This summer, art instructor Susan Bala plans to bring the youth art camps she teaches through the city of Longmont to her Berthoud home studio.

Bala will teach her Artrageous Art Camp and four other camps in June and July—those camps include Clay Play Camp, Fiber Objects Camp, Mini Monets Mini Camp and Artrageous Teen Camp.

“I have wanted to bring the camp to Berthoud for quite some time,” Bala said. “This summer is ideal to set up the studio for an outside camp. … Berthoud has a strong family base, and I thought now would be a great time to start that.”

Bala will run the Berthoud camps through Planet Picasso, her home art studio where she also offers private art classes. She’s operated the studio on and off for the past 20 years and started it back up this year to offer the camps. She’s also had the studio in Tennessee and Texas.

“There is nothing better than providing an opportunity for kids to find a passion in art,” Bala said.

Bala taught the art camps through the city of Longmont for four years, but did not teach them last year due to closures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The camps in Berthoud will be similar to those in Longmont, incorporating the same lessons and mediums. They will be limited to five to six students per camp to meet social distancing requirements, as opposed to the normal maximum of 10.

“Parents have a lot of choices for their children during the summer, but if their children have an interest in art, Planet Picasso camps will ignite their passion,” Bala said. “Within each camp, we will do a variety of open-ended projects allowing for their creativity and imagination to soar.”

The Artrageous Art Camp, geared to ages 8-13, is an introduction to a variety of art mediums and will be offered in Berthoud June 28-July 2 and in Longmont June 7-11. The projects will include pottery, tie-dye, paper-making and printing.

“Art is outrageously fun. It’s outrageously creative. It’s outrageously inspiring,” Bala said.

Clay Play Camp, also for ages 8-13, will be offered in Berthoud July 12-16 and Longmont July 19-23. The camp is an introduction to hand-building and clay techniques, such as pinching, coiling, slab-building, texturizing and glazing. The list of projects includes whistles, animals and wind chimes.

Fiber Objects Camp is new this summer and only available in Berthoud for ages 8-13. The camp introduces hand-sewing and sewing machine basics through puppet-making and other fiber projects. The camp will be offered July 5-9.

There are two other Berthoud-only camps. The Mini Monets Mini Camp for ages 5-7 will be offered in two sessions June 14-16 and June 21-23 and is an introduction to a variety of mediums. The Artrageous Teen Camp will be July 26-30 for ages 13-16 to learn about clay, fiber and other mediums and to make creative, in-depth multimedia projects.

Bala has a long career in teaching art to youth and worked for YMCA off and on for 30 years, directing and developing art programs at its youth camps and reunion centers. She developed the art program at YMCA of the Rockies and YMCA Camp Carson. Her camps stand out because of her love of sharing her passion for art and her years of experience working with children, she said.

“I wanted to provide a place without boundaries—a ‘planet’ that allows eccentric creativity like that of Picasso—that encourages children and adults to discover and share their passion for art,” Bala said. “There’s just a lot of joy that comes with being able to create and share their ideas.”

For more details about the five art camps, connect with Bala on her Planet Picasso Facebook page or call or text her at [email protected].

“There is no limit to what children can learn at camp,” Bala said. “Along with all of the new-found skills, camp is a place that encourages unlimited curiosity, uniqueness, independence, and builds relationship skills.”