Best of Tucson 1996: Best Kid's Summer Camp

Best Kid's Summer Camp

STAFF PICK: Conversations with others about your kids often lean toward tales of stressed-out working parents fretting about how summer for their youngsters sure ain't like it used to be in that mythical, feel-good time of yesteryear Pat Buchanan always talks about. In fact, modern kids do tend to get shuttled from theme camp to theme camp come June. The good news is that there are lots of options moms and pops never had, and one, the Tucson Museum of Art School, 140 N. Main Ave., provides stimulating fun, creativity, and learning through art that sure didn't exist in the good old days.

Unlike the cookie-cutter concept that passes for art in the public schools, where the emphasis is on speed and conformity, the TMA school offers real artists teaching real art with a rich, exciting curriculum that varies from week to week. Kids do printmaking, build clay castles, craft masks, construct mobiles and create crazed collage sculptures out of old shoes. The staff encourage uniqueness and applaud creative vision, and guess what? Kids love it.

To top it off, the tykes get their own gallery opening and extended showing at the museum come the end of summer. How many parents could say they did all that at age 9?