Summer Art Camps 2022
Our camps last year were "Louis Wain’s Cats” and “Sculpt Baby Yoda”
All classes are held at Mardie Rees' professional art studio in Gig Harbor.
Register at www.apprentice-academy.com or call (253) 405-6694 to register for our Summer Art camps - 2022!
I put together some fun colorful photos from our 2021 summer camps. I love seeing what kids make in the week they get to focus on ART and learn the fundamentals. Life is so busy during art camp that sometimes I don’t get a chance to take pictures of the finished work at the end of the week; however, through these colorful photos you can see our process and my classical philosophy of studying nature and learning the fundamentals.
Our camps were "Claude Monet’s Water Lilies” and “Butterflies & Beetles”
All classes are held at Mardie Rees' professional art studio in Gig Harbor. Register at www.apprentice-academy.com or call (253) 405-6694 to register for our Summer Art camps - 2022!
I put together some fun colorful photos from our 2018 summer camps (4th Year). I love seeing what kids make in the week they get to focus on ART and learn the fundamentals.
Our camps were "Van Gogh’s Sunflowers” (August 13-16), “Fireclay Frenchies” (August 6-9) “Calvin and Hobbes” (July 30- Aug 2) and we partnered again with Harbor WildWatch in “Sculpting Salmon” (Jul 23-26). All classes are held at Mardie Rees' professional art studio in Gig Harbor. Register at www.apprentice-academy.com or call (253) 405-6694 to register for our 5TH YEAR of Summer Art camps!
Here are a few highlights from our summer camps (3rd Year) of 2017. It is amazing to see what kids create and the pictures are so fun and colorful! To see more pictures go to our gallery page.
We did "Pokemon Anime" (July 31-Aug 3), “Garden Gnomes” (July 24- 27), “Starry Night” (Aug 14-17) and we partnered again with Harbor WildWatch in “Sculpting Salmon” (Aug 7-10). All classes are held at Mardie Rees' professional art studio in Gig Harbor. Register at www.apprentice-academy.com or call (253) 405-6694 to register for next year's camps!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gig Harbor, WA—With its dark, swirling sky and vivid brush strokes, it might just be the most recognizable painting of all time. After completing it, Van Gogh wrote to his brother, "This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big." For centuries Starry Night has captured the hearts of art-lovers, astronomers, and historians alike. This summer, some young minds will take on the challenge to recreate the masterpiece in their own style.
Stena Troyer (Harbor WildWatch) and Mardie Rees (Artist & Instructor of Apprentice Academy) show off the live sand-dollars students drew in summer 2016
Now in its third year, Apprentice Academy is again washing brushes and preparing easels to pick up the slack once the school year is over. Founded by local artist Mardie Rees, the art school offers excitingly educational art camps throughout the summer. “It’s so rewarding to see not just the talent but the passion these kids have,” says Rees, “They come in to the studio almost apprehensive, but after an hour they are champions.”
This year’s camps feature painting Van Gogh’s infamous Starry Night (Aug 14-17). Kids and teens from ages five through seventeen will have a chance to create their very own master copy and dive into the rich palette and methods of the storied impressionist. Apprentice Academy has also partnered with Harbor WildWatch in “Sculpting Salmon” (Aug 7- 10) for a unique opportunity to blend science and art by sculpting salmon and learning the unique anatomical features of our local salmon population. For those who want to take a sculpting class from a professional sculptor, “Garden Gnomes” (July 24-27) is a fun way to pinch, poke, tool, and detail your own clay creation. “Pokemon Anime” (July 31-Aug 3) focuses on the gleaming eyes, sharp hair, and lively expressions that make up the telltale drawing style of Japanese Anime.
Mardie Rees is professional working artist known locally for her sculpture of Saint Anthony and Child, a life-size bronze sculpture inside the lobby of Gig Harbor’s Saint Anthony Hospital installed in 2008. She has garnered awards and commissions nationally and last year her sculpture for the WWII Marine Raiders was moved to the Pentagon. In April she received the prestigious “Signature Status” from Portrait Society of America, bestowed on those who’ve established notoriety in the field of commissioned portraiture.
Don’t miss a chance to sign up for any Art Camp this summer as spaces are filling rapidly. This year Apprentice Academy has partnered with Teaching Toys and Books to raffle off a free art camp. Visit any store location (Proctor, Tacoma or Uptown Gig Harbor) and enter to win!
All classes are held at Mardie Rees' professional art studio in Gig Harbor located near the Purdy Bridge. Register at www.apprentice-academy.com or call (253) 405-6694 to register. Cost is $180-$250 for a 4-day Art Camp.
Apprentice Academy was blessed to have two artists, Aaron Larson and Olivia Von Trotha, join us in teaching kids how to draw Pikachu! Make sure to check out our fun Pokemon Anime Camp this summer. Our booth was full of kids and parents drawing most of the afternoon.
After Christmas 2016 we met before the new year for a 2-day workshop to make angels and snowmen in clay. The kids learned about form, textures, and how to attach arms and wings. Working in three dimension is a great way to build fine motor skills and make a work of art you can get out every Christmas time. Each piece turns out with such personality. See the finished sculptures below!
Carter, one of our avid artists is designing her angel using the photo references available.
the finished angels in fired terracotta clay created by Carter (left) and Juah (right)
Snowmen created by Aaron (left) and Jasmine (right)
Our one day workshop held the day after Thanksgiving was a great success! In a few short hours the kids learned the basics to drawing Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Then we covered speech balloons and story boarding with the goal to create a single frame comic strip. The theme for each comic strip had to be around "Turkeys" as you can see in Aaron's cartoon below.
Aaron adding the finishing touches of blue to his Peanuts cartoon.
Jasmine drawing Charlie Brown preparing his turkey dinner.