Excerpts from surrealist-type drawing games played during free time

Picture Telephone: One person draws an image, the next person writes a sentence or two about it, then folds the paper over. The third person draws a picture based on the sentences without seeing the original image. This pattern can be repeated indefinitely!

Blithe and Curmudgeon, the two-headed snake twins, desired lunch. A feast of cow heads was to be had! But where…?

From the map of campus emerged two hungry man worms with forked tongues, thinking eagerly of cow tea, cow-burgers and cow salad.

Exquisite Corpse: One person draws the head of a beast then folds the paper over, leaving only a few lines for the next person to draw the torso of the beast. The third person draws the legs, then unravels the collaboratively created image.

Counseling Staff 2011

Note: Each bio was written by another counselor for the counselor in question-we seem to like each other. Photos courtesy of Kirsten.

Brendan

Brendan Ternus, a self-proclaimed enigma, hails from Maine and is a rising senior at Yale University where he majors in American Studies. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends, taking pictures and thinking about dogs. Mr. Ternus is a man of efficiency and thus kills three birds with one stone in his free time (a metaphor which ironically he finds to be distasteful as he is a great lover of nature, having led freshman backpacking trips at Yale [i.e. FOOT]). Mr. Ternus can whistle in three different ways. “Joy” is the quality he deems most important in a significant other. He also bears an uncanny resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio. In short, Mr. Ternus is a warm-hearted and trustworthy mentor, a gentle man with firm convictions (despite being a direct descendant of Aeneas’ arch-rival).

Esther

As Esther Hyun sauntered onto stage and planted herself in front of keyboard and microphone, the campers at Sitka Fine Arts Camp broke into wild applause.  The absolute confidence she showed while announcing the title of her song served as proof that Esther believes her art is worth sharing.  While I sat with her in the lobby of Sweetland she explained the life philosophy which allows for such confidence. “You know how people say, ‘Sing like no one is listening, dance like no one is watching, and love like you’ve never been hurt?’ Well, I disagree.  You should sing like everyone’s listening, dance like everyone is watching, and love knowing you might be hurt again.”  Esther passionately believes that when one has something amazing to share with the world, whether it be song, dance, or simply love for others, they should absolutely share it.  There is no reason to be ashamed or embarrassed about our contributions to the world.  We should share and share freely.  This belief is apparent in Esther’s work as a camp counselor.  While at SFAC, Esther has started and led an acapella group which has been attended by large groups of campers and which performed at the camper talent show.  Back at Yale, where Esther is currently a senior, she leads and performs in two acapella groups.  Although Esther shows extraordinary musical talent, at Yale she studies literature.  Though it’s difficult for her to choose one genre of literature she loves, she plans to focus on Korean literature.  Other hobbies include dancing, computer games, eating, wheel throwing (newly discovered at SFAC!!!), and comedic blogging.  As one might guess from her many talents and her infectious positivity, Esther serves as a fine role model for the young artists at this camp.  I am certain many campers will come away from this experience remembering Esther, her talents, and the confidence she gave them in sharing their own.

Kyle Ohio

Kyle Ohio Baker, a guitar performance major at Denison University, is in his second year as being a counselor at Sitka Fine Arts Camp. Kyle Ohio discovered SFAC through is family who lives on the SJ Campus. Kyle Ohio’s hobbies include playing the guitar at school, jamming out with Hank Moore on the git-tar, and soloin’ on the gee-tar. When not playing the guitar he enjoys broadening his music horizons, reading sci-fi and practicing his silent sneaking techniques. Kyle Ohio would like to retire as a world-traveling ice cream connoisseur, who plays his guitar in trade for the ice cream. If he had to choose a favorite flavor of the icy dessert, Kyle Ohio said that anything with chocolate and peanut butter was good.

Five Fun Facts about Kyle Ohio:

1. He’s a hike ‘n’  biker, or a bike ‘n’ hiker

2. Favorite cartoon show: Dexter’s Lab

3. Favorite TV Show: Psych

4. Read the entire Calvin & Hobbes Series in one summer

5. Kryptonite: Puppies (aka small adorable dogs)

Rhiannon

Rhiannon Guevin

R elishes in the thrill of performance and loves sharing her art form with large groups, as it allows her to communicate her passion for music while affecting the audience in a profoundly different way than speaking would.

H as a beautiful voice and majors in vocal performance at the University of Puget Sound with a focus on opera and classical music. We’ll see her at the Met soon!

I  s a dinosaur and cat lover.

A  lso vegan.

N o big deal. She’s traveling to China after fine arts camp to be the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Magic Flute. (Misun’s face- Excitement and Freaking out!!!)

N on-voice favorite instrument: The cello! Fun fact!
O nly girl and the youngest of four in her family.

N avigates through life with poise filled with smiles and laughter! Her ultimate goal is to be happy. A noble goal indeed.

So what have we learned from this bio? Rhiannon is da bomb. To be more specific, the most beautifully melodic non-violent bomb ever.

Dylan

Dylan Welch , a native of the San Francisco bay area and a graduate of Carleton college, has never experienced “winter.” Her passions include fauna, ferns, and fjords.  Though she be an outdoor-connoisseur, her knowledge extends far beyond the highest mountains and onto the dance floor. In her spare time, she enjoys driving stick in New Zealand and over potholes in Russia.  An apparent world travelor, Dylan hopes one day to attain resident artist in a national park.  This is a goal she will no doubt acheive–Dylan Welch is an artist.

More bios to come soon!

Welcome to the first of many upcoming counselor bios. First up, here’s Jennifer…

Dear Milton,

I am writing you this letter from Alaska! Alaska may be hard for you to visualize for several reasons, chief among them being:

Alaska is pretty far from Madison, WI.

Its distinctive landscape, flora and fauna make it unlike anywhere else on earth

You are a cat.

That said, I wanted to paint some kind of picture for you, because you’re the smartest orange and white tabby in the Midwest. This camp is cool! I like it a lot. My best friend Hannah Edlen told me about it and now I am here. Anyway, today was an interesting day at camp. Someone asked all the counselors to write a bio for someone else on staff and advised us to make them “creative, fun, and positive!” The guy who interviewed for my bio me asked all kinds of questions. The first were about, like, how I’m from Skokie IL and about how I majored in collaborative piano (which is like accompaniment, as I’m sure you know, Milton). But then things got more specific. If I were Voldemort, what would my horcrux be? OK, that one was more of a no-brainer, because of that locket I’ve got with my grandparents’ picture inside. But how about: what movie would I love to star in? As much as I know that your favorite Disney movie is Aristocats, Milton, I went with Beauty and the Beast. Can you blame me? I had to think long and hard about the next question: if I could be the accompanist anyone living or dead, musician or not, who would it be? After much deliberation, I settled on John Keats. I hope you’d approve.

Anyway, Milton, gotta get back to my counselor duties! I’ve been pretty busy since I got here, supervising kids, planning awesome scavenger hunts, and rocking out on the piano in a couple of the nightly “artshare” shows they’ve got here. My schedule is stacked! I hope you’re doing well, buddy.

Love,

Jennifer Lynn Hedstrom, esq.

Getting to know you
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you
Getting to know what to say
Haven’t you noticed?
Suddenly I’m bright and breezy
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I’m learning about you
Day by day

SFAC Faculty 2011

I’ve noticed many happy faces covered in paint leaving the aptly named Playing with Paint class, so I dropped by to see what the excitement was about. This clip features music by Jamestown, an up-and-coming bad from New Haven, CT, joined by members of the talented counselor staff.

It’s a beautiful day 3. This afternoon’s recreation time activities include soccer, meditationation station, yoga, name that beatles song and, of course, a jam session.

And here’s more from class today…

Today’s rainy weather didn’t dampen any spirits in this dance class.