The Young Artists Academy is open to middle and high school students. The 20 or so participants meet once a week for 2.5 hours. The gathering is facilitated by Kimball Art Center Education Director Heather Stamenov who said it’s a way to support teen artists who are creative and want to work with a group of their peers, but also learn from local artists who attend their gatherings.
“We meet from September through May, once a week,” Stamenov said. “You know, we move from small projects, like meeting with an artist and hearing about their practice, like we just had Bridgette Meinhold visit us and talk to us about her sketchbooks, to longer projects where we work and learn about the Great Salt Lake. We worked with a local artist named Kati and we tried to explore various medias. It's all about just sort of enriching portfolios, but also feeding ideas and creativity.”
Macy Manning and Elle Donovan are part of this year’s academy. Manning has participated for three years.
“It is honestly my favorite part of the week,” Macy said. “I love Tuesdays for this reason. I have learned so much from Heather and from all the visiting artists, week after week, and I've definitely developed, I think, my style through this program. Last week, we did screen printing, which is how we made the shirts that Elle and I are wearing right now. It was so much fun."
For Donovan, the academy ensures she gets her creative fix for the week.
“I love the consistency that it provides," she said. “It's a set aside slot of time each week where you can pursue creative endeavors. And I really enjoy having that. Like, no matter what homework I have or other things that are on my mind, I know that I'm going to have at least three hours every week where I can make fun stuff. And then I'd say the other great part is the community that it builds. It allows you to interact with kids who go to schools that maybe you don't attend. And I think it's really interesting to see how everyone's ideas kind of collide and combine and bounce off each other. It's a really inspiring space to be around other young artists.”
The Young Artist’s Academy is an application-based program where a jury of local artists select the class members each year. To learn more, there is an open house Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Kimball Art Center. The deadline to apply for the academy this year is July 1. Find details and registration information here.
