If you have an artistic teenager just hanging around the house this summer, they need to check out the art mural camps being offered by K Space Contemporary. We stopped by the first session downtown before it wrapped up on Friday and the students we met were really into it. The first thing you notice, when you walk into the downtown studio space donated by axis tattoo… is how quite it is, even though everyone is really busy. Camper Tayrn Veit, who’s back for a second year as an apprentice artist says, "People take it seriously, it’s not like a sort of an art camp you do for 4 days and go home… it’s a mural for the city and it’s engaging."
The mural camp has two different locations this summer. and the goal is to create two large scale murals in just 6 weeks — one for a new downtown restaurant, which what these students are working on. Students are also working on a second mural over at La Palmera Mall. The camp is for students ages 13-to-17 and you don’t have to be an art whiz to attend. There’s a limit of 15 students at each location for each session, and there’ll be 4 more sessions coming up after the 4th of July holiday. The tuition is $160 a session — $140 for K Space members. Education Director Cheryl Voltzmeyer says, "That includes all the materials, uh we do yoga once a week, we do a walking tour to look at public art, we have professional artists speaking to them." And thanks to a generous $11,200 grant from the Coastal Bend Community Foundation there are 70 camp scholarships available this summer.
Sandra Gonzalez, the Laredo artist who did the mural on the Caller-Times building. is one of the camp instructors. And so is Myra Zamora., who did the mural panels on the Art Center of Corpus Christi , and they’re guiding students thru the mural making process from designing to final installation. Corpus Christi artist and longtime art teacher Tony Armadillo is also one of the instructors . He says, "We’re talking about how to arrange, how to consider your second and third steps, and letting them realize there’s a lot of mental thought that goes in… even though it looks like all they’re doing is applying the paint…t hey have to think 2 or 3 steps ahead so they do a lot of self-analyzing whether they realize it or not."
And students are soaking all up. Taryn Veit says, "You learn a lot of new techniques, you get to meet really great artists that are here and local.. everyone is so open… it’s work, but it’s fun work." Cheryl Voltzmeyer says while the camp is designed to be a fun-filled, creative experience… it’s also about more than painting murals., "I think one of the things that the kids take away from this program is a sense of pride, and that they’ve been able to come together with other people that have a sense of wanting to create something beautiful for our city.. and to be involved with something so important."
For more information about scholarships..and the schedule for the remaining session check their website http://www.kspacecontemporary.org. You can also contact them by telephone at (361)887-6834.
