KALEIDOSCOPE!
Identity Mosaics with Teens at Kaleidoscope! Summer Art Camp, Catonsville Maryland
Identity Mosaics with Teens at Kaleidoscope! Summer Art Camp, Catonsville Maryland
The Christian Temple
Church in Catonsville, MD has a long tradition of
providing youth in the congregation and the
neighborhood with creative experiences in the
summer. KALEIDOSCOPE! is a nonsectarian camp that
is held at the church each summer. Its goal is to
utilize the visual and performing arts to further
cooperation, acceptance and tolerance among
children while offering lots of artistic freedom.
It culminates with a community festival to showcase
what is learned and accomplished during camp. I
worked with Kaleidoscope’s stellar director
Pat LaFon to create a mosaic workshop for 11 middle
school youth that would challenge them to explore
issues of personal identity via their own cultural
lens and those of several native cultures. The
teens learned every aspect of mosaic work from
initial design and consideration of materials to
fabrication. They learned and practiced safety,
smashed the tile and cut the mirror they needed,
considered color and contrast, and then put the
elements together in a cohesive whole. The final
steps included mortaring down the pieces and then
grouting the mosaics for a finished look. The
results were spectacular! Every youth chose
personal motifs for self expression that were then
adapted to the mosaic medium with powerful
results.
