In this hands-on class, students will learn the basics of working with clay to create elaborate boxes and bowls meant to hold personal treasures and keepsakes. Students will explore a variety of methods for constructing clay containers, as well as experiment with techniques for creating surface design, such as carving and stamping. To finish each creation, students will add glaze and fire in a high-temperature kiln to create a shiny and colorful glass-like surface.

Status: 1 space remain

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Spend a week with a medical student at the VCU Medical Center and meet health care professionals from different fields. By visiting different laboratories and having hands-on experiences and interactions with health professionals, students learn about the challenges and rewards of health care careers.

Status: Class full

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Explore the basics of fashion design and illustration in this hands-on class. Students will explore proportion, balance, emphasis and other aspects of effective garment design, as well as learn how to identify with target customers and markets. Students will learn how to draw a fashion figure and illustrate their clothing design. By the end of the week, each student will develop and illustrate his or her very own fashion line.

Status: 3 spaces remain

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Create original works of art that jump off the wall with bright colors and exciting textures! Students in this class will learn acrylic painting and mixed-media techniques, while working with paper mache, metal wire, hot glue and paints to create artful objects.

Status: Canceled

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In this class, students will learn to produce animated projects using old and new stop-motion techniques. Construction paper, cartoons and clay will become an animated cast of characters in a movie directed by the student. The basics of plot development will be laid out as the class turns storyboards into finished movies. Students will leave the class with a DVD of animation and a hand-animated flip-book.

Status: 3 spaces remain

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Please see class description above.

Status: Canceled

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Let your child’s first experience with our greatest playwright be filled with the fun of playing! Before they can develop “Shakes-feare,” students get hooked on the stories, characters and the wonderful world of words that Shakespeare presents. Students discover Shakespeare and his era, a taste of Elizabethan culture and basic acting techniques. At the end of the week, students perform an abbreviated version of “Macbeth.”

Status: 2 spaces remain

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Design and create your own unique necklace, bracelet, earrings, pendants or hair accessories in this fun class. Students will use unusual materials such as fabric, fibers, paper and found objects, as well as handmade polymer beads to create original jewelry pieces. Students will create several items of jewelry over the course of the week.

Status: Class full

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Learn all about fish and fishing in this perfect summer class. During this weeklong course, students will fish lakes and rivers while learning about fish biology, ecology, bait, lures, rods and reels with some of the best fishing guides around. A fishing trip by canoe or raft will help fine-tune students’ skills to land the big one.

Status: 3 spaces remain

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Bring characters to life in this cartooning class. Led by an experienced cartoonist, students will learn to draw and create cartoon characters as well as develop storylines around them. Students will be taught a technique that starts with a simple base drawing, then slowly adds detail — a method that works well for any style of cartoon drawing. Over the course of the week, students will work toward creating a complete comic strip or comic book/manga page.

Status: Canceled

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Learn to paint like the professionals do in this class where students create strong and exciting painted images. Students will find subjects that interest them and learn to recreate them realistically using paint. People, animals, landscapes, vehicles — the only limit is imagination.

Status: 1 space remain

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Learn to look at the world through a different lens using a point-and-shoot camera in this hands-on photography class. Students will experiment with lighting, angles and object placement while exploring both traditional and nontraditional photography methods. Our goal will be to find the unseen as students learn to pay attention to detail. Students will be required to provide their own disposable cameras.

Status: Class open

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Spend a week in scrubs and discover the exciting world of nursing. Presented by the VCU School of Nursing and the VCU Medical Center, this hands-on week of exploration will include visits to operating and emergency rooms, a look at pediatric nursing with a visit to the neonatal intensive care unit and an introduction to the latest medical equipment and skills being used by members of the nursing profession.

Status: Class full

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Please see class description above.

Status: 3 spaces remain

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1.

Status: Class full

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1. At the end of the week, the students perform an abbreviated version of “Two Gentlemen of Verona.”

Status: 3 spaces remain

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This hybrid art-music class will be an exploration in painting and drawing to the rhythm of the beat. Students will express their intuition through mark-making and gestural movement inspired by music. Looking to many artists and cultures, students will reflect on images and periods to create their own visual “voice.”

Status: Canceled

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Please see class description under Jul 11-15.

Status: Class full

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1.

Status: Class full

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Students will learn the basics of working a loom and how to create beautiful items of clothing through weaving. Over the course of the week, each student will create a hand-woven scarf or shawl, or fabric for a purse, using vibrantly colored yarns. Experimenting with yarn’s textures and colors introduces aspiring student designers to a new area of textile art.

Status: Class open

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Please see class description under Jul 11-15.

Status: 1 space remain

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In this out-of-the-ordinary class, students will be supplied with bicycle wheels and a variety of found materials and objects to create abstract modern art. Reflecting on periods in art, students will create their own contemporary sculptures using fabric, pipe insulation, aluminum cans, yarn and other found and recycled items.

Status: Canceled

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Create your own stylish accessories, such as necklaces, bracelets, headbands, broaches and small handbags. Basic hand-sewing techniques and demonstrations will be given, and students will have the freedom to be as creative as they like using an assortment of new and repurposed materials.

Status: 3 spaces remain

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Grab a hammer and a torch and discover working with metal. Students will learn the basics of metal construction, including pattern-making, sawing, forming, soldering, polishing and a variety of surface techniques. Using all these methods, students will create their very own wearable metal emblem.

Status: Canceled

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1.

Status: Class full

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In this class, students will mix drawing and painting techniques to create rich and colorful works of art. Students will experiment with oil pastels on a variety of surfaces to create vibrant 2-D and 3-D drawings that look like paintings.

Status: 1 space remain

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A wet week is in store during this hands-on exploration of the ecology of Virginia’s waters. Students will travel to a different destination each day — rivers, streams and wetlands — to investigate energy flow in aquatic ecosystems, learn about conservation and generally explore the waters and wildlife of the area. A highlight of the week is a canoe or tubing trip down a scenic river. Swimming skills required.

Status: Class full

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A fun week of tactile creation awaits students in this felt-making class. Students will explore the possibilities of creating fashion items out of handmade felt that they will make from scratch using fluffy dyed wool. Each day, students will create a new fashion item. Project possibilities include purses, scarves, hats, jewelry and more.

Status: 1 space remain

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1.

Status: Class open

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Get ready to make some noise! In this class, students will explore basic drumming techniques, musicianship, the art of improvisation and the art of listening as they compose and improvise on traditional and nontraditional percussion instruments. Students will spend lots of time playing the drums as they work their way to a performance at week’s end.

Status: 3 spaces remain

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Students will engage in a variety of activities dealing with the many aspects of engineering. Wireless radios and robotic ants may very well be part of the week’s activities as we spend time in the labs and workrooms of the VCU School of Engineering, exploring the many career options available in the world of engineering.

Status: Class full

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1.

Status: Class open

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This class is a must for anyone interested in fashion art and design. Students will create designs on paper and transfer them to fabric. Some in-class sewing may occur, but students do not need sewing experience to participate. The opportunity to display projects at a fashion show organized by the class is the highlight of the week.

Status: Class full

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This course will build on the skills learned in the beginner-level class. Learn how to fish using the technique and equipment that the experts use to increase your chances of catching the big one. Students will get a more comprehensive understanding of fish biology and ecology. Completion of the beginner-level “Go Fish” course or several years of fishing experience is recommended for students enrolling in this course.

Status: Class full

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Please see class description under Jul 18-22.

Status: Canceled

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Get ready to garden and discover your green thumb. This class looks at the beauty and importance of plants through the eyes of a gardener, an ecologist, a farmer and the student. Students will explore plant biology, plants as food and the environmental role of plants, especially in our urban community. Discover how the world of plants is connected with us — and what can be done to preserve the green world around us.

Status: Canceled

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1.

Status: 1 space remain

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Please see class description under Jul 25-29.

Status: Canceled

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Please see class description under Jun 27-Jul 1.

Status: Canceled

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Please see class description under Jul 25-29.

Status: 1 space remain

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Young artists will explore fun and easy printmaking methods as they create colorful multiples from their own designs. Block printing, monotype and collograph (collage print) techniques will be explored as students experiment with layers of color, texture and unique surfaces. The results are wondrous, whimsical, one-of-a-kind works of art!

Status: Canceled

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Create your own cute stuffed animal, ugly doll, sock creature or whatever plush toy you can imagine! Students will learn basic sewing techniques and other methods for creating multiple stuffed toys using a variety of supplied materials.

Status: Canceled

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