Free Summer Art Workshops Offered for Teens
June 17, 2008
Franklin Community Health Network (FCHN) is again offering six weeks of accelerated art instruction this summer for teens ages 13-16. The program will teach the crafts of painting and papier-mâché and will ultimately provide art for the new Franklin Health Medical Arts Center, located next to Franklin Memorial Hospital and opening in July.
Workshop sessions and materials are all free of charge.
The program will utilize art, music, and literature as mediums to inspire students’ imaginations to create art based on Maine and New England Native American folklore, and stories and poems by Maine authors. The art produced will be donated to FCHN for the new Center.
“The arts, whether it be music, or painting, or literature, is really what this region is about, and we want to support creativity in our future generations. Teens who participate will be providing a great service to their community through their artwork,” said Maureen Goudreau, Director of the FCHN Foundation.
The first two-week session will take place at Franklin Memorial Hospital starting June 30. During the first week instructors will assist students in learning to create paintings that tie together the Center’s modern design to its lodge-type atmosphere reminiscent of the fly-fishing camps of the early 1900’s. The second week will have the students’ hands in papier-mache, creating three-dimensional masks based on animals from Maine.
The second session starting July 14, will have students use their knowledge of the meaning of Native American animal totems and choose several Maine species to produce on a 20' totem pole.
The final two-week session will take place in Rangeley, July 28 to August 7.
“This successful art program was originally offered two years ago to help raise money to replace the Healthy Community Coalition’s aging Mobile Health Unit,” added Goudreau. “Local children created over 100 pieces of artwork that culminated in an exciting Safari Art Auction raising over $23,000.”
In addition to daily art classes, students will listen to Maine stories read by local volunteers. All classes will be held Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the exception of the Rangeley session, which ends at 2 p.m.
Instructors include Maine educators and artists, Jan Barlow and Roger Bisaillon, and Brittany Williams, a recent graduate of Mt. Blue High School with an interest in art and language. Professional artists will also be incorporated into the program to supplement the art instruction.
“Students participating in the program will have to use their imaginations to represent rustic Maine as well as the progressive modern Maine in a visually creative way. They will learn skills in a supportive and educational environment that they can keep forever,” said art workshop instructor Brittany Williams.
Additional information and applications are available online at www.fchn.org <http://www.fchn.org> or by calling the Franklin Community Health Network Foundation office at 779-2750.
Click here to dowload an application.
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