Dallas ISD launches first summer arts intensive camp for high school students

For Naomi, Stephen, and others, the summer arts intensive offered more than just new techniques, it gave them space to grow as artists among peers who share their creative drive.

Dallas ISD’s Visual and Performing Arts Department hosted a first-ever, district-wide summer arts intensive, inviting high school students to immerse themselves in one artistic discipline for a week of hands-on creative exploration.

Students chose from jewelry making, sculpture, digital art, printmaking, painting, or drawing, and worked in small groups to develop their craft in a studio-like environment.

“They spent a week experimenting with new materials and making their own personal artwork,” said Kristin McCloskey, project manager for the department. “It’s important for students to have an opportunity to continue their creative development outside of school, where they can really explore their voice.”

Stephen J., a rising sophomore at New Tech High School at B.F. Darrell used his background in animation to sculpt a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character from matboard. 

“My art teacher was telling us about the camp, and she was really insistent that I join. I decided it would be a fun opportunity to meet new people and do new things,” he said.

In the jewelry lab, Naomi H., a rising junior at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, shaped wax into wearable forms and cast them in resin and metal. 

“You have to shave it down to the shape you want, and then you set the metal and file it down so it'll get shiny again,” she said.

Guided by district art educators like Jesse Jones of W.H. Adamson High School, students spent the week immersed in hands-on learning.