EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 As summer camps for schoolchildren across the Borderland get underway, one El Paso program is blending art, aviation and history by introducing kids to the work of renowned local artist Tom Lea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing an art maker camp today,\u201d an instructor told students as the session began. The camp offers \u201cintroduction to Tom Lea and the kind of art that he did,\u201d using hands-on lessons that guide children through drawing and painting while learning about the subjects Lea captured in his work.<\/p>\n
During the camp, students studied airplanes up close and practiced sketching them, starting with the basics. \u201cWhat\u2019s the main thing we need first?\u201d an instructor asked. \u201cThe body,\u201d students responded.<\/p>\n
The activities went beyond drawing. \u201cToday we\u2019re doing a camp where we actually look at the airplanes and draw the airplanes and they\u2019re learning a lot of cool stuff like lying a drone, how to make a rocket and fly it,\u201d an instructor said. Students also took part in an air-traffic-style exercise. \u201cThey\u2019re doing an activity of air control,\u201d the instructor said, directing one student: \u201cBlue plane, move to a little bit to the left.\u201d<\/p>\n
The camp also ties the art lessons to history, including World War II.<\/p>\n
El Paso summer camp introduces kids to Tom Lea art and WWII aircraft history<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Instructors encouraged students to think about shapes and structure as they drew. \u201cWhich kind of shape?\u201d one asked. \u201cA cylinder,\u201d a student answered, prompting the instructor to respond, \u201cOh, you guys are very technical here. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers said the camp\u2019s broader purpose is to get children creating art away from screens. \u201cThe goal of the camp is to try to introduce children to art and painting,\u201d an instructor said. \u201cNow that the kids are all about the iPad and everything, it\u2019s nice to see them using traditional methods.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think it\u2019s very important because you don\u2019t want them to just be on technology all the time,\u201d the instructor added. \u201cYou want them to be in nature. You want them to enjoy all the traditional stuff that we grew up with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The camp also aims to connect children with a hometown artist whose work remains closely tied to El Paso. \u201cTom Lea is a perfect example of an artist who captures the moments of real life,\u201d an instructor said. \u201cSo it\u2019s really cool to see how he captured the entire world really around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly it\u2019s an introduction to Tom Lea and the kind of art that he did as an inspiration for themselves,\u201d the instructor said, noting that \u201cTom Lea was born and raised here in El Paso and did most of his work here in El Paso.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 As summer camps for schoolchildren across the Borderland get underway, one El Paso…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-340070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}