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On Tuesdays, the Firehouse Arts Center is hosting “Cultures Around the World Afterschool Art Camp” for two hours. It’s for students who are 1st grade through 6th grade, from September 3rd to October 1st.

Mary Alice Long and Claire Webb teach students about different cultures and their history.

“We wanted to teach the kids more cultures and reasons why they create,” Long explained. “Like why this culture creates this and why it’s important to their culture. So they get a bit of history behind it.”

Long and Webb instruct students how to draw, mix colors, and paint. They even teach them how to hold a pencil correctly so they can avoid having “hard lines” when sketching. They teach them sketching and shading techniques, along with the principles of art.

“We want to encourage them to draw on their own,” Long stated. That’s how you get better, and you can watch your progress.”

The students do a variety of projects with different cultures. For instance, they made dot art that’s inspired from the Aborigines in Australia. They created African masks, and have drawn Russian dolls collaged to the Moscow background. The following Tuesday, they will create Mexican Amate art paintings and South American Alloweja clay art. The art teachers are specific about their selection choice for different cultures, and how they choose to discuss them with students.

“We choose specifically what part of the culture we’re going to discuss, and the project leads us to learn what led to it in history.”

Long believes art in school is good, but they want to teach art as a “history journey”.

“We kind of wanted to focus on history and art because it gives the art they created more meaning because they learned why it was originally created. We’re not just creating craft; they are learning history.”

On October 1, the Firehouse Arts Center will have an art show for students to display their artwork to their families and friends.