Newsroom

CORVALLIS - Oregon State University will host a three-week summer workshop of accelerated art instruction for teens this summer that is drawing interest from students all over the West Coast.

This will be the eighth year the OSU Department of Art has hosted Jumpstart. The precollege visual arts workshop offers students ages 15-18 advanced study in traditional art forms, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and printmaking, and non-traditional fields, such as graphic design and video. A new class is being offered this year called "Drawing and Modeling the Human Figure." Students in this course will both draw and model the figure in clay.

"We have a number of students every year who gravitate toward comic style action figure illustration," said John Maul, program director. "Many of these students learn by drawing from comic books, but they don't fully get a sense of the human figure from copying illustrations. This way, they'll really learn the figure."

In addition to spending six hours in studio classes each day, students participate in seminars on dance, music and theater, and attend lectures by visiting professional artists and designers. Each student will produce a portfolio of work during the three weeks that will be reviewed and exhibited. At the awards ceremony, the OSU Department of Art will award two Jumpstart students with scholarships to Oregon State. Last year's recipients were Jonia Kuenzi of Salem, and Kimberly Smith of Glendale, Ariz.

The workshop has grown in size and reputation with each year and is supported by the Coca-Cola Foundation. The foundation and the OSU Department of Art co-sponsor workshop scholarships called the Coca-Cola Red Ribbon Awards. "The awards will permit talented students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds to attend the program," said Jim Folts, chair of OSU's art department.

Jumpstart will run from June 23 to July 12 at OSU. The summer program includes trips to the Portland Art Museum, the Pacific Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), and Oregon coast, as well as an exceptional visiting artist program. Visiting artists for Jumpstart this year include the Northwest Afrikan American Ballet, Marion Rossi, Kimberly Gifford-Gruen, and Matt Wagner, creator of the "Grendel" comic series. Tuition for Jumpstart is $1,595 for students who stay on campus for the three weeks; $995 for those who commute locally.

For applications or more information, contact the OSU Department of Art at 541-737-4745. The Jumpstart web site is at: http://osu.orst.edu/dept/arts/jumpstart .