CAMP JCAS SUMMER 2023
1 week & 2 week full day camps from June 5 – August 4
For rising 1st-8th graders, the Junior Center of Art and Science Summer Camp offers full day, arts-integrated engagements for young artists, makers and thinkers. Our projects are led by professional artists and educators who inspire a safe, open, and creative environment where campers feel encouraged to take risks, explore, and try their hand at a wide variety of arts and science activities including carpentry, game design, comics and more!
This year CAMP JCAS will be held at Pacific Boychoir Academy (215 Ridgeway Ave, Oakland, CA)
REGISTRATION OPENS ON FEB. 1ST AT 12:00 PM
Camps Offered:
NEW!
INKSTITCH: FASHION DESIGN
ONE WEEK CAMP • 6/19 – 6/23 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 7-13 • $450 – $600
InkStitch, in collaboration with JCAS, is excited to offer a first-of-its-kind fashion camp this summer!
Street style is all about individual expression and can mean different things to different people, cultures, and places worldwide. At InkStitch Fashion Design Camp we will explore the latest street style trends from some of the world’s most stylish capitals on the globe.
Designers will learn sewing techniques, fashion illustration, draping on dress forms, work with different fabrics and create mood boards that will allow them to explore their identity through fashion. We will take walking field trips to local fabric and vintage clothing stores and watch for trends on our own streets.
Rather than add to the landfill, designers will be encouraged to bring in garments from home that they can use their fashion skills to repurpose. Drawing inspiration from global trends, designers will create an authentic look that expresses their unique style and will be featured in a culminating fashion presentation.

WILD BOTANICALS
ONE WEEK CAMP • 6/5 – 6/9 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 6-8 • $450 – $600
*This camp will be help at our Temporary HQ 1224 Harrison St.
We will be learning how to identify different plants and trees in the Oakland area, finding out which are native and which are invasive. The students will be documenting the plants through various artist mediums (watercolor, colored pencil, acrylic, etc.) in their sketchbook. We will be making our own pigment through foraged plant material and creating paint samples. Campers will be learning about modern and contemporary artists who highlight the natural world in their work and trying to copy their different techniques like Monet and Richard Mayhew. This is a camp focused on color through painting and plant knowledge, bridging art and botany.
SURREAL WATERCOLOR
ONE WEEK CAMP • 6/12 – 6/16 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 6-8 • $450 – $600
Explore painting with watercolor, make your own paints with natural materials and delve into drawing. Students will get creative with paint, learn about techniques like wet on wet, wax resistance, and blooming. Students will use the natural environment to discover plein air painting, explore flora and fauna, and still life with natural forms. By the end of the week campers will have a working knowledge of watercolor, painting, and more!

CARPENTRY
TWO WEEK CAMP
6/12 – 6/23 & 6/26 – 7/7 (no camp 7/4) 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Ages 6-13 • $1000 – $1300
If you can imagine it you can build it! Campers will learn to use a complement of hand tools in a course that stresses respect for others, respect for tools, safe tool use, practical problem-solving and creative development. Projects increase in difficulty as experience grows, beginning with toy boats and working up to full-sized furniture and professional skateboards.
CREATIVE CREATURES
ONE WEEK CAMP • 6/19 – 6/23 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 7-10 • $450 – $600
Embark on an epic adventure exploring the creatures and critters all around us and in our imaginations. Artists will use their findings to invent fantastic beasts and mythical animals and tell their tales!. Using recycled materials, papier mache, puppetry, and sewing, inventors will sculpt their creatures and build their very own habitats. Let The Wild Rumpus Start!
CREATIVE TECH:
ROBOTICS & MUSIC PROTOTYPING
ONE WEEK CAMP • 6/26 – 6/30 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 8-11 • $450 – $600
In this STEAM class, we’ll explore the world of creative technology! You’ll use design materials and edtech tools like Makey Makey, Scratch and robotics tools to design solutions to engineering challenges. The projects for this year’s camp are inspired by robotics, coding, music production and beat making! We will build our own robots and design mazes for them, prototype music creation devices like drum machines and electronic pianos, and use Scratch to create video game controllers for some of your favorite video games.
STOP MOTION
ONE WEEK CAMP • 7/3 – 7/7 (no camp 7/4) • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 8-10 • $450 – $600
Tap into the incredible practice of stop-motion film production and technique using play doh and clay. Animation camp contains everything students need to create their own, individual movies, including top-quality clay, fun-to-use software, cameras and amazing curriculum that turns anyone into a filmmaker.
FAB LAB:
CARDBOARD CONTRAPTIONS
ONE WEEK CAMP • 7/10 – 7/14 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 8-11 • $450 – $600
Join a community of makers and turn recycled materials and found objects into masterpieces. Make a car, hybrid animal that moves, a piggy bank, or board game. Anything you can think of! This camp inspires you to problem solve, explore new ideas, and experiment with concepts of construction, engineering, and design. Learn more advanced design ideas to up your game with Makedos – Make it and share with your friends in class.
COMICS AND ZINES
ONE WEEK CAMP • 7/17 – 7/21 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 7-10 • $450 – $600
Create and publish your own story! Tell your own tale! In this camp, we will explore the world of visual storytelling. Campers will be introduced to basic concepts of cartooning, inking, storyboards, and more. They will also learn the cultural and social history of Zines and comics, using artists and collectives like Riot Grrrl, Lynda Barry, Kate Bingaman Burt, and others, campers will make and share their work with their peers and the larger community.
EXPRESS YOURSELF
ONE WEEK CAMP • 7/24 – 7/28 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 11-13 • $450 – $600
Express Yourself this summer with art camp! Our week-long summer art camps for youth entering 6th to 8th graders will develop their art skills while having a great time in a warm and supportive environment. Projects will be both challenging and exciting -designed for the creative who wants to explore new techniques and media with a desire to grow their own voice. Working from photographs and other reference materials, students will learn to paint vivid landscapes, self portraits on canvas, and build rich collages and 3D art.
ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS
ONE WEEK CAMP • 7/31 – 8/4 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Ages 7-10 • $450 – $600
Put on your lab coat, and join this experiment-based camp to learn to identify patterns in nature, and explore ecosystem types. Students will meet unique animals, explore compost, and learn the physiology of simple organisms. Explorers will look at a variety of taxonomic groups and make connections across the tree of life. On nature walks, we will see how various organisms adapt to unique urban environments and design mixed media art projects based on who we meet and what we discover.
GENERAL CAMP INFO
Daily Camp Schedule:
Daily Drop off/pick up
9:00 am — Drop Off
9:05 am — Morning Meeting — All Campers
9:15 – 10:45 am — Project A
10:45 – 11:15 am — Snack Time & Free Play
11:15 – 12:00 pm — Project A cont.
12:00 – 1:00 pm — Lunch & Free Play/Choice/Games outdoors
1:00– 3:00 pm* — Afternoon session Project A/B
*4:00 pm end time for Carpentry Camps
Friday Afternoon Art Show:
Every Friday afternoon we will highlight some of the creative work from the week with an outdoor gallery exhibit. Distancing protocols will be enforced.
Aftercare:
For our camps that end at 3:00 pm, we offer one hour of aftercare for $25/hr until 4:00 pm. We are unable to provide aftercare for our Carpentry camps that end at 4:00 pm.
You will use the same portal for registering for camp to also purchase aftercare. You can purchase at time of registration or after registration, closer to the start of camp. We also offer drop in as needed.
SLIDING SCALE PRICING
All JCAS classes are made available to families on a sliding scale. Families choose the amount they are able to pay, considering the top end of our scale is how much it costs us to run the class. We encourage families to help support our efforts to make programs available to those in need.
If the sliding scale prices are still out of your family’s budget, please email us at [email protected] for financial aid. All requests for financial aid must be made before April 15th.
REFUND POLICY
All purchases include a $100 non-refundable deposit to cover administrative costs.
If you are unable to attend a class you have registered for and have to cancel for any reason you can request a credit for 100% of the purchase amount, less the $50 non-refundable deposit. The credit can be applied to another class or camp with a start date no later than one calendar year from the date your original class was slated to begin.
You may also request a refund as follows:
If you cancel prior to four weeks from the start date of the class you are registered for, you can receive a 100% refund less a $100 non-refundable deposit.
If you cancel within four weeks from the start date of the class you are registered for, you can receive a 50% refund less a $100 non-refundable deposit.
If you cancel within two weeks from the start date of the class you are registered for no refunds are offered.
Unfortunately, because spots are limited, no credit is given for partial attendance. No portion of the tuition will be refunded if the child is absent, withdrawn, or otherwise fails to complete the activity.