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2010 KIDS SUMMER CAMPS brochure.

2010 Summer Camp information:

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Art Camp: CRAZY: like a box

Pottery Wheel Camps: Learn to Throw!

JAMFest '10 : Rock n Roll Music Camp

Jewelry Camp : Knot Just Beads

Clay Animation/Video Pixilation

Textile Camp: Run with Scissors!

Theater Camp: The Pirates of Penzance!

Hand building in Clay: Bug Bowls!

Preschool Camp: Messy Munchkins!

Art Camp: CRAZY: like a box
Five day session: $128
Grades K-4: Monday-Friday, June 21-25, 9am-noon
Grades 4-12: Monday-Friday, June 21-25, 1-4pm

What would you put in a box?
a stuffed-toy fox?
funky socks?
baby hair locks?
polished rocks?

At this camp, you make boxes of all kinds. Learn how you can make a box that “talks” by telling a story you write with colors, pictures, found objects and more.

How can a box tell a story? Come find out how you can use different materials and finishes to create boxes all your own! Campers decide what their boxes will look like and what they’ll hold. Learn how to make boxes out of clay, glaze, wood, cardboard, wire, mirrors and more.

This is one of our most creative camps of the summer and a fabulous way for youth to become acquainted with many different mediums and styles. They’ll actually want to be boxed in!

Kids will come home from this camp with wacky, fun, cool containers of all types to treasure, or to hold their own treasures.

That wild and zany pair of instructors, Diane and Doug, will be fostering creativity and self expression in this summer’s multimedia camp. Between the two of them they have boxed up some unusual materials. Campers can look forward to an exploration of many mediums, and will have fun making all shapes of boxes with nails, wood, clay, glaze, cardboard, paint, mirrors, wire and more.

Participants will also be guided through the process of creating a box which tells their story with images.

A "Cornell Box"

Instructor Diane Lund of Rochester holds a degree in Visual Arts Education K-12, and currently teaches middle school. Her studies of profoundly gifted students at the Perpich Center and St. Mary’s University coupled with her ability to relate to children of all ages make her a great addition to our instructional staff.

Instructor Doug Snyder is a professional sculptor with a BFA degree from Drake University. He discovered his love for art as a child, and as a returning camp instructor at Crossings, enjoys helping kids learn how to work with their hands.

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Pottery Wheel Camps: Learn to Throw!
Five Day session for grades 4 and up: $145
Session #1: Tuesday-Monday, June 22-28, 10am-12:30pm
Session #2: Tuesday-Monday, July 6-12; 1:30-4pm
Session #3: Tuesday-Monday, July 13-19; 10am-12:30pm
(Combine with Jewelry Camp for an all-day camp! Supervised lunch hour.)
Session # 4: Tuesday-Monday, July 20-26; 10am-12:30pm
(Combine with Clay Animation for an all-day camp! Supervised lunch hour.)
Session # 5: Tuesday-Monday, July 27-August 2; 1-3:30pm

As these camps fill quickly, we sometimes add a camp. Check back for updates!

Experience a real clay studio! Let the mud fly! Learn how to wedge clay, center and form shapes on the pottery wheel, trim and finish your work with colorful glaze.

Class runs Tuesday-Monday so work can be fired in the kiln over the weekend. Then the bisque-fired pieces can be glazed on Monday! Finished projects will not be available on the last day of camp, so plan to return to Crossings within two weeks to pick up the ceramic treasures.

Kids should wear mud-friendly clothes and shoes to this camp, and, please bring an old towel everyday for your lap.

Instructor: Neal Sorensen. Neal's addiction to clay started in high school. He is a whiz on the wheel, and holds a special love for handbuilding. His own art is a balance of aesthetic and function. He instills a love of clay in his students, and shows them how creating a beautiful pot out of a lump of earth can be a very satisfying experience.

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JAMFest '10 : Rock 'n Roll music camp
Six-day session: $145
Grades 8-12 (2010/11 school year)
Tuesday-Friday, July 6-9, 6-9pm
Saturday, July 10, 2-6pm (rehearsal for concert, sound check and pizza; 5pm: concert)

Love to play Guitar Hero? Well, here’s your chance to get off your couch and be in a band for real. If you’re a guitar player, a drummer, a singer, a trumpeter, or a musician who loves to rock---JAMFest is the place for you. Any song/style/groove you want to play, we'll play it, or "jam" it out, and have fun either way. Get together with kids your age, start a band, and play a real live gig for your friends and family by the end of the week! Students can bring their own instruments to camp.

By no means do you have to be the next Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin to participate! Just come with a love of music and the desire to have a lot of fun!

Scene from JamFest '09
see the YouTube video below!

Instructors: Dewey Poncelet is currently attending college at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Jamie Varner recently graduated from St. Cloud. They share considerable experience in writing and performing music with an array of musical instruments. Both have been in numerous bands over the past eight years and are currently playing and recording original music in Duluth.

Dewey and Jamie performing

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Jewelry Camp: Knot Just Beads!
Five day session: $138
Grades 1-4: Monday-Friday, July 12-16, 10am-noon
Grades 4-12: Monday-Friday, July 12-16, 1-3pm

Two masters of their crafts, both professional jewelry makers, will guide campers into the enchanting world of jewelry making. Kids will learn to see the possibilities and beauty in all kinds of materials. Campers can expect to have fistfuls of glorious wearable art at the end of the week. This class is gender friendly. Guys can make hemp bracelets, key rings, iPod straps, etc.

Kids will be taught a variety of skills in this fun camp such as metal stamping, hemp knotting, bead making and stringing, leather punching, wire wrapping, crimping and stitching and resin layering.

Instructor Jennifer Wolcott has been teaching small-scale glass fusing, lampworking, and silversmithing for ten years. Prior to that she spent more than twenty years as an engineer in industry happily figuring out how to make printed circuits better-faster-smaller-tougher-more and figuring out what went wrong when they failed.

Instructor Amy Giannini has a bachelor's degree in child development and socialization, and she is a veteran of 17 years of homeschooling. She makes beaded silver jewelry, embellished wool clothing, and other arts and crafts as time allows and whimsy leads.

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Clay Animation/Video Pixilation
Five day session: $138
Grades 3-6: Monday-Friday, July 19-23, 9am-noon
Grades 6-12: Monday-Friday, July 19-23, 1-4:30pm

Using the same techniques the professionals use, learn the foundations of capturing motion, and make your own, short animated movie! Working in teams of three, develop characters, create storyboards, design and construct sets; learn how to operate a camera and other technical aspects of creating a polished animation. Kids will also learn about stop-motion movie making, and create individually hand-drawn flip books, too! A compilation DVD of all class work is included for each camper.

Click on this image for a pixilation sample from 2009 -->

(Please note - these videos can take a while to load!)

Instructor Josh Granlund has a BA in Studio Art and Computer Science, and is pursuing a Masters in Art Education. He develops artistic and culturally responsive workshops, training seminars, after-school programs, and art residencies serving over 1,000 students, families, and teachers a year, and enjoys watching young creative minds blossom and develop as they tell their tales.

< --Click on this image to watch "Gilbert and Chicken Bob"

Parents! Josh is offering a 3-evening class on Clay Animation and Video Pixilation for Adults
This same week. Click here for details

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Textile Camp: Run with Scissors!
5 day session for grades 3 and up: $220
Monday-Friday, July 26-30 9am-3pm.

Kids should bring a sack lunch with them for this all-day camp!

Create your own art to wear and carry!
Gender friendly.
Every day is broken into 3 different classes, each with new projects.

Hand and Machine Sewing
First-time sewers will learn machine basics by choosing from a variety of flannels to make their own drawstring pajama pants. Returning students will improve their machine and cutting skills by using recycled tee shirts to do their own creation: a skirt, top, or rag quilt. All campers will have access to their own machine.

Campers will sew on machines, try sergers, rotary cutters, pressing aids and other sewing tools. We’ll use fancy machine stitching, serging and complex cutting. Restyling? Campers will be all over that! Take an old tee shirt and make it into something new and unique by adding embellishment! Bountiful supplies will be provided.

Optional materials that campers can bring for Hand and Machine Sewing: colorful, old T-shirts, any size and any condition.

Altered Images For Kids

Transform photographs, drawings and even doodles into funky jewelry, T-shirts, bags, patches and more. It’s easy with image transfer techniques, stamping and some simple fiber mojo techniques. We’ll use quick fusing methods to assemble projects, then embellish them with embroidery and beading.

Come find out how to wear sidewalk chalk and fingerpaint, how to share gifts with your own unique stamp, and how to dare the world to keep up with a visionary like you!

Optional materials that campers can bring for Altered Images:
A white or light-colored T-shirt that fits you, and some additional tees (any color, any size) that you can cut up. These can be from the rag bag or thrift shop, or ask your dad to help you out by contributing that stained or holey T-shirt you think he should never be seen in again!

A ball cap (any color, with or without a design). Something to recycle.
A bag or purse to alter. Again, thrift it or recycle something from your family or a friend.

Make a Funky, Fabric Maché Lamp

Let your light shine as you use wire, fabric, buttons and beads to create your one-of-a-kind lamp. Your finished piece of art adds a pool of light in a dark corner or lights your way when you get up at night.

If there's time, you can also try your hand at a fabric mache bowl. What happens when you mix flour, water ... and fabric? You get a really cool bowl, of course! You can make bowls of all shapes, sizes and colors.

Be ready to get messy!

Textile Camp instructors:

Deb Wilkinson returns to teach machine sewing and cutting skills. From patching long underwear to elaborate celebration sewing, there’s nothing she hasn’t tried on a sewing machine or serger. She uses all kinds of cutting tools from straight edge razors to rotary cutters to achieve results.

Wisconsin Fiber artist and teacher Donna Kallner is known for giving ancient ideas a contemporary spin. Donna is the author of two books: New Age Looping and Altered Images.

JoRae Dupont is a Lakeville artist who puts together an array of creatures with wood, paper. wire, fabric and whatever else is at hand. Most recently she has worked with antique linens and batik -- a skill she picked up right here at Crossings!

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Musical Theater Camp: The Pirates of Penzance!
Two-week session: $265
Grades 4-12: Monday-Friday, August 2-13, 9am-3:30pm.

Kids should bring a sack lunch with them for this all-day camp!

Calling all lovers of musical theater!
In this camp you’ll learn, rehearse and perform a musical adaptation of
Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.
Director Daved Driscoll will guide campers in all the facets of putting on a musical.

Arrrgh, maties! Don’t let this ship sail without ye!
More buckling than swash!

What could be better than Gilbert and Sullivan’s wild and whacky tale of a young man caught between his love for a beautiful maiden and his enslavement to duty? The same tale done by a bunch of wild and whacky Words Players kids. All the familiar characters of this comic operetta will be there (in comic miniature, of course!): Frederic the not-so-bloodthirsty pirate apprentice; Ruth, his jealous nurserymaid; Mabel, his new love; the Pirate King, his boss; and the ever-wise, fast-talking, Modern Major-general . . . his future father-in-law?

No acting experience necessary. Singing voice NOT required. Swashbuckling guys and gals welcome.
You’ll end the camp by performing this play for family, friends and the public during the last hour of camp on August 13.

Daved Driscoll, BA, MFA, is the founder of Words Players Theater, a local theater troupe. He has taught and/or directed theatre, music, literature and philosophy in high schools and colleges since 1984 and has directed over 40 plays.

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Hand Building in Clay: Bug Bowls!
Five day session: $128.
All supplies are included.
Grades 2-8: Monday-Friday, August 16-20; 10am-noon.

Kids should wear mud-friendly clothes and shoes to this camp!

What has a bunch of legs, a pair of antennae, body segments, and a pair of eyes?
YOUR BOWL!!!

Come to this hand building camp to explore creepy crawlers from all over the world.

Kids will use bugs as inspiration for fun clay projects - everything from a bowl full of bugs to a winged container made out of clay. Bugs come in so many forms, from tough beetles to beautiful butterflies, and this camp will be an adventure!

Some of our LIVE creepy crawlie friends will be visiting us in class: Kids will actually get to meet some Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and a Giant Millipede! Kids will have plenty of time to explore other ideas they have for hand building with clay too.

Campers are invited to bring in any bugs (put them in the freezer in zip-lock bags) or pictures of bugs that inspire them!

Instructor Emily Wartsbaugh has been practicing the ceramic and other arts for over 10 years, and currently teaches middle school. With a Masters in Education, she loves teaching kids of all ages.

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Preschool Camp: Messy Munchkins!
Five day session for ages 3-6: $128
Monday-Friday, August 16-20; 10am-noon.

Children can use all of their senses during this 2-hour, hands-on experience. Painting, clay projects, songs, stories, movement, and snacks in a safe, nurturing environment. The variety of daily activities will spur their curiosity and expand their sense of wonder. Parents and guardians are welcome to stay and join in the fun. Children will put on a little show the last half-hour of camp.

Instructors: Alexis Zaccariello and Shane Eggerstedt.

Alexis traveled the world in the Peace Corps, and has taught integrated arts programs in over 100 k-12 classrooms. She continues to create her own paintings and drawings and loves integrating the arts into all settings.

Shane currently teaches Studio art classes at Kenyon Wanamingo schools for grades 5-12 and was licensed in K-12 Art Education at Augsburg College. When he makes art he mixes materials from several media combining photography, found objects, drawing, painting and book arts.

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Grades are for the school year 2010-11. A limited number of need-based scholarships are available
through the Zumbrota Community Trust. Call for 507-732-7616 for more information.

Keep in mind... all or part of camp registration fees may qualify for a state tax deduction! Ask your tax advisor.

Cancellation and Refund Policy
Campers who withdraw 30 or more days prior to the camp start date will receive a 100% refund and charged a $15 cancellation fee.

Campers who withdraw 15-29 days prior to the camp start date will receive a 50% refund and charged a $15 cancellation fee.

No refunds will be issued 0-14 days prior to the camp start date.

Campers may transfer from one camp to another up to 14 days prior to the camp start date with a $15 administrative fee.

No refunds will be issued after the start of the camp due to illness.
Family emergency situations will be dealt with on an individual basis.

Lunch & Snack Breaks
All camps have supervised healthy snack breaks; juice and water are provided along with the snack.
Students participating in full-day classes have a supervised lunch break. Crossings does not provide lunches, so please pack an appropriate lunch for your child. Recycle-Reuse! Refrigerator and microwave are available.

Camp Dress Code!
Some pigments and materials may stain clothing, so please dress your children in clothing that will not break hearts if it sustains spills and messes. Crossings is not responsible for clothing that is damaged in art classes. Weather permitting, children play outdoors during snack and lunch breaks.