The Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation

Young Artists-in-Residence Program

home                    artists                             gallery                              links                         email

The Young Artists-in-Residence Program was piloted by the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation with a one-week summer day camp focusing on art, music, and theater. All 4th, 5th, and 6th grade public school teachers were asked to nominate up to three students who showed talent, ability, and interest in the arts and had parental support for their endeavors. Out of over 100 nominees, 17 students were selected to participate in the day camp, held from July 28 through August 1, 2003, at no cost to the students. The day camp included visual and performing arts instruction and hands-on activities each day.

This program was a collaborative effort of local arts organizations, including the RAiR Program and its Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, the Roswell Symphony Orchestra, the Roswell Community Little Theater, and the Roswell Museum and Art Center.

During the YAiR day camp, students spent one day at the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, learning the basics of art (lines, shapes, patterns, texture, perspective, composition, etc.) and were given sketchbooks to work in. They made clay tiles and painted them for a tile mosaic project to be part of a permanent public works installation. The second day was spent at the RAiR Program campus, touring the facility (studios and workshops), with the rare treat of meeting the artists, viewing their studios and seeing their works-in-progress.

Students made monoprints and collages as their hands-on projects at the residency print shop. The third day, the Roswell Symphony Orchestra gave a comprehensive overview of music, including music appreciation, families of instruments, and musical terminology. The fourth day of camp at the Roswell Community Little Theater covered the history of theater, types of performances, stage direction, lighting, sound, and costumes/make-up. The students read roles in a one-act melodrama as the hands-on activity. Students toured the Roswell Museum and Art Center with a docent during the fifth day of camp, interviewed one of the exhibiting artists, and made a three-dimensional creation at the end. 

Participants in the day camp were very responsive to the spotlight of attention given them in being selected for the program. In the absence of art in public schools, their special abilities have been ignored. Many students had never been in the museums or theater before, much less attended a symphony performance. The 2003 students remain on the RAiR Foundation mailing list, and are invited to art openings where they get to meet the artists. They are also notified of local art competitions and encouraged to participate. 

back to home page

© 2003 Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation. For Personal or Educational Use Only. All rights reserved. All images are the property of the Roswell Museum and Art Center Foundation and may not be reproduced without expressed written permission.