Create interesting artworks using reclaimed and salvaged materials like the artists exhibited in Everlasting Plastics. Dream up architecture, weave with plastic bags, and assemble cardboard to construct artful objects that lessen the impact on our environment. Travel to nearby Phipps Conservatory to explore the splendor of their natural exhibitions and translate what you see into paintings and drawings.
The last day to register for this camp is June 5, 2024.
Learn more about Eco Art.
Explore a wide range of tools to make marks, smudges, and textures that can become expressive works of art. Conduct art experiments to leave room for unexpected results and discover how nontraditional materials and processes can fuel your creative imagination. Layer mediums and processes like collage, photography, and printmaking to add interest and depth to your artwork. Use our galleries as a source of inspiration as you look for artists who think beyond realism and traditional techniques to create art in innovative ways.
The last day to register for this camp is June 5, 2024.
Learn more about Mixing Mediums.
Do you favor the watery worlds of Claude Monet or the textured colors of Joan Mitchell? A landscape that looks perfectly real or an abstraction open to interpretation? Get to know great paintings in the museum’s galleries. Build your skills through daily experiments with numerous painting techniques and color mixing strategies and choose your favorite approach to create your own masterpieces.
The last day to register for this camp is June 5, 2024.
Learn more about Painting Lab.
Explore the exhibition Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape to find examples of photographs, installations, and collage that will inspire works of your own. Look to photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris’s body of work to help compose portraits of your classmates and head outdoors to take images of the natural world using a variety of methods including pinhole photography. Experiment with camera-less methods like cyanotype and reconfigure images from magazines, old photographs, and reproductions of works in our collection to create something new.
The last day to register for this camp is June 12, 2024.
Learn more about Digital and Altered Image.
Explore the exhibition Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape to find examples of photographs, installations, and collages that inspire sensory play and creation. Head outdoors to take pictures of the natural world and reconfigure images from magazines, old photographs, and reproductions of works in our collection to create something new.
The last day to register for this camp is June 12, 2024.
Learn more about Photo Play.
Bring your binoculars on a journey into the museum’s galleries to uncover artworks that excite and inspire wonder. Look carefully at the objects and scenes surrounding you and make new discoveries through close observation and art investigation. Explore diverse art materials and processes through experimentation and play and map what you discover throughout your journey.
The last day to register for this camp is June 19, 2024.
Learn more about Art Explorer.
Apply left-brained thinking to a right-brained activity for unexpected results. Observe works of art in the galleries for ideas, hypothesize some “what-ifs,” then head to the lab for experimentation. Ink, graphite, rubber bands, straws, paint brushes, paper, wood, plastic—let materials take you on a scientifically fun drawing journey. Record your process and results in your sketchbook and make a series of pieces based on your findings.
The last day to register for this camp is June 19, 2024.
Learn more about Drawing Lab.
Do you favor the watery worlds of Claude Monet or the textured colors of Joan Mitchell? A landscape that looks perfectly real or an abstraction open to interpretation? Get to know great paintings in the museum’s galleries. Build your skills through daily experiments with numerous painting techniques and color mixing strategies and choose your favorite approach to create your own masterpieces.
The last day to register for this camp is June 19, 2024.
Learn more about Painting Lab.
Explore the exhibition Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape to find examples of photographs, installations, and collages that inspire sensory play and creation. Head outdoors to take pictures of the natural world and reconfigure images from magazines, old photographs, and reproductions of works in our collection to create something new.
The last day to register for this camp is June 19, 2024.
Learn more about Photo Play.
Explore the 3D form through diverse materials and processes in this two-week intensive program. Look to artist Beate Kuhn’s dynamic ceramic works and learn hand-building and wheel throwing before exploring additional materials like plaster, metals, and fibers to add to your sculptural portfolio. Brainstorm ideas, experiment with materials, and engineer your designs. Projects will be fired and available for pick-up at the museum 3 to 4 weeks after camp.
This is a full-day two week program that meets Monday through Friday and ends on July 26.
The last day to register for this camp is July 10, 2024.
Learn more about Ceramics and the 3D Form.
Invent your very own creature and bring it to life through comics, paintings, and wearable sculptures of monster proportions. Insert kaiju into unexpected places, construct mixed-up beasts, and become inspired by the creatures inhabiting the art galleries and lurking in Natural History’s dioramas and Hall of Dinosaurs.
The last day to register for this camp is July 10, 2024.
Learn more about Cryptids and Other Made-Up Things.
Let your creativity expand beyond the canvas as you and your classmates design a secret hideaway. Work as a team to combine elements such as architecture, painting, sculpture, sound, and light to create a unique experience for all that enter. Learn how contemporary artists conceptualize and construct artworks that take over entire rooms in the museum. Sneak into private spaces within our building and invent experiences inspired by the hidden and out-of-the-way artworks you find.
The last day to register for this camp is July 10, 2024.
Learn more about Forts and Secret Hideaways.
Construct unique artworks by combining varied materials and art processes. Mix colors and apply paint using unusual tools and techniques, create interesting textures by layering and combining materials, and experiment with stamps and transfers using different forms of printmaking. Explore the galleries to discover examples of the processes other artists have used worldwide and throughout history.
The last day to register for this camp is July 10, 2024.
Learn more about Paint, Print and Paste.
Apply left-brained thinking to a right-brained activity for unexpected results. Observe works of art in the galleries for ideas, hypothesize some “what-ifs,” then head to the lab for experimentation. Ink, graphite, rubber bands, straws, paint brushes, paper, wood, plastic—let materials take you on a scientifically fun drawing journey. Record your process and results in your sketchbook and make a series of pieces based on your findings.
The last day to register for this camp is July 17, 2024.
Learn more about Drawing Lab.
Find inspiration in your own image and learn the basics of reconstructing the human face and figure. Move beyond the human form and exemplify the characteristics of animals or other subjects and find way to showcase their personality through color, texture, and style. Browse examples of portraiture in our galleries and use painting, sculpture, and photography to capture a subject’s likeness and explore abstract ways to create a portrait.
The last day to register for this camp is July 17, 2024.
Learn more about Portraits.
Create interesting artworks using reclaimed and salvaged materials like the artists exhibited in Everlasting Plastics. Dream up architecture, weave with plastic bags, and assemble cardboard to construct artful objects that lessen the impact on our environment. Travel to nearby Phipps Conservatory to explore the splendor of their natural exhibitions and translate what you see into paintings and drawings.
The last day to register for this camp is July 24, 2024.
Learn more about Eco Art.
Stretch those art muscles with games and challenges worthy of the Olympics. Challenge yourself with timed drawings and work in teams to design and execute artwork with your peers. We will create sports-themed artwork, move our bodies with gestures inspired by gymnastics and soccer, and transport ourselves to Paris, the location of the 2024 Summer Games.
The last day to register for this camp is July 31, 2024.
Learn more about Art Olympics.
Stamp art passports with stops that will take you all over the world and through time without ever leaving the museum! Pore over a collaborative coral reef, discover the geographic origins of a sphynx, or rest for a while in a cool spot on a hot day in France. Create sculptures, paintings, and drawings based on what you find in each new location.
The last day to register for this camp is July 31, 2024.
Learn more about Art Passport.
Use natural and humanmade fibers like yarn, fabric, and grasses to create unique artworks. Work in teams to construct a collaborative sculpture inspired by the exhibition Pittsburgh Satellite Reef Project. Weave with papers, learn how to tie-dye and hand-sew, and create 3D artworks and soft sculptures with pulp, plastics, and cloth. Learn how to tie-dye, hand sew, and invent your own fabrics with stamped patterns or other unique embellishments using diverse materials.
The last day to register for this camp is July 31, 2024.
Learn more about Fiber Arts and Fashion.
Push, pull, squish, and play with clay into anything you can imagine. Be inspired by the organic forms of ceramic artist Beate Kuhn, mix mediums like found objects and plaster with multiple forms of clay, and construct figurative sculptures that stand, sit or dance suspended in motion. Kiln-fired projects will be fired and available for pick-up at the museum 3 to 4 weeks after camp.
The last day to register for this camp is August 7, 2024.
Learn more about Clay Play.