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At The Gallery
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe will be having the Holiday Art Camp with support from art supplies company, La Rue, from April 13 to 17. The Holiday Art Camp is facilitated by the Gallery’s Education and Public Programmes Department and is geared to advance the art and crafts skills of learners aged between five to 18 years.

The Holiday Art Camp is designed to adopt a clinical approach with regards to the instruction of students as it takes into account the needs of the student’s full-time commitments to mainstream academic pursuits in the school curriculum whilst offering a practical bypass to help relieve the pressures of learning. The camp not only serves as a retreat in these scholastic terms, but it also allows children to learn a discipline through fun experiences which make their grasp on the discipline a memorable one.

Students are instructed by practising artist instructors in different categories noteworthy through the Atelier method that was established by Gustave Moraue and adapted by the first director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Frank McEwen. In keeping with tradition of the workshop approach, the students have creative freedom and working space in an open environment.

Aside from this, they will be at an advantage to find inspiration around them embodied in the works of past masters.

The Pre-School and Primary School groups have a schedule set for 9 o’clock in the morning until 1 o’clock in the afternoon.

Refreshments will be provided at 10am. Students aged from 13 to 18 years will be finishing at 1500 hours and should provide their own lunch. With aid from the instructors, the students are able to understand how to use different tools and methods like painting or making craft objects.

The strength of the Holiday Art Camp also lies within the fact that the older students learn from their instructors who are usually individuals intending to pursue art as a profession. This camp serves to create a space in which young people can gain knowledge of visual art and develop their visual creative abilities. It allows them to express themselves in numerous ways giving them self-confidence in as much as it empowers them to attain an interest to occupy them or a profession to pursue.

The registration fee for the Art Fair is $30 only and all materials are provided for the students with the kind support of La Rue. Participants will walk away with prizes for their age groups. There will be entertainment by a traditional music and dance ensemble on prize- giving day.