Summer Art Projects Camp: Day One

My talented students show off their unique paintings on the first day of summer art camp! We each added a special element to our paintings. Some people added birds, some added trees, and others added fireworks! we had flags, jumping fish, and airplanes! (My class enjoyed the painting so much, that they asked if we could do another painting later in the week!)

I spent some time teaching the students about proper care of brushes and art tools. We learned how to care for our brushes and markers. We also spent some time presenting our work to the class and sharing our thoughts on our work. Other members of the class offered their own opinions and shared what they liked about each individual painting. 

At the end of class, we learned different ink pen doodling techniques, and integrated colored pencils with ink pen doodles. 

~Hannah Mathiot, Art Teacher

Sign up for our next summer Art Projects class: June 24-28!

How to Give Your Child Confidence as an Artist

All children are artists. It's a part of their natures. But sometimes its hard for children to express their artistic natures. It's like the artist inside them gets lost in tornado of academics, school policies, video games, and never-ending homework. 

But you are a parent. You know that somewhere inside your kid, there's still the two-year-old Picasso who "embellished" your walls with his crayons. 

If you want to help your kids develop and explore their creative natures, polish their natural skills, and become more creative, then they need to have access to real art materials, genuinely helpful instruction, and confidence that they are artists.

Unfortunately in most school systems, this kind of instruction is no longer available. According to artsnc.org, art education grants in North Carolina were recently cut by almost $1,000,000. 

This is exactly why I feel that the classes offered at Bear Hands are so important to a complete education. At Bear Hands, the kids are exposed to genuine art materials: our students use the same paints that our professional artists buy. They paint on the same canvases, they experiment with the same hot new mediums. 

When I was in my early teens, (I'm the blond girl in the pink shirt in the picture above)  I participated in a student  art show at the Craven County Library with some of the other students at our store. I was so amazed and excited to see my painting, something that I made, on the wall of the library for everyone to admire. I will never forget how it felt to actually have someone ask me if they could buy my work. 

We offer a variety of different art classes throughout each summer, and each school year. Our After School classes meet once every week, on Fridays at 4pm. We even have home school classes that meet at 1:30pm. We teach art history classes, pottery classes, wheel classes, painting, drawing, mixed media, and more. We are constantly working to develop more classes for students. 

We also offer student art shows for summer camp students, and year round students. (This summer, our student art show will be on August 10th!) Student art shows are great opportunities to help students see themselves as artists. 

Hundreds of students take classes at Bear Hands each year, and I have been blessed and amazed to watch them blossom as artists and gain confidence in themselves as creative people. 

That's why Bear Hands is going to focus on developing our kids classes more than ever this year. Sign your kids up for one of our summer camps or our After School programs. 

Help them become the artists that you know they can be. 

 

~Hannah Mathiot,

Art Teacher

Celebrate Our Future

You may be sad that we are closing out on our art supplies, and believe me, so are we! But please don't let it bring you down. We're looking hopefully into the future: to a place where we will re-focus on running a thriving pottery studio, and creating more classes for children of all ages. We will be running more painting and wine events so that our community can enjoy the painting experience. So instead of being sad, please join us in our hope and excitement for the future! 

Thank you for your support,

~Hannah Mathiot, 

Teacher, Co-Owner

Experience Art

At Bear Hands Art Factory, we expose kids to real, quality art materials. Our students use the same clay as our professional potters. Our students use the same quality paints and canvas as the local artists who shop with us. When your kids make art at Bear Hands, you can be sure that they are learning to create with real art materials.

Our Schedule of Classes 

What to Do With The Kids This Summer

Summer is on its way. Moms, you know what that means. Nine weeks of "I'm bored," or "so what are we doing today?" and more...

Well, fear no more, Bear Hands has a huge schedule of summer camps just for you. We like to say, "A creative kid is a happy kid." The word "creative" may also be exchanged with the words: painted, messy, muddy, etc.

You can drop them off here for a two-hour class, or pack them a lunch and take the day off. We have morning sessions, afternoon sessions, and price breaks for a whole day of art camp. Our schedule is packed with classes!

See you there!

Alcohol Ink Tile Coasters

 To start out my six week mixed media course (ages 7+), I showed the kids an exciting, moving, wild kind of painting that most of them had never experienced. Alcohol inks are becoming more popular as a painting medium. vibrant  wild, are hard to control, these inks allowed my kids to paint in a way they didn't think was possible.

When my kids used these inks, the art changed focus tremendously.  For some, it became more about the process than the product. It was a lot more like a science experiment than most of my other classes. But take a look at what happened!

I passed out some straws and let the kids blow the wet ink around.

The child who painted this piece was very excited about the finished product. 

He said "I didn't even know I could paint like that!"

What Can Kids do in our Summer Art Camps?

This summer, I am planning the BEST summer art camps your kid will ever take. I'm concentrating all of my efforts and materials on making camps that will awaken your child's artistic nature. We have tons of awesome materials to use, and tons of ideas on creative ways your kid can use them. So don't wait! sign up today! Oh, and take a look at some of the projects that Shelley has planned for the pottery camps!!

 +Shelley Mathiot  has designed tons of amazing projects that kids can do in our hand building pottery camps!

 Collage, paint, draw, and create in my art camps. Perfect for 7+, but I've also had some five-year-olds do pretty well in these classes, so I'll be flexible with the age groups.

 Space Diorama! Kids can make some awesome dioramas themed however they wish in our Art Camps.

This is a kitty teapot! make an animal teapot in our hand building pottery camps!

monsters and castles and mermaids, Oh My!

Wall Pockets and paper sculptures...

lets face it...kids' pottery is just plain awesome

Click here for the schedule! you can even register online!

Coastal Women's Forum Tuesday

Tomorrow I will be at the Coastal Women's Forum Trade Show at the Christ's Church Ministry Center representing Bear Hands Art  Factory & Framing! I'm so excited to get the word out about our wonderful new Drop-In Painting area, our exciting Canvas Connections classes, custom framing, professional art supplies, and Summer Art Camps!

Our Drop-In Painting Area is the newest addition to our growing business. Our goal is to make the experience of painting accessible to everybody: artist or not.  Kids, teens, adults, and seniors will all be able to enjoy spending time in our store painting. Our canvasses have everything you need sketched onto them, and each painting has simple instructions on how to get the results you want. An experienced artist and teacher will be at hand at all times to answer questions and provide you with the materials you need!

I'm thrilled about the Drop-In Painting program, and I can't wait to share the news about it with the other ladies on Tuesday!

This Summer: Pottery Camps at Bear Hands

Summer Camps are now on schedule at Bear Hands! I'm Hannah Mathiot, Bear Hands Blogger and part of the summer camp teaching team. We teach a wonderful variety of summer camps for kids ages 4-6, 7+, and 10+ every year. Our experienced teachers plan each class individually and we are always integrating new projects into our lessons.

This year, we are offering more pottery classes than ever before. We will have four week-long, hand building pottery classes for kids ages 7+, and two wheel classes for ages 10+.  I am always amazed at how much the kids enjoy making functional art. When they make something beautiful that they can use every day, they feel really creative and accomplished. We teach the kids the fundamental rules of making pottery. They learn how to join the clay properly,  how to create secure structures, how to decorate and glaze their work, and about the firing process the clay goes through to become vitrified.

Our pottery wheel classes, for ages 10+, are always in high demand. This year, we will be running two week-long beginner's wheel camps. Each wheel camp has only eight slots, due to the size of our studio, and these camps generally fill up quickly. If your child is interested in learning the process of throwing bowls on the wheel, sign up and put a deposit on your space right away!

We're offering a lot of other summer camp opportunities as well, mixed media, drawing, and painting! Click here for a full calender of our kids summer camps. 

Have questions? Email us as info@bearhandsart.com!