Hannah Flathau makes shrubbery for the outside of her clay home Monday as fellow campers from left, Damita Appleton, Meryl McDaniel and Sydney Albritton look on during the summer art studio camp at WCHS.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[7/8/03]Hannah Flathau, 4, proudly showed her clay house, declaring, “It’s where a princess would live.”

It was, in fact, fit for royalty, with a crown replacing a roof.

Hannah is one of the 65 participants in the Summer Art Studio, a weeklong art camp for students up to age 18. This camp, run by Randy Jolly, Nancy Watkins and Kathy Gibson, is focusing on The Art of Fine Crafts, including clay, wood and batik creations.

“I think it gives (the students) a chance to see what they can use: imagination and hands to make something original,” Watkins said.

The Summer Art Studio had to move this year, from Vicksburg’s Old Constitution Firehouse because of renovations going on there, to Warren Central High School.

“We are really enjoying the facilities,” Jolly said. He is an art teacher at Warren Central; all of the instructors for the camp are experienced art teachers.

Watkins splits her time between Vicksburg Junior High and Warren Junior High. Gibson is an art teacher at Vicksburg High School.

The camp begins at 8:30 each morning with class for 5- to 8-year-olds. During the camp, students will make jewelry, collages and clay objects. They have a snack at 10 a.m., and camp ends at noon.

Travis Hall, 8, came to the camp as a visitor, but decided to stay because “you get to use your imagination.”

“It is not like anything else, you don’t have to be instructed.”

Afternoons at the Summer Art Studio are filled with more advanced projects for the 9- to 18-year-old students, including greater contact with the clay wheel to make clay pots.

A reception on Friday will allow all of the students to “show off their work,” Jolly said.

He said art instruction gives kids “avocations, hobbies and stress relief.”