Summer Art Camps’ Enrollment at All-Time High in Oxford

The Powerhouse Arts Camp is in its sixth year, and the participation from children in Oxford is at an all-time high for the camp.

“We started in the summer of 2011 with an abbreviated schedule,” founder Andi Bedsworth said. “Then by 2012 we were doing the whole summer. Now I do, on average, between 10-11 weeks of summer camps depending on what the schools do.”

Oxford children learn to paint, draw and create at summer art camps provided by Yoknapatawpha Arts Council.

Each week within the art camp has a theme that the participants are involved with. The themes include A’s in Art, fiber art, junk art, painting and drawing, three-dimensional arts and collages.

The camps have met every day in one week sessions. The morning session is for children from three to nine years of age. The afternoon camps from 1:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m. is for children 10 years old and up.

The next two weeks, however, are different Bedsworth said.

“The next two weeks will be full-day camps,” Bedsworth said. “You can come in the morning from 9:00 a.m. to noon, but you can also stay all day. Those are less about having a theme and more about each day being different.”

Participation for the camp has picked up dramatically over the six years that Bedsworth has conducted the summer art camp program.

“Usually in the mornings I have 12-18 kids in the morning,” Bedsworth said. “The afternoons are smaller because it’s teenagers, but it’s usually 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. The full-day camps usually have around 20-30 kids. That’s why we do a few of them each year at the beginning and the end of the summer. Those always fill out.”

The full-day camps are for ages three to 10 years old only.

Andi Bedsworth along with volunteers oversee latest creations by the young campers.

The camp takes place in the Powerhouse that is located next door to Newks on University Avenue.

“It’s where I work out of,” Bedsworth said. “My company is called Art-To-Go but I have partnered with the Arts Council at the Powerhouse. That’s why we do the programming and all of the art part there.”

For more information on Yoknapatawpha Arts Council’s summer art camps, visit its website at www.oxfordarts.com or call (662) 236-6429.

Collin Brister is a staff writer for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at collin.brister@hottytoddy.com.

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