Sharing her love of art
FHS grad, wanting a taste of teaching, opened her home to young campers
Art Camp director Alice Dupree and her campers, from left, Charlotte Riley, Daniel Aten, Avery Teesdale, Reece Zierden, Clara Aten, Mia McClurkin and Elliot Zierden in front of a mural they painted.
Alice Dupree, who served as co-president of the National Art Honors Society this past year and plans to study art education, advertised the camp on the neighborhood website, Nextdoor.com/, in late spring.
“I wanted to teach the basics of art (principles and elements), art history and new exciting art techniques,” she shared in her camp description.
“I’ve wanted to do the camp for a couple of summers now, but never really got the courage to go all the way with it until this year,” Dupree said.
She ended up with seven art enthusiasts aged 4 to 9, who met for lessons and projects under her watchful eye — with a little help from her mother, Monica.
They had planned to work outdoors during the week, but ended up moving inside because of spotty rain showers. Inside the Dupree’s home, campers were able to work together at an oversized table, where, over the course of the camp they experimented with various mediums, created a mural and also constructed individual marionette puppets.
“We learned all about color theory, how to make textures with objects around you, art history and how to think outside the box,” Dupree said.
The group studied various artists, from historical painters Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh, to whimsical children’s book author/artist Eric Carle and even pop artist Andy Warhol.
“The kids’ favorite fact about him was that he had 25 cats all names Sam,” she said.
They also learned about Warhol’s famous printmaking style, and created their own versions using their handprints.
Dupree admitted she was “nervous about hosting the camp (at first) because I’ve been a babysitter for a long time, but never so many kids all at once doing art.
“But it seems like everyone had a lot of fun,” she added.
Elliot Zierden, who attended camp with his brother, Reece, was enthusiastic when asked about his experience.
“I like it,” he said. “I like learning about all the different textures and about complimentary colors — and what colors to mix to get other colors.”
Dupree said she only realized fairly recently what her professional pursuit should be. “
This past year was a long journey, trying to figure what I was going to school for and then it hit me: art and people — two of (my) favorite things. I should be an art teacher. (So art camp) was also kind of a practice round for when I have my own art class in the future.
“This group was awesome and I hope to do it next year, and hopefully throughout college.”
