Fine-art and crafts, tie-dye, painting, mosaics, jewelry, pottery, candle making, drawing, art history, games and more. Each week is different. All weeks offer a full variety of lessons.

Eight separate weeks: June 10 – Aug. 9
no camp week of July 1-5
9am -1pm Monday-Fridays

Free Lunch included!(Provided by the Sarasota County Food Service Fund)ages 6 and up $75/week (20 hours)
2 classes daily taught by professional art instructors
Starts June 10th

Partial funding provided by the Plantation Community Foundation, Inc.
High School students may arrange for volunteer credit with their school counselor.

We are also offering an extra program to help those who are looking for an all day experience. “Active Art” is creative play from 1-3pm, $35/week.

Click here to register your child for ”Fun”tastic Art Camp

Click here to register your child for ”Active Art”

To sponsor a child please use the donate button in the blue box on the right.

Sale Chair Carol Dawkins, right, assists customer Linda Thompson of Venice with a purchase, while Shawn Clugsten beams after finding two dragon figurines at NPAC’s “Junk-A-Rama” driveway sale April 13.

Art Center members answered the call for donations and our volunteers worked tirelessly to make our April 13 “Junk-A-Rama” driveway sale a very successful NPAC fundraising effort. NPAC raised slightly more than $1,200 in the five-hour event.

Our sincerest thanks to all of our members who cleaned out their closets, drawers, garages, and yards to donate their unwanted treasures. We were amazed and delighted by the response, not only from our members, but from our community. A steady stream of customers kept our volunteers busy every minute. There was very little left at the end of the day, and the few remaining odds and ends were donated to Goodwill.

Preparing for this kind of event takes a good bit of work, however, and we are also grateful to our volunteers who donated their time sorting, pricing, and packing before the event, and setting up and selling during the day. Sale Chair Carol Dawkins would like to thank all of them for their efforts. Without our volunteers, this would not have been possible.

Again, our thanks to all who volunteered to help: Donna Lane, Sue Shatzer, Karen Frustereo, Barry Thorne, Howard Hartke, Nina Rausch, Denise Manguse, Gail Ribas, Mary Alspaugh, Steve Alspaugh, Chris Sylvester, Brent Sylvester, Mary Maples, Sharon Johnson, Cheryl Srnka, and Steve Miller.

Pictured, from left: Artist Barry Thorne discusses his art with visitors, while Sharon Yarbough paints “en plein aire” during the city’s Arts in the Park event April 27 at North Port’s Garden of the Five Senses. At right, visitors examine Sandi Hilliard’s oil paintings and pottery bowls and vases from Ricardo Hicks.

Member artists spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon painting and creating in the Garden of the Five Senses public park in North Port on April 27 during the “Arts in the Park” event, hosted by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

Artists, poets, and musicians entertained visitors during the three-hour event. Artists were permitted to show and sell their work as well.

But there’s another anniversary all of us at NPAC will be celebrating this year as well. It was 25 years ago this November that a small but passionately determined group of local artists met to form the North Port Area Art Guild by electing officers and writing its by-laws. Back then, in 1988, North Port was still just an infant city, a forgotten speck on the Sarasota County map. Think back to 1988–that was the year “The Cosby Show” was the country’s favorite TV program, and George Michael’s “Faith” was Billboard’s number one song. Sometimes it feels like yesterday, sometimes like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?

Lots has changed since then, and not just in TV or music. North Port today is the largest city in the county and the local art guild isn’t meeting at the library anymore. We’ve both come a long way, baby.

.We’re planning a 25th Anniversary Bash in November to mark this incredible milestone. Who would have thought a quarter-century ago that the Art Guild would have 300 members or its own Art Center, much less a Pottery Studio to boot? It’s a cause for celebration, and we plan to do it up in a big way…stay tuned for more details.

Sheryl Unwin will be showing us the basics of Scratchboard art.  It is an interesting art form and you won’t believe the professional looking results you can achieve.

We will also have an update on the Junk-A-Rama sale we are holding this Saturday, and will provide more details on our November 25th Anniversary Dinner-Dance.