Two Exciting Days Out and About!
(Published October 17, 2012)

Gyeonggi Creation Center’s Island Creative Arts Camp Proves Popular with Families
 

◇ Visiting Gyeonggi Creation Center resident artist Yi Hyuk-jun’s studio ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
The Gyeonggi Creative Center, located in Ansan City of Gyeonggi Province, launched its Island Creative Artists Camp, a family program designed to bring together local citizens and resident artists through the medium of art, in September.

The program runs every weekend with the fourth two-day camping program due to take place this October. Each camp is carefully designed to enable the participants to experience a variety of artistic genres and to bring them closer to art under the educational motto of “STEAM,” an acronym for “Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.”
 
The family camp is designed to work closely with the Creative Center’s resident artists in an effort to cultivate well-rounded youth talents. By having the participants work together with the artists on joint projects and teaching them how to cooperate and tap into their inner artist, the program will stimulate their creativity, logical reasoning capacity, and science/technology skills.

The first camp, Glass Castle (fabrication of a desk lamp), took place on September 22 and 23, and four more Weekend Family Art Camps have been held since then, with the second Sky High (outdoor art experience) camp finishing as recently as October 14. A total of eleven families have participated in the program so far, sharing special moments and new experiences with loved ones.
 
The theme of the latest Weekend Family Art Camp organized by the Gyeonggi Creation Center was Sky High: Making Vinyl Balloons with Helium. The camp began with a simple opening ceremony at 13:00, followed by an introduction to the instructors and the allocation of accommodations to the participants. The rest of the day was filled with cultural classes, creative arts education, and volunteer work. The camp was also joined by Hong Nam-gi, a well-known media artist.◇ Visiting artist Cho Hye-jin’s studio. This piece was made under PET bottle torch lighting with the artist crouched before the canvas. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seong-ryang
 ◇ The rooftop floor transformed into a bathtub. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
Five families participated in the latest event, during which they collected plastic bags and decorated them with colored paper, tape, and painting tools. After the participants finished making their own special balloons, they released them into the air while making wishes.

The families also had an opportunity to visit Yi Hyuk-jun’s installation photography studio, Cho Hye-jin’s formative art works studio, Ju Jae-hwan’s painting studio, and Hong Nam-gi’s media arts studio, thereby gaining valuable insights into the artists’ lives and their creative worlds. After that they had a rare opportunity to experience the world of contemporary art during a visit to Couple, a special exhibition of works created by an overseas artist.
 
Heo Jae-hui, a participant, said, “I always thought art was something difficult and hard to understand. But I had fun with my family at this camp. I guess art is not as difficult as I thought.”
 
A barbeque party was prepared for dinner. The families sat together and had a chance to discuss the things they saw and experienced during the program.

A family member remarked, “I learned there is so much more to art then I had initially thought. I particularly had fun painting the walls at Seongam Village. It was also nice participating in volunteer work such as picking up garbage at the beach with my child. I hope this was as memorable for her as it was for me.”
 ◇ Making vinyl balloons ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang◇ Cleaning and decorating Seongam Village (volunteering) ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
With two camping programs successfully completed earlier this month, there are two more to come, namely, Beautiful Scenery: My Own Mini-garden on October 20 to 21, followed by Drawing with Wind: Mud Flat Art on October 27 to 28.
 
The Weekend Family Camp Program will take place at the Gyeonggi Creation Center and Seongam Fishing Experience Village. Any family or large group composed of students from grade school to middle school can apply. Children aged 5 and above can participate with their guardian. One camp can accommodate up to six families or 24 persons. Families of two to three members will be charged KRW80,000; families of four, KRW100,000; while families with over four members will be charged an additional KRW20,000 for each extra person.
 
The fee covers creative art education, volunteer work, meals (1 dinner), and accommodation (each equipped with a living area, bathroom with shower booth, and kitchen including mini-fridge, stove, etc.). Participants must bring their own toiletries, snacks, and breakfast.

The camp’s most important programs comprise four hours of art education, four hours of volunteer work, and various cultural experiences. The volunteer work consists of decorating the walls of the Seomgam Fishing Experience Village and a general clean-up. By the end of the camp, each participant will be certified for four hours of “volunteer work in a regional collaboration project.”

The Gyeonggi Creation Arts Center accepts applications for the Family Creative Arts Camp by phone and email. Make sure you register as a member of the 1365 Share Portal (www.1365.go.kr) to get a certificate for volunteering.

Inquiries: Gyeonggi Creation Center
Official Website: www.gyeonggicreationcenter.org
Curatorial Dept.: +82-32-890-4822

The decoration work at the Seongam Fishing Experience Village began in July this year as proposed by Gyeonggi Province. A number of projects to improve the village’s landscape – such as changing the village’s color schemes, redesigning the alleys, and running educational programs for local residents – are being conducted jointly by the Gyeonggi Creation Center (planning and arts), Seomgam-dong residents (region), and Ansan City (administration).
 ◇ Changing Seongam Village with wall paintings ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang◇ Family members releasing balloons filled with helium. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
ⓒ G-News Plus News | Im Se-jeen | sejeenee@kg21.net
 
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