Sparking Art with Kids

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."
— Rachel Carson

Holiday Crafts

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
— Albert Camus

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Fall.

Really Mixed Up Media! Costumes, celebration arts, paper & fabric arts, seasonal, holiday, memory books, handmade gifts, and way more...

Great for intergenerational groups! Promotes and grows good planning ahead skills.

Some workshop ideas are designed and scheduled by Laurel, and others are generated by clients. This year we're doing a lot of felt, handstitching, and stockings. Looking for local natural felt-makers!

Sparking Art Studio is looking for ways to go green, so we are decreasing the use of plastics and toxics, like acrylics and adhesives...

Craft workshops and private consulting available upon request. Stay tuned for slide shows on particular projects: bookmaking, paper arts, sewing projects, mixed media, design, and artist support groups.

Please email for more information: if you are interested in a private contract at your home, a small group at the studio, or an alternate location. Otherwise, see Schedule or sign-up for MuseViews.

Sparking Art After School

Our program is two days per week for six or 12 weeks and is an experience of art exploration, self discovery, and creative expression. Students explore creativity journaling, writing and poetry, mixed media and collage, improvisation fun, costume and character, and nature arts. We focus on the questions “What is creativity?’ and “Who am I as an artist?”

Pre-registration requires one interview process with the parent, student, & teacher, and then with student & teacher (one meeting). Please email After School for more information and a telephone appointment.

There are four to six students in each program. The small group size group is a welcome contrast to the school day and supports individual projects and creative partnership. In order for creativity to grow and thrive, kids need to slow down a bit to sense their own pacing. We honor preferences and differences as signs of uniqueness.

Guest teachers may occasionally provide additional instruction, such as calligraphy, eco-arts, or improvisation. We take one museum field trip and spend one or two afternoons outdoors at Shoreline Park. Other adults, student artists and/or parents, may accompany us on the field trips.

See Schedule

Testimonial

“I am very impressed with Laurel's ability and her breadth and depth of artistic knowledge. During my son's experience with Sparking Art, she inspired him to explore art media he hadn't experienced before. He created very interesting paintings and gained a basic understanding of photography. Laurel really knew how to support my son to develop his personal artistic palette.”

Leslie Levy, Mom & V.P., Marketing
Menlo Park, CA

Museum-a-Month Field Trips

San Francisco Bay Area

“Sometimes I look at a painting by another artist and I see a universal language that we're both trying to express. I feel that we're on the same path, that we share the same intentions, and that's inspiring to me.”
— Birgit O'Connor

This program is contracted with parent coordination, accompaniment and transportation. If you are a parent who would like to assist and coordinate in exchange for one tuition, for more information…

Please email Director of Program

See Schedule

Sparking Art Summer at Home

“My inspiration is molded by my childhood dream world of small boundaries – the perennial border of fairy tales and domesticity, summers that stretched long and unplanned at an unhurried, quiet pace.”
– Mary Kay Krell

SUMMER 2010 - San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma County; Peninsula, Los Gatos, Santa Cruz Mountains, Monterey, Carmel

Only TWO two-week contracts available; only ONE one-week contract! To secure your contract, finish interview by February 15, 2010; finalize program by March 15.

Sparking Art Summer At Home
Two week home-based Sparking Art Program, Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm.
For ages 9 - 13, with older siblings assisting, as available.

Expressive, performing and visual arts activities inspired by chosen area of study.

Emphasis can be storytelling, visual art, stage sets, music, whatever the group would like. An imporant benefit of summer art camp is to experience "summer time", and to benefit from an unforced process of discovery, fun, spontaneity, play, and paying attention to individual needs for pacing.

Optional for Summer at Home is a production and presentation to parents, friends, and family on last day of camp. This activity is improvisational, light, interactive, low-pressure, and wonderful, especially when combined with a Friday evening dinner and celebration.

Sparking Art Summer At the De Young - San Francisco
Two week home-based Sparking Art Program, Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm.
For ages 9 - 13, with older siblings assisting, as available.

We have fun absorbing and learning some things about the DeYoung Museum collection, architecture, and current exhibits.

At home, slides of the collection and educational materials from the deYoung will be used to inspire young creatives to journal, draw, paint, collage, sculpt, make music, and create stories, scenes and sets. We keep it summer simple, allowing a lot of discovery, without having to perform or produce too intensely.

The best way to plan ahead is to interview and discuss a program tailored to parents' work needs, visiting family, and students' wishes. The program can have different emphases, so do ask about your interests!

This program is based at home, at the museum, and outside, in other spots in and around Golden Gate Park. Family or home-school oriented. Field trips and museum visits require enthusiastic parent participation; associated activities occur on the outside grounds of the De Young, at the Tea Garden, and in Golden Gate Park.

Please inquire about the prerequisites (the structure and support required in the home and on field trips) in order to interview and contract this program!


Click here for info on PROGRAM PRESENTATIONS or to find out more.
Stay tuned for upcoming photo page from past camps!


Testimonial

“Through Laurel's inspiration, my daughter found new ways to explore her creativity. She learned about herself, and others her age, through costumes, character acting, story telling, free drawing and photography. I wanted to encourage her love of art, but I also wanted her to explore different aspects of her artistic bent, and the class was perfect!”

Joan Grant, Mom & Attorney
San Mateo, CA

See more Sparking Art programs:

Creativity | Self-discovery | Kids | Healing