C.A.M.P.S
Creative Artists Migrant Program Services
Monotype Workshop, 2021
Creative Artists Migrant Program Services, or CAMPS, was founded in 1975 through the Geneseo Migrant Center by Director, Dr. Gloria Mattera, Bob Lynch, and Sylvia Kelly, with a mission to offer free art workshops to migrant farmworkers and families in Western New York, who are predominantly Hispanic. This successful program moved to the GVCA in 2020 under Coordinator, Julia Stewart-Bittle. It continues to bring arts instruction directly to workers who live in geographic and cultural isolation on farms miles away from towns, often with no transportation nor access to arts opportunities.
About the program:
Julia schedules workshops around 12-hour work shifts providing complimentary art materials and supplying interpretation where necessary. Workshops consist of two-hour sessions conducted one day a week, for 3 to 5 weeks. We offer a variety of artistic disciplines, such as ceramics, drawing, collage, photography, piñata making, Ojos de Dios and yarn painting, polymer clay projects, and drum making. In 2021, we welcomed several new artists into our program who taught workshops, such as weaving, wool felting, metal embossing, decorative beading, and printmaking.
The CAMPS program is making full use of the GVCA galleries by mounting special exhibits of art by farmworkers. So far, we have presented “Hand Picked: Art Expression of Farmworkers Who Feed Us” (2018), “From the Heart: Historical and Contemporary Migrant Art” (2020), and “Connecting By Design” (2021). We are continuing to plan for future arts instruction at farms and in migrant education agency summer programs, special projects, and exhibits through funding by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), and Rochester Area Community Foundation (RACF).
In Julia Stewart-Bittle’s words:
“I have been a CAMPS instructor for the past 21 years. The experience of teaching at the farms, and in the Oswego migrant education agency’s summer program for kids, has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.
When I gave my first mandala drawing workshop for three farmworkers at Jenkins/Auklands Farm in Steuben County in July of 2000, I was surprised that it was such a long drive! I was used to staying home in Geneseo, taking care of my young son, and painting in my studio. Little did I know that the farms were so far away… When I arrived, I walked up to the door of an old trailer and knocked. The door was opened by the interpreter, Guadalupe Parks (she was their English teacher), and with a big smile, she introduced me to 3 young men: ages 19, 18 and 16. We had a terrific session. They were willing to draw, even though they had never had the chance before. They did really well that first time and they were so focused, you could hear a pin drop. Also, they were very shy and very sweet. That was it for me ~ when I drove away, I was hooked and in love with the program! My heart felt enormous and I couldn’t wait to go back and give them the next lesson. As it turned out, one of the workers didn’t quite finish his drawing, but the other two men did. Bob Lynch, Geneseo Migrant Center Director, was so impressed that he purchased the men’s drawings for $50 each. They were astounded and so happy and excited when I handed them their checks!
This is what the program does for participants. For people who are so used to living life as ‘invisible,’ this gives them the opportunity to try new things and have fun, to be acknowledged, and to be recognized as special, as people who not only feed our country, but who can also contribute artistically, given the opportunity, through the CAMPS program’s exhibits at the GVCA.”
