In The Photo: Jess Olson (left) and Johanna Florez are on the road this simmer with the Quick Center's ArtMobile, visiting some 20 libraries in New York and Pennsylvania.
The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University has a busy summer ahead as it prepares to host day-camp experiences and art exploration sessions for children, and sends its ArtMobile to public libraries across New York and Pennsylvania
as part of its 13th annual Summer Library Program.
The ArtMobile is already on the road. Loaded with works from the Quick Center’s collection, educational resources, and art supplies, the ArtMobile will visit some 20 participating libraries through July and August, presenting a lesson and
activities aligned with the 2023 collaborative summer reading theme, “All Together Now.”
“It’s great to have the ArtMobile back at full capacity for this summer and our local libraries have really embraced our program offerings,” said Sean Conklin, the Quick Center’s assistant curator and museum educator. “This
year’s theme focuses on kindness, friendship, and unity so I’ve designed our program offerings to highlight works from the museum’s collection that aren’t regularly on display while focusing on developing interpersonal
skills like sharing, empathy, compassion, anti-racism, and conflict resolution.”
In addition to the ArtMobile visits to local libraries, the Quick Center is hosting on-site programs for children. Its Artistic Explorers program, recommended for children ages 3 to 6, is a series of hour-long sessions that run every Monday morning,
beginning July 17 and running through Aug. 21. There are also three day-camp experiences, geared for children from ages 6 to 13, to help local children develop their art and creativity skills.
Summer programming is supported by two summer arts education assistants, Jess Olson of Olean, a recent graduate from the College of Wooster with a Bachelors of Arts in art history, and Johanna Florez, a local educator and graduate of Houghton
University.
“I’m very excited with the mix of backgrounds and skill sets we have with our summer arts education assistants,” said Conklin. “We’ve already run some events and visited a few libraries and you can see how excited
they are to be a part of the ArtMobile team. They engage so well with the community.”
Information about the Quick Center’s summer offerings can be found on the QCA Experiences website at https://www.sbu.edu/quickcenter/arts-education/qca-experiences
.
The ArtMobile schedule of visits to local libraries is as follows: