By Kevin McClintock
Globe Staff Writer
CARTHAGE, Mo. —
In a first for Carthage’s famed artCentral, the latest exhibit of art pieces will have a youthful feel to it.
An art show for kids will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. this Sunday. It will feature the very best artwork created by the 44 students -- ages 8-14 -- currently attending the annual two-week artCamp inside the large Victorian home on east 13th street.
“It’s free to the public and it’s something we’ve never done before,” said Sally Armstrong, artCentral director.
In past art camps, students simply packed up and took home what they sketched, painted, sculpted or molded at the end of each summer camp.
This year, the students’ artwork -- some selected by the students and some by Armstrong -- will be on display throughout the historic Hyde House gallery, either hanging from the walls or on pedestals.
“It will look like any other professional exhibit,” Armstrong said. “We’re really excited about this. And I know the (students) are excited, too. I think we’ll consider doing this again.”
The art will be open for public viewing through July 31. Some of the pieces will later be displayed at the Atrium Gallery inside the Sirloin Stockade on Central Ave.
The kids who sign up for each of the daylong, $30 classes want to be there, Armstrong said.
“I don’t ever remember having a kid here at camp who just sat there and did nothing. Those who are here have an interest in art.”
The hope behind the camp is that interaction between a student and one of the professional artists teaching the various classes will help spur the love for art.
Dorothy Sims, 12, of Carthage, signed up for eight classes this year.
“I enjoy art and I think this will help me learn different techniques so I can pursue my love for art. I want to do this when I grow up.”
If Sims does happen to move on to become a professional artist, it wouldn’t the first time that’s happened. Robin Putnam, a Carthage-based artist, attended the artCentral classes when she was little.
“I want to get a bigger variety of what we’re doing so I can learn,” Sims said.
The camp itself is unique in that it lasts for most of the day -- 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a sack lunch on the house’s covered front porch -- and held in an intensive two-week period.
“This is my fifth summer doing the camp and we’ve tried to grow it,” Armstrong said. “At first it was just one class a day, then two and now some days this week there will be three classes going on.
“We offer more each day to offer the kids more choices” to appeal to their various artistic interests, she said.
Webb City native Sean Fitzgibbon is one of a half-dozen professional artists teaching classes this year. Fitzgibbon, who studied art and design at Joe Kubert School of Art in New Jersey, taught kids comic and cartoon design, among other mediums.
Fitzgibbon believes it’s his responsibility as an artist to communicate visually using whichever media best conveys the information, feeling or emotion he hopes to express.
“I take a positive stance in teaching,” Fitzgibbon said. “Instead of saying ‘you’re doing this wrong,’ I suggest something like, ‘you can do this to improve on it and to make it even better.’ If you keep telling them ‘no no no,’ the kids will lose confidence.”
From an artistic point of view, “it’s nice to get to them at a young age,” Fitzgibbon said. And the kids “have done an awesome job.”
