If you were looking for something stimulating for your children to do during Spring break, March 28-April 1, You needed to look no further. The Wildling Art Museum offered a Spring art camp, “Get in Touch with Your Senses,” 9:00 am-noon each day at the Santa Ynez Valley Grange Hall. The classes were open to anyone six years old through adult, and students could take any one or all of the five workshops offered that week. All workshops emphasized nature as a theme, and some classes were held outdoors next door in the Lavinia Campbell Park.

During Day #1 (Monday, March 28), students were introduced to drawing from nature under the guidance of instructor, Teresa McNeil MacLean, who is well-known in the Valley as a teacher with Arts Outreach, a poet, and a landscape artist who uses prisma-color pencils. MacLean introduced students to several drawing media, including colored pencils, pen and ink, and pastels, and several drawing techniques that they can build upon in subsequent workshops.

Watercolor painting was the subject of the workshop on Day #2 (Tuesday, March 29). Students learned how to mix colors and execute watercolor washes under the expert guidance of Sara Norquay, former art teacher at Crane School.

On Day #3 (Wednesday, March 30), Craig Peterson, a popular Arts Outreach teacher, artist and owner of Two Winds Studio in Los Olivos, taught painting with acrylics. Students could paint a still-life or something from their imagination.

On Thursday, March 31, Sara Norquay returned to teach printmaking and collage. Students had fun replicating and combining images to create unique effects.

On the last day, Friday, April 1, Melinda Weymouth, art educator with the Isla Vista Schools, landscape artist, and Community Outreach Coordinator for the Sedgwick Reserve, taught students how to model a three-dimensional sculpture of an animal.