The completion of two summer art camps

By Leon Applegate
Special to the Beacon
Have you ever watched a real expert do a job with such expertise and style that it makes you feel good just being there? Well, I had that experience when I saw Sue Hunady teach during a final rewards ceremony for a group of middle school students that had just completed three days of hard work and fun at a summer fine art camp.
The summer camp in fine art was conducted June 20-23 and the awards day was on Saturday, June 23. This session was open to parents and friends of students and a good crowd of them attended the ceremony in the Calabash Fire Station’s public room. Everyone considered the art camp a great success.
Hunady is a tall, cheerful blond who likes to laugh and who will put you on in a minute. When I saw her at work, she was giving out awards to her young students for the work they had done in preparation for this show and awards day. She was awarding and critiquing but mainly she was teaching.
She was asking her kids tough questions about usable color combinations, the art in a simple line, points of interest, and on and on. She was constantly interacting with the youngsters, rewarding right answers, finding good features in their paintings and sculptures, letting them explain their work, and giving them her affection.
Students were proud of the interesting and beautiful things they had created, and they were grateful for the recognition she was giving them.
What did the middle-schoolers do? They started by painting watercolor pictures and then they learned which colors are best used with other colors and how the objects in their pictures could be woven into interesting rugs and wall hangings.
The studies moved from color to lines and then to form. Abstract color designs on paper were used to form tubes of different lengths and then the tubes were assembled to make sculptures. Lastly, plastic foam was shaped to form sculptures of everything from boats to baseball players.
The following students received a certification of merit, an Arts Council membership card, and a free watercolor painting kit: Matt Applegate, Connor Dial, Billy Gibbs, Nicole Gibbs, Sarah Stephenson, Bailey Walker and Nina Walker.
The cost to each student was $15 all-inclusive, except for transportation.
At the same time the Sue Hunady art camp was going on, a second summer fine art camp was being conducted June 20-23 by gifted watercolor artist Roger Tatum at the Oak Island Recreation Center. A crowd of 27 parents and friends attended the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 23.
Tatum was assisted by Jo Ann Staat and two former teachers, Phillis Riley and Joyce Grazetti. This art camp was also a great success with Tatum interacting with the students as he gave critiques of their watercolor creations.
The following students were presented with a certificate of merit, a Brunswick Arts Council membership card and a free watercolor painting kit: Sarah Keenan, Susan Lee, Alexis Rathbone, Allison Rathbone, Kayla Ray, Maurine Walsh and Molly Walsh.
These two fine art camps were sponsored by the Brunswick Arts Council and funded by the Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation (ATMC).