UA Little Rock ArtWays Camp Teaches, Inspires Young Artists
More than 40 high school students spent June 17-24 learning and broadening art skills during UA Little Rock’s artWAYS 2023. The free, summer visual arts program for high school juniors and seniors is led by UA Little Rock School of Art and Design faculty.
“artWAYS is primarily a community-building and a recruiting program for the School of Art and Design, but it is also a chance for highly motivated visual arts students to spend a week with us in the Windgate Center of Art + Design,” said artWAYS Director AnDi Tompkins, a UA Little Rock art outreach specialist. She added that students spend time with professional art faculty, making their own artwork in state-of-the-art studios, classrooms, and labs.
“What we hear over and over from artWAYS students is that they love interacting with our professors and working in university art studios,” Tompkins said. “They enjoy living together in the residence hall and making new friends from all over the state.”
The camp is free thanks to a generous grant from the Windgate Foundation that covers registration, art supplies, meals, and on-campus housing. Sessions this year included Jewelry as Self Expression with Lydia Martin, metalsmithing and jewelry professor; Kinetic Sculpture with Peter Scheidt, woodworking professor; Mesoamerican Art with Dr. Lynne Larsen, art history professor; and Screenprint Factory with David Warren, printmaking professor.
During the day, students rotated through three or four emphasis areas while studying with UA Little Rock faculty who are also working artists. Students who wanted to continue their instruction participated in Structured Open Studio hours in the evening. They also enjoyed evening activities including a game night, scavenger hunt, water wars, and movie night.
The 44 students from Arkansas who attended the camp are Abby Mullikin, Abigail Martinez, Allyssa Sloan, AnDraya Craig, Aubrey Marsocci, Beryl Baker, Brayden Gallegos, Breanna Smith, Briana Brown, Carma Tart, Caroline Leonard, Conchita Reta, Connor McCallum, Destiny Montgomery, Emily Armstrong, Gabriella Dover, Gray Armstrong, Isabella Freudensprung, Jadon Parks, Jaidyn Givan, Jessalyn Cotten, Kaycee Davis, Kennedy Lucas, Lily Madden, Lindsey Morris, Lola Landreth, Lydia Thomas, Macy Hunt, Maegan/Piper Reeder, Maryn Asbury, Maura Lepes, Meadow McGinnis, Midelys Torres, Natalie Pearson, Natyleigh Jenkins, Nina Peterson, Olivia Tinkle, Olivia George, Olivia Hays, Rhiannon Faulkner, River Higgs, Sam Jaeger, Sam Stoffel, and Zoe Tarbill. Trinity Hart attended from Texas.
The program culminated with a Renaissance Faire and Feast based on this year’s theme, “The Renaissance.” Students, many elaborately dressed as knights, ladies, and fairies, dined at a long table while a bard played guitar music. Faculty and program staff also wore elaborate period costumes. The faire also featured an exhibition of student art.
“You teach them some really basic skills, and they take it and make what they want,” said Professor Martin. “What they make is really a reflection of who they are.”
She said students learned to saw, file, sand, and stamp sheet metal as well as how to change the color of the metal using a torch or liquids. They also got an introduction to creating polymer clay beads, stone setting, and soldering.
Chichita Reta, a Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School senior, said she learned a lot about the versatility of metal when she created an elaborate key.
“It’s a time for me to create something that I can treasure and I wanted to make this key because it’s a complicated design,” she said, adding that she also created a beaded keychain featuring her name and her sister’s name.
Parks, a senior at Southside High School, said the program gives students a chance to “see new types of art that you really haven’t seen before. It really is an enriching environment.”
Professor Scheidt gave students the opportunity to explore kinetic sculpture and make artwork that moves. Students worked with wire, collage, and found objects to create a small moving vignette or scene.
In Professor Warren’s “Screenprint Factory” session, the student artists designed, created, and printed a screenprint. They also learned how to transfer hand-drawn and digital imagery onto a screen.
“Screenprinting was my favorite because you get to take your design and put it on a T-shirt that you can wear any day of the week,” said “Liv” George, a senior at Heber Springs High School. “You get to present your artwork every day.”
George was among several students who also attended the camp last year. Mongomery, a senior at Parkview Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School, said this year’s organizers planned more free time and different activities – including the Renaissance event.
“All of the classes were interesting and all of the teachers were very supportive,” she said. “The environment was super comforting.”
Hart, a junior at Atlanta High School in Texas, said her art teacher told her about the artWAYS camp. “I’m really thankful that I had the opportunity to meet fellow artists and find myself,” she said. “Everybody is so nice – the teachers and the helpers.”
Former campers Sophia Neely and Macey McLaughlin returned as residential counselors this year. Inspired by the camp, they will be returning to UA Little Rock this fall as freshmen.
“It actually helped me decide what I wanted to go to college for,” Neely said. “I wanted to do art education but I knew that I wanted to do something on the side. So, coming here helped me decide to get a certificate in metalsmithing.”
McLaughlin, who will major in art design, said through the camp, she “connected with other people like me and it showed me that I could be an illustrator.”
