Date: May 8, 2008
Contact: Lindsay Gladstone
Governors State University
Phone: (708) 534-7090
Fax: (708) 534-8399
Email: l-gladstone@govst.edu
For Immediate Release
University Park, IL, May 8, 2008 – What is summertime but exploring the great outdoors, letting your imagination grow, and camping under the stars?
At Camp Wol-I-Nam, sponsored by the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University, children will have the opportunity to do all that, while creating art and discovering the wonders of science.
Camp Wol-I-Nam, (which spells Manilow backwards), is a one-week camp that combines art and science with traditional summer camp activities to create an uniquely memorable experience for children between the ages of 10 and 13. Participants will spend mornings in the studio gaining experience with 2-D and 3-D art and design. They will enjoy an afternoon of prairie science education and experimentation, more individualized art instruction, and time to enjoy and learn about the 26 sculptures in the park.
“Every day, campers will create art, explore the prairie, discover the wonders of science, and build new friendships,” said Geoffrey Bates, Director and Curator of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. “The children are supervised at all times by experienced camp leaders, science and art educators, art students, and GSU College of Education students.”
Instructors include: Geoffrey Bates; Jeff Stevenson, instructor of art at GSU; Patty McWilliams, graduate student in art at GSU; and Sarah Furst Chavira, professional sculptor and art teacher. Dr. Colleen Sexton, professor of education at GSU, will facilitate the prairie science sections of the program.
The week culminates with a pizza party and an art exhibit in the Visual Arts Gallery at GSU, on Friday, June 20. That evening, children accompanied by a parent or guardian can enjoy an optional campout under one of the largest outdoor sculptures in the park, Illinois Landscape No. 5, by John Henry. Activities in the evening include outdoor games, a flashlight tour of the park, campfire songs, and s’mores. Breakfast is provided in the morning. Campers must provide their own tent and sleeping gear.
Camp Wol-I-Nam runs from June 16 through June 20, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuition is $250 and includes all art supplies, camp T-shirt, afternoon snacks, and pizza party. Day campers must provide their own lunch. Participants receive a pass to the GSU Center for Performing Arts production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, on Friday, June 27. The optional campout is an additional $30 per person.
Com-Ed, an Exelon Company, is providing partial support for the program. For more information or to register, call (708)534-4486, or email sculpture@govst.edu.
