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Summer’s here and the time is right for making art

Print Making by the Shore is geared to children who want to explore a variety of printing techniques

The countdown is on. summer camps, offered by the city’s Recreation Department, start in less than two weeks with new camps geared to children interested in the arts.

New this year is Print Making by The Shore, for eight to 11-year-olds, and Jump into Watercolour, for 10 to 14-year-olds.

Print Making by the Shore is geared to children who want to explore a variety of printing techniques. Participants will practice Gyotaku, which means fish rubbing in Japanese. It is an art form dating back to the mid-1800s and has been used to print fish and plants such as ferns. The camp runs July 6 to 10.

Another new camp, Jump into Water Colour, for 10 to 14 year olds, is open to young artists who want to learn about poured watercolours, basic washes and other techniques. This course runs August 1 to 14.

Returning this year is Inspiration Destination Art Camp, for children who want to try their hand at different mediums. The course, which is beach themed, will provide participants with instruction and experience in clay, drawing, painting and other artistic disciplines. The camp runs July 27 to 31.

“The two new camps are a great addition to our summer art camp program,” said recreation programmer Karen Chappell. “Camps will be at the Sybil Andrews Cottage, which is a perfect location. Sybil Andrews was an internationally acclaimed artist famous for the linocuts she created from the late 1920s through to 1988.  Her cottage, which she lived in with her husband, Walter Morgan, was rehabilitated by the City and is the home of the Community Arts Council.”

The new art camps will be led by fine artist, Catherine Martha Holmes. Ms. Holmes has been a working artist for 24 years and has created works of art in a number of mediums.

For more information about summer camps, go to the City of Campbell River website and click on Recreation Guide.

To register for summer camps, drop into the Sportsplex or Community Centre; or call 250-286-1161 or 250-923-7911.

Artist Catherine Martha Holmes

Catherine Martha Holmes works with many different water-soluble mediums: watercolour, water-soluble oils, acrylic and gouache, to name a few.

Holmes has been a working artist for 24 years. She studied for two and half years at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto and then moved to Thunder Bay and received her Bachelor of Arts, with a concentration in Fine Arts, and her Bachelor of Education from Lakehead University. While in Thunder Bay, Holmes illustrated for the Ministry of Natural Resources and also completed a number of commissioned works in watercolour; and pen and ink.

In the early 1990s, Holmes travelled with her husband and two young children to South Africa, Finland, Russia, and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Between June 1994 and April 1996, Holmes worked in Toronto schools as a visiting artist. From 2004 to 2008, Holmes illustrated for magazines published by Up Here Publishing located in Yellowknife, NWT.