Summer Camps
Over two decades of teaching, we've learned that creativity does far more than help children make art. Our Brookline summer art camp combines real art history, outdoor exploration, gallery exhibitions, and visiting instructors in dance, yoga, and puppetry. Designed for ages 7–13, it helps children build creativity, confidence, and resilience while creating meaningful artwork.
The approach behind the program was developed by founder Diana Stelin, a professional artist and TEDx speaker whose work explores the connection between creativity, confidence, and well-being.
Each week, campers step into a different chapter of art history and culture, experimenting with techniques inspired by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Picasso, and contemporary creators from around the world. They might explore charcoal sfumato, Cubist collage, watercolor landscapes, clay sculpture, or mixed-media storytelling while discovering the ideas and cultures that shaped each movement.
Our days balance meaningful artmaking with outdoor adventures, creative games, and specialty experiences led by guest teachers in yoga, dance, improv, puppetry, and movement. Along the way, campers build skills, friendships, curiosity, and the confidence to keep going when something doesn't work the first time.
The result is a summer filled with creativity, discovery, and joy.
*Ages 7-13 **Staff-to-camper ratio is 1:4, max** — groups split by age once a week passes 6 campers, so a 7-year-old isn't pacing against a 13-year-old.
$675/week, $185/day
Week Dates: Art Eras Theme
What we actually make:
1. Jul 6–10 Prehistoric & Ancient
Cave-painting with ink and found sticks, paper mâché vessels, weaving
2. Jul 13–17 Medieval & Renaissance
Dürer-style printmaking, illuminated manuscripts in liquid watercolor and gold, charcoal sfumato
3. Jul 27–31 Baroque & Romanticism
Rembrandt-style single-light-source egg tempera, Neoclassical clay busts, Pre-Raphaelite plein-air detail
4. Aug 3–7 Realism & Impressionism
Cézanne's five greens (outdoors), Van Gogh directional drawing, Monet waterlily collage
5.Aug 17–21 Early Modernism
Tie-dye, Cubist newspaper collage in the style of Picasso & Braque, Blue Rider color-block still life
6. Aug 24–28 Modern & Contemporary
Keith Haring silhouette cutouts, Warhol-style printmaking, Lichtenstein comic panels in Posca marker.
Every week ends Friday with a real gallery-style art show and critique — your child's work displayed and discussed the way working artists discuss theirs, not just sent home in a folder.
On returning
I notice it every June — the kids who already know where the paper mâché goo lives, who've outgrown the younger group and ask, half-proud, half-nostalgic, whether they're "old group" now. Some of these families have been coming back for years. Here's what a few of them said, in their own words:
"She's been going for 5 years now. I'm so impressed with the mix of art and how much she's learned."
"This is my daughter's 3rd year attending the camp... there is always something new — an escape room, learning how to crochet, learning origami."
"This week she came every day full of stories and memories... she had her first art crit and got comments on her piece by Diana, counselors, and peers."
That last one is the one that gets me every time. An eight-year-old's drawing, treated like it deserves a real critique — because it does.
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9:00–9:30 Welcome & card games
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9:30–10:30 Outdoor time
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10:45–11:00 Snack
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11:00–12:00 Art instruction (younger group)
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12:00–12:30 Lunch
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12:30–1:45 Art instruction (older group)
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2:00–3:00 Collaborative activity — rotating dance, puppet-making, yoga, or improv, led by guest instructors
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3:00–4:00 Free drawing time
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