Art camp is a mental health haven

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An upcoming art camp hosted by DIY Pottery and instructor Sean Cockrell looks to help people learn more about art as well as find ways to help their mental health.

Cockerell said the art camp costs $150 to attend, and includes all art supplies. It takes place in two different weeks, July 5-9 and July 12-16.

Cockrell said each week will have a different set of activities, meaning someone that wants to attend both weeks would need to pay twice. He also said some of the activities included in the camp include painting, ceramics, oil pastels and other activities.

Something unique the camp will be doing is that campers will harvest raw clay from Humboldt and create a finished piece of art from that clay.

“The passion that I have is to teach kids stuff and to provide an experience that enables them to, because at some point, kids are convinced that they’re not good, and they look at things as it’s either good or not, versus it’s successful or not, and my teaching teaches them how to look at things as successful or not successful, and then working through that problem to make it successful,” Cockrell said.

The camp of for in grades K-6 as the older grades did not have enough people to warrant their own version of the camp. However, Cockrell said the people that already signed up for the older age version of the event will work as apprentices in the shop during the camp. The camp runs 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. daily. It will be held at 697 Harry Sauner Rd. in Hillsboro.

“The mission of our business is to create a place where people can escape the chaos of life and reconnect or connect in their lives that are close to them,” he said.

Cockrell said that currently the camp has around 20 kids signed up with a limit of about 25 per week. He said that’s so the people operating the camp can “get that personal with each kid and not jam-pack it full. I’m here to teach kids art, not necessarily to make a ton of money off a ton of different people.”

Cockrell said that mental health was pushed to the forefront during COVID-19 and he realized the importance of having coping skills for that.

“People, and it doesn’t matter their age, they just want to be able to tell something about themselves, and when you’re able to do that, especially through the arts, it’s a good thing because it creates a response in people who look at your work and it allows people to know that, maybe I’m not the only one that is going through something like that. So when kids are able to do that, it’s a very big thing,” Cockrell said.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.

By Jacob Clary

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