CREATE CAMPS: Exploring contemporary art & design



Spend your summer looking, learning, and creating at the Cranbrook Art Museum!

  • Hands-on, minds-on making in an open-ended, fun environment
    • Create Campers use design-thinking processes to explore contemporary art. Our camps introduce a variety of materials and concepts—evoking curiosity and honing critical thinking—while encouraging individual creativity and self-expression. We’re all about process, not product. Learn more about why from US News.
  • Look at artwork in the museum
    • Create Campers spend lots of time each week in the museum vaults and galleries; looking and learning about art and artmaking. Each project is inspired by artworks they can see and interact with in the museum. We use these as a jumping off point to create and design!
  • Learn from Artists
    • Our Teaching Artists are experienced artists, designers, and educators! Teaching Artists connect concepts behind artwork in the museum, with age-appropriate projects and techniques. Create Camps teach kids how to observe, interpret, and tap into their own creativity!

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CREATE CAMPS SCHEDULE

Create Camps welcome kids entering grades 1-6 in Fall 2024

In-person camps in the Art Museum: 9am–3pm daily, Monday-Friday

LUNCH: Lunch and snacks must be brought from home. All food must be sesame and nut-free! 

EXTENDED CARE: Create Camps do not offer extended morning and afternoon care, but this can be arranged on campus. If you need before or aftercare reach out to Meghan Morrow at mmorrow@cranbrook.edu


2024 CAMP OFFERINGS

Brochure with calendar of offerings available here

Make: 2D Design

Dive into graphic design! Create posters, logos, and prints! Experiment with different printmaking techniques: silkscreen, block print, transfer prints and 2D design techniques like zines and collage. Look at pop-poster and paper design in the museum’s collections and summer exhibitions!

1-2 grade: July 8-12 / 3-4 grade: July 15-19 / 5-6 grade: July 22-26

Build: 3D Design

From chairs to architecture, designers investigate, build, and make objects all around us, solving problems beautifully. Sketch, plan, and build your own 3D solutions for things like furniture, wearables, buildings, and games, looking at our mini-golf course, Cranbrook on the Green, and designs in our exhibition, Cuban Midcentury.

1-2 grade: July 22-25 / 3-4 grade: July 8-12 / 5-6 grade: July 15-19

Weave: Textures & Textiles

Experiment with a variety of textile creation, from weaving to embroidery to fabric dying. Be inspired by textures of weavings and tapestries in the museum’s vault. From paper to string, sticks to wire, weave with wild materials on a Cricket Loom. 

1-2 grade: July 15-19 / 3-4 grade: July 22-26 / 5-6 grade: July 8-12

Sketch: Drawing & Painting

Explore fun and (not so) messy ways to paint and draw! Study abstract art icons in the museum’s vault and make your own painting masterpieces. Learn how to work with a mix of mediums, traditional & experimental techniques, and develop sketchbooks that reflect your own, unique artistic style!

1-2 grade: July 29-Aug 2 / 3-4 grade: Aug 5-9 / 5-6 grade: Aug 12-16

Explore: Detroit Artists

Art is all around us! Learn about artists working in sculpture, painting, photography, performance, and installation in Detroit. Meet artists in the museum and learn from works from our growing Detroit Collection. Paint, illustrate, build, design, and more!

1-2 grade: Aug 12-16 / 3-4 grade: July 29-Aug 2 / 5-6 grade: Aug 5-9

Recycle: Eco Art

Learn how artists are inspired by their surroundings – what they see and find; what they recycle and reuse. Create and make with repurposed and found objects. Make paper from pulp and create papier-mache sculptures. Create, make, and remake with every-day materials and items found in nature and at home!

1-2 grade: Aug 5-9 / 3-4 grade: Aug 12-16 / 5-6 grade: July 29-Aug 2

**NEW CAMP: Full Steam Ahead!**

3-4 grade campers can take part in a 3 day camp at the Cranbrook Institute of Science & Cranbrook Art Museum!

We’re combining right- and left-brain thinkers for this 3-day experience at TWO museums! Encouraging analytical thought and creativity will have your camper diving into geology, energy, materiality, and famous Cranbrook artists while immersing in thinking process. Full STEAM Ahead takes place at the Institute of Science and the Art Museum.

3-4 grade: Aug 21-23


PRICING

Create Camps: $445 per week – includes all material costs. (We are a material heavy camp!)

DISCOUNTS

  • Full Session Discount: Save $30 if you register for a half-session (3-weeks of Create Camps!) Discount applied automatically!
  • ArtMembers are eligible for an additional discount!
    • Save $35 on each week of Camps ($410 per week)
    • Not a member? Join today!
    • Discounts available to ArtMembers with a Household membership higher. 

FEES

  • Cancellation Fee: $100 per week and no less than 21 days prior to the start of (each) registered camp week. No refund within 21 days of the first day of (each) registered camp.
  • Monthly payment plans are available for no additional fee.

FINANCIAL AID

CAM is committed to keeping camp accessible and affordable for all families. Need-based aid is offered by the museum for individual camp participants. Please contact Meghan Morrow at mmorrow@cranbrook.edu for more information.

Donate now to help extend our scholarship program.


CANCELLATION POLICY

Refunds less a $100 processing fee will be made if you submit your request in writing no less than 21 days prior to the start of (each) registered camp week. No refund within 21 days of the first day of (each) registered camp. In the event CAM cancels a camp, you may transfer your registration to another week or request a full refund.

Questions? Contact Meghan Morrow, Coordinator of School and Family Programs at mmorrow@cranbrook.edu


Register Now!  

For more information contact visitart@cranbrook.edu.