KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Kayla Desroches/KMXT
How’d you like to take a class in fabric dyeing one day and wild toolmaking the next? Well, if you’re a kid, you’ll be able to.
The Kodiak Arts Council‘s Sum’arts for Kids starts Monday and will offer classes that are perfect for enterprising young artists. Programs Coordinator Erin Starr-Hollow says the Sum’Arts schedule includes both the annual favorites, like Marine Mosaic, and new, innovative courses.
She mentions one that may appeal to young foragers and survivalists.
“We have Jacqueline Madsen teaching wild tool making, which is gonna be really cool. She’s collecting a lot of natural materials. Clay and charcoal and wood and making paints and pigments and paint brushes with kids. So, that’s going to be a really neat class that we’ve never done before.”
This summer’s SumArts also has a strong emphasis on music, and its schedule will include ukulele lessons with Hawaiian musician Keola Marfil. Starr-Hollow says that course was part of the Kodiak Arts Council’s spring arts program.
“It was received so well, and we were so impressed with what kids were able to learn over the period of two classes, so we decided to give it a go again and Keola was available to teach again this summer.”
Starr-Hollow says one grant funded class will address sound on a scientific level and is geared towards kids ages 5 to 7.
“We’re working together with the Munartet program. This grant is putting together lessons for use in school applications, so there is an artist and a teacher coming together to explore how sound is made, and it’s making sounds and really examining what happens in sound waves.”
She says other teachers in the future will be able to use the lesson plan the instructors come up with.
Classes will continue until August 12, and sign up continues through the summer. Starr-Hollow says students can sign up for each class up to the day before, but suggests they reserve their spots early.
