"The Bauen Camp is a resource to Sheridan County, the State of Wyoming,
and the art world in general. It places children and young adults in a
beautiful natural setting to plumb the depths of the creativity in a manner
that echoes within them months and years after their stay has ended."

Senator Bruce Burns, Sheridan, WY
Wyoming District #21

The Program

     The Bauen Camp's core activity is its camp sessions held throughout the summer at our campsite in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, 15 miles from Parkman, WY. Three Sessions will be offered during summer, 2006. Each session is staffed by professional artists and arts educators in a variety of disciplines. Each session has a special focus: however, all sessions provide education experiences in community-building, leadership training, natural and environmental ecucation, career development and skill building in creative writing, visual art, and performance. Over the camp session, youth will be immersed in nature and in practical problem solving, critical thinking, appreciation of diversity, and celebrating the power of shared vision. Each sessions concludes with a major youth-led project in which campers plan, create and produce a project based on the interests and talents of that group, articulating and celebrating the group's creative vision. Groups are small and intimate; up to 32 young people take part in each session. Each session staff will include the Camp Director, two Guest Artist/Session Directors, six Counselor/Teachers, two Education Interns, a Cook, Volunteers and Consultants.

     Campers will participate together in the instruction workshops of the early days of camp. Later, campers will have the opportunity to select areas of focus. Instruction will be offered in the following areas:

Creative Writing: poetry, playwrighting, personal essays
Visual Art: painting, drawing, installation art, puppetry, ceramics, filmmaking and photography
Interpersonal & Group Communications: critical thinking, group facilitation, community-building
The Natural World: astronomy, geology, outdoor living skills, environmental education

     Campers are encouraged to carry their new skills and new ideas back home with them, sharing them with their families, schools and peers. All students from the Bauen National Youth Outreach Project state and cities - Wyoming, Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York - also have the opportunity to be part of a Bauen Camp Network during the school year, where Bauen-trained teacher/mentors facilitate campers continuing artistic and social growth, leadership developoment, and community participation.

Session One ACTING, WRITING, PHOTOGRAPHY & DANCE         July 7- July 28
Students will learn skills in ensemble acting ,play, writing, poetry, dance and digital photography. Campers stories of their own lives will provide the foundation for the multi-disciplinary youth led public performance on July 26.    Session Co-Director Jan Mandel, M.Ed., University of Minnesota, 28 year veteran teacher of theaterat St. Paul Central HS.  Has conducted hundreds of theater and arts education workshops for high school students, teachers, artists and community members.  Founder of Central touring Theater, comprised of her advanced acting classes, touring to schools throughout the Twin Cities.  Jan is the co-author of Acting, Learning and Change, a theater methods book. She was an Education Intern at Bauen in 2006 and a 2007 Session Director. Session Co-Director Usry Alleyne was born in Guyana, Argentina, SA and spent his early years “running around barefoot and catching bugs.” He has been teaching photography since 1993. Since 2000 Usry  has served as Artist Advisor in the Media Arts Program at Perpich Center for Arts Education, MN. He has also served as a photographer, video producer, editor and cameraman for the Walker Art Center, The Guthrie Theater, The McKnight Foundation. Usry holds a BFA from Mason School of the Arts at Rutgers University and is on the Board of Intermedia Arts.
Session Two  FILM, PHOTOGRAPHY, WOOD SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE              July 30 – August 18
Students will explore the concept of “place” as it relates to the integration of art and nature in building sustainable lifestyles and communities. They will develop photographic stories and objects from nature reflecting the place of the camp and home. Session Two will also host eight teachers participating in Bauen’s pilot Education Fellows Program. See separate program description.   The Session Two public performance is on August 16. Session Co-Director S. Smith Patrick is a documentary filmmaker and photographer.  Her projects focus on human rights, social issues & indigenous cultural issues. In 2008 she’ll collaborate with the Bridges program as the instructor to Palestinian and Israeli youth committed to communicating with photography and video.  Her award winning film, The Children of Ibdaa: To Create Something Out of Nothing showed in more than 30 film festivals. She studied film/video production at Goldsmith’s College, London, prior to earning her MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State. She holds an MA in English Literature from Wheaton College, MA. Session Co-Director Randall Kober is an architect and founder of Anarchitectures..  He has been designing and constructing objects, installations and buildings in North America and Europe since 1982. He holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Bachelors of Art in History from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Currently he teaches design and theory as an Assistant Visiting Professor in the Architecture School at the Illinois Institute of Technology.  Kober has taught in Rome and Paris for UIC and IIT.  Kober has worked as a rough and finish carpenter in Wisconsin and as an itinerant timber framer in northern Bavaria.

Who are the Bauen campers and staff?
     They come from dozens of states in the U.S. and a handfull of countries from around the world. Campers are agee 13-18 and have a wide variety of interests with a primary focus on art..visual, performance, writing, etc. Bauen Campers have a desire to learn about many kinds of art and put their new knowledge to work at home and in their communities. Bauen Campers love to ask questions and explore new territories and want to understand different kinds of people.