Eastern’s campus is an open canvas for visiting high school students attending Summer Art School.

Fifty-two students from all over Illinois are visiting Eastern’s campus for a weeklong art camp created through the collaboration of the School of Continuing Education, Department of Art and Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs.

The camp started Sunday July 9 and will end on Saturday July 15 with an exhibition and reception at the Tarble Arts Center.

The students will live in the south quad residence hall complex, eat college food and use Eastern’s facilities to develop, hone and encourage their artistic ability.

Art School’s objective is to introduce students to new techniques and help students refine their creativity.

“Hopefully the students will be introduced to new art forms,” said Dorothy Bennett, Art School director for 10 years.

Bennett, with a bachelor’s and master’s in sculpture and metal smithing from Eastern, has served as Art School’s sculpture teacher for 13 years. She has experience teaching kindergarten through college students and was named Illinois Elementary Art Educator of the Year in 2002.

Students may choose three out of four areas of concentration, including “drawing from YOUR perspective,” “sculpture,” “altered books” and “mix it up – 2-D design.”

The projects vary from year to year, with sculpture being the only exception, said Bennett, whose area of expertise is the most sought after by the students.

Taught by Eastern alum Victoria Bullard, “drawing from YOUR perspective” focuses on Van Gogh’s landscapes, Dali and Magritte’s surrealist and linear perspectives.

“Sculpture,” taught by Bennett, has students create a plaster sculpture by incorporating cast faces, hands and feet into the finished piece.

Books bound for the landfill are given a second chance in “altered books,” taught by retired art teacher Dennis Morris, as students draw, paint, print, collage, sew, cut, sculpt and use other processes to change the book from its original intent.

Morris collected all of the old books used in his class.

The fourth program offered is “2-D design,” taught by local artist and business person Becky Spoon, where students experiment with two-dimensional materials to find out what works and what does not.

Each class averages about 12 students, except sculpture with 14 to 18 students. Art School is one of the few camps with consistant numbers, said Bennett, with 50 to 70 participants each summer, but it can accommodate 80 students.

Although students participate in a variety of recreational activities, they are expected to commit themselves to a demanding course of study and development.

“Our classes are more intensive than a normal art class,” said Bennett. “About 30 hours of art during the week, 6 hours a day.”

The students who could not afford the $424 to attend Art School found assistance in their communities by having organizations sponsor them or by applying for scholarships through the Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs.

The General Federation of Women’s Clubs is one of the world’s largest and oldest women’s volunteer service organizations. Its members work locally and globally to support the arts, promote education, encourage healthy lifestyles and more.

“A lot of the students have partial scholarships from the Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs,” said Bennett. Many Charleston High School students have received full scholarships from the Coles County Art Council.

Art School is a “break-even camp,” said Bennett. “I wish we could spend more money on supplies, but then we’d have to charge more.”

Some campers will use their work and experience at Art School in their portfolios for college, said Bennett. Many of the students return year after year and some even choose Eastern for college.

Students were supposed to attend a special workshop on the last day of camp, where they would experience a different kind of art, 4-D. With the music of percussionist Rocky Maffit and the direction of Kate Kuper, students would have participated in fourth dimensional/time arts activities, a style performed by Stomp and Blue Man Group.

According to Bennett, Maffit and wife Kuper are recording in Los Angeles and she is unsure who will lead the Saturday workshop.

Parents and family members are invited to the Tarble Arts Center on the last day of camp where two of each students’ projects will be showcased.

“I’m expecting a lot of amazing art,” said Bennett. The camp has been extremely successful. “At the end of the week none of the kids want to leave.”

Art School, created “to give students a week long college experience focusing on art,” has been around for more than 18 years said JoEllen Hickenbottom, program coordinator of the School of Continuing Education. She is not sure when it first began because many records were lost when Blair Hall burned.