New art studio hosts three summer camps

WESLACO — Maria Miller figured her best way to serve her community is by doing what she does best.

A certified teacher and art studio owner, Miller just completed her first of three summer sessions of Youth Summer Art Camp in her new Creative Minds/Museum Works Art Studio located in the heart of downtown Weslaco.

With the help of her husband James, also a certified art teacher and professional artist, the 47-year-old opened the studio in May and began the class aimed at students from 6 to 12 years old.

Miller has more than 30 years of art experience and has 16 years of art teaching.

On Friday, the first session concluded with a student art exhibit and party for camp participants and their parents. The exhibit featured interesting displays of work drawn by the students ranging from a rabbit emerging from a mail box to a cat hungrily watching fish inside an aquarium. Miller said 22 students enrolled in the first session and hopes the camp is the beginning of event that can grow larger with each session.

"This is my dream, and I've been dreaming about this for 12 years now," Miller said.

The camp lasts three weeks, with classes in the studio twice weekly. The fee for the camp is $79, and materials are included, Miller said.

Miller said each student will learn a variety of techniques, including acrylic painting on canvas panels, ink and water color painting, clay modeling, drawing with charcoal and pastels and printing with tempera and acrylic paints. Miller said all her students enrolled in the first summer session showed tremendous progress in their art.

Nine-year-old Brianna Gutierrez said her drawing skills improved as she participated in the art camp. Gutierrez said her drawing was always good, but said the camp taught her how to do things "the right way."

"How to make shadows, highlights in our art and how to fix mistakes," she said. "I did clay work for the first time and charcoal. I liked that a lot. Drawing bowls, it was hard, but I did good."

The second session began Monday and runs through July 17, while the final camp is from July 21 to Aug. 7.

During the second and third sessions, James Miller will show students how do carve plaster stone, cast objects with molds, how to produce drawings with the illusion of three dimensions and how to create monochromatic paintings.

"We want it to be a year round activity...afternoon sessions for after school students," Maria Miller said. "I also would like to help paint with older people of all ages. If they want to create a lot of colors, then I'll help them create a lot of colors."

For more information, please call the art studio at 968-6461 or 975-1705.