact with other kids. They open up."

The camp offers six weeks of classes. All are for ages 6 to 10 except the final week, which is for ages 10 to 14. There are sessions in the morning and afternoon; students can attend both.

The weeklong classes include fiber arts, arts in the third dimension, environmental and recycled material art, and drawing and painting.

Classes are taught by certified Hillsborough County art teachers with help from college students. There also are two volunteers who assist the teachers and help instruct the students.

Nanette Dailey has taught at the camp for four years. She is an art teacher at Mabry Elementary and has been teaching in the school district for 14 years.

The week she taught the focus was on three-dimensional art and sculptures.

"This type of art is problem-solving," Dailey said. "It can help them with any area of their lives. It teaches them to fix things. It teaches them patience."

She enjoys the relationships she has developed with the children and the access she gets to the museum.

"It is great to have real artwork to look at," Dailey said.

Marina Murillo's son, Luis Castejon, 9, takes afternoon classes. Luis, who will begin third grade at West Tampa Elementary in August, left a recent class carrying his clay sculpture of an island with palm trees.

Murillo said she's proud of her son, one of 30 students attending the camp on scholarships offered by the museum.

"This is a great thing," she said. "This teaches them discipline and how to express their abilities. It teaches them techniques they can continue to perfect."

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659 or

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Tampa Museum of Art's Summer Art Camp

WHEN: Through Aug. 1

WHERE: Centro Espanol de West Tampa, 2306 N. Howard Ave.

WEEKLY COST: $100 half-day classes and $175 full-day for museum members; $150 half-day and $225 full-day for nonmembers.

CONTACT: Heather Spooner at (813) 274-7328 or heather.spooner @tampamuseum.org.

jpatino@tampatrib.com.

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