Children's artwork to be auctioned for Arts Center

Are you needing a new painting for your living room? Maybe you need a new knick-knack box, or a stuffed snake ...

An artistically stuffed snake, at that.

On Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the Fly's gallery, you have the chance to bid on these works of art. All money raised will benefit the Bedford County Arts Council.

The 22 children at the Fly Cultural Arts Center's summer art camp have made these items, and many, many more.

"They've made at least four pieces a day, sometimes five," said Gina Witten, the instructor, a professional artist from Wartrace. "Each child is going to donate at least two pieces to the auction."

The camp has been going on all week and ends Friday. The children, ages 6 to 12, have learned how to create with clay, paint, glass beads, and, naturally, being a summer camp, craft sticks.

But they've also been using some more unusual materials as well.

"We've used foam plates, old neckties. We try to recycle as much as we can," said Gina.

The neckties were turned into the snakes, wildly colored critters with googly eyes and whimsical grins. It was Gillian Leverette's favorite project so far.

"I liked making the airplanes and I liked making the snakes the most," she said. "It was really fun. I'm naming my snake Kyra."

"I like the ink thing," said her pal Jiren Vondran. "We made a picture out of ink. My second favorite is the bubbles, it's cool."

A bubble machine was churning out its iridescent product in one corner of the Fly's basement, where the art camp is being held. Tinted different colors, when the bubbles were popped against the children's canvases, faint patterns appeared. They then made larger, brighter patterns by blowing bubbles onto their canvases with straws.

Helping Gina this year are sisters Jessica and Jasmine Phillips. This is the first time in about 20 years that Gina has taught a children's art camp and she's learned as much as they have.

"Next year, we will divide it into different age groups," she said. "The response has really been good this year."

The young art students only had one word to describe all of their teachers.

"Awesome!"

Some of the activities have been pretty awesome, too. The children made their own treasure maps -- and their own treasures, which will be hidden and hunted today. Each "treasures" was encased in a sphere of clay, salt and dirt that looks a lot like, well -- anyone living in horse country knows what they looked like.

But the spheres will harden overnight and become like geodes. When the children find them, they will crack the spheres open and reveal the hidden treasures.

"It's a lot of fun," said Ella Cobb, another art camper. She doesn't mind donating some of the work to the auction.

"It's a great thing," she said. "It will help the Fly and the art studio."