By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–What better way to learn art techniques than to learn from someone who developed their own art program decades ago?

Retired Helena Elementary School art teacher and current Helena City Councilwoman Alice Lobell no longer teaches art during the school year, but she finds time to host an annual summer art camp at the same school where she helped create an art program that impacted a number of lives over the years.

During the week of June 12, several students had the opportunity to attend one of three classes for a five-day period to learn more about art and techniques from Lobell.

Campers learned how to work with clay pieces from scratch and also worked on acrylic paintings on canvas.

The finished products featured an acrylic painting of a beach and molded clay bowls and trays with various shapes and designs. The clay pieces were formed from scratch, placed in a kiln, glazed, placed back in the kiln and taken out to be finished.

Madison Hollabaugh, a recent Helena High School graduate, was on hand to help Lobell with the art camp.

“I actually have helped with the camp every year and I got my love of art from Ms. Alice when she was my teacher here at Helena Elementary School,” Hollabaugh said. “I think the best part of the camp is just helping the kids with the techniques and I like at the end when they get to see the finished products with the clay and paintings.”

Campers RJ Creel and Cooper Johnson both had different things they liked about the art camp.

“My favorite part was free drawing,” Creel said. “I liked glazing the clay,” Johnson added.

Shelby County Schools specialty enrichment classes will be offered at Calera Elementary, Helena Intermediate, Forest Oaks Elementary and Oak Mountain Intermediate this summer.

The classes are open to students who are zoned for Shelby County Schools and may be limited to certain ages or grade spans.

For more information on enrichment classes, visit Shelbyed.k12.al.us/community/enrich.html.