Campers explore the work on view as well as the Museum’s two-acre campus, are inspired by The Aldrich’s exhibitions, and learn to incorporate the world around them into their art. Each week culminates in a celebration for family and friends.

Caregivers receive personalized daily emails from Camp staff with updates on what the group did during the day, what their child accomplished and learned, and what is planned for the children the following day.

Daily Schedule:

Drop Off (9 to 10 am): Campers have the option to draw, read, play, or participate in group activities while all the children arrive.

Artist Session (10 am to 12 noon): Campers work with the teaching artist on their projects, experimenting with art-making techniques, and exploring the galleries and sculpture garden.

Lunch (12 noon to 1 pm): Time to eat (outside if the weather permits) and then participate in games and activities in the sculpture garden or Education Center.

Artist Session (1 to 3 pm): Campers continue to work with the teaching artist on their projects.

Snack (3 to 4 pm): Children enjoy a snack (outside if the weather permits), and then have time to add final touches to their work for the day and/or take part in games/activities.

Pick Up (4 to 5 pm) Campers have the option to draw, read, play, or participate in group activities while caregivers pick up the children.

Entering grades 1 through 3

July 11 through 15: Back to Nature with Erika Rohde

Collect, combine, and create with artist Erika Rohde! Back by popular demand, she will lead campers on a week-long playful exploration of nature-inspired art-making. Campers will engage with the outdoor sculpture garden to experience the landscape as interpreted by the exhibiting artists, and experiment with incorporating the environment into their two- and three-dimensional projects.

July 18 through 22: Going Big with Anna Therese Chamberlin

Transform the Museum’s Education Center with paint, charcoal, ink, paper, canvas, and more! Campers will collaborate to design and create large-scale masterpieces and mixed-media installations while exploring the inspiring exhibitions of The Aldrich alongside artist Anna Therese Chamberlin. Each camper will produce a portfolio of individual works of art and collaborate in the great classroom takeover!

Entering grades 4 through 6

July 25 through 29: Ready, Set, ACTION! with Lisa Scroggins

Bring your artwork to life on the big screen! Artist Lisa Scroggins will lead a weeklong introduction to and investigation of stop-motion animation, designing short films that incorporate drawing, sculpting, and technology. Each camper will develop a character, storyline, and imagery to add to their group’s film, designing everything from set to sound. Animations will be screen from 5 to 6 pm on Friday, July 29, for family and friends.

Entering grades 7 through 10

August 1 through 5: Make it Work! Fashion Week with Jahmane

Dive into the world of haute couture with artist Jahmane! Inspired by Kim Jones’s wearable sculptures, junior fashion designers will create pieces of clothing that combine high fashion and three dimensional art. Using materials from the Ridgefield Thrift Shop, traditional art-making materials, and unexpected repurposed objects, teens will create a signature look that they will debut on the runway at The Aldrich Fashion Show from 5 to 6 pm on Friday, August 5.

Registration opens February 1!

For more information, please contact Michelle Friedman, Manager of Education Programs and Youth Initiatives at 203.438.4519 ormfriedman@aldrichart.org.

Artist Bios

Erika Rohde grew up in Easton, Connecticut, and now resides in Boston, where she completed her MA in Teaching at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She works in a wide variety of mediums, such as stained glass, mixed media, porcelain ceramics, glassblowing, and painting, which she believes benefits both her artistic and teaching practices. Recently, she exhibited her paper installation work, Antumbra Apparitions, at the Arnheim Museum in Boston, exploring her interest in opening a unique poetic vein that questions the notion of movement. Interactions between light and shadows are the deciding and driving factors behind her work, fostering a sense of fragility and lack of solidity in the delicate paper forms. In addition to her artistic practice, Rohde is currently combining her love for learning and teaching visual art as an elementary school art teacher in Boston.

Anna Therese Chamberlin is an experienced art educator based in Connecticut. An elementary school art teacher, she has taught all ages and all processes from sculpture to painting to mixed media; in addition, she has experience with special education and para-professionals. Chamberlin earned a Master of Science in Elementary Education from Dowling College and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Criticism and Studio Art from Stony Brook University.

Lisa Scroggins is a Ridgefield-based artist and art educator, with teaching experience at Silvermine School of Art, Brookfield Craft Center, Wooster School, and Wilton High School. She brings her expertise and passion for ceramics, as well as both early and school-aged education. Scroggins has a BFA in Communications Design from Parsons School of Design.

Jahmane’s career as an artist began in the form of graffiti, or “street art” and has evolved into a wide spectrum of mediums, including works on canvas, photography, fashion design, mural painting, screen printing and graphic design. Through years of formal training and life experience as an “Artist of the People,” he has developed a unique style that combines social awareness, spirituality, mythology, and abstract language in a way that intrigues all who view his work. Currently, Jahmane produces his Fine Art and Kultjah clothing label at his studio in the Firing Circuits Artists Building in Norwalk, CT, and is a teaching artist, curator, and active member of several artists’ collectives in the Tri-State area.