It takes not one bus, but two!  During his summer break, Deion, a 13 year old student, took two buses in order to arrive in West Philadelphia at 8:00am for our Artology van pick up.  He could have slept in, played video games, hung out with friends, but instead he chose to come to Artology, a dynamic hands-on day camp designed to spark students' curiosity through a curriculum that uniquely integrates the sciences and the arts.  Deion, along with 30% of our 21 students, had perfect attendance at Artology. 

Artology intentionally utilizes Philadelphia's vast natural splendor as a vibrant and evolving classroom.  Students explore these local parks armed with backpacks, sketchbooks, magnifying glasses, and professional art and science teachers.  Kadianne reports, "We always go on adventures and we are never bored."  During one of our adventures we witnessed the transformation of a cicada emerging from its old skin and slowly unfurling its new wings.  We spent nearly an hour watching and discussing this rarely seen phenomenon.  As "Artologists" we then process and translate these raw experiences through art making and scientific experimentation.  Each year we end Artology with an art show and our last week of camp is spent polishing our work and preparing for the show.  During one of our morning drum circles our staff explained the hard work required to make the art show happen.  It's easy to run out of steam at the end of the camp, but we were all inspired when Arleatha shouted out, "Let's do it!"

We are excited to report another successful year of Artology and are already preparing for six weeks of Artology 2009.  Stay tuned.


For information on how you can get involved please contact:
Charlene Melhorn, Artist in Residence and Lead Artology Teacher
(215) 842 0720