School’s Out, Summer Camps In
Original Artifacts article by Mitzi Gordon
With the school year officially ended, summer camps are now moving into full swing. At the Dunedin Fine Art Center, summer camp classes offer creative learning in many forms. Todd Still’s inventive mind directs the magic in the classes. He just can’t stop repurposing, recycling, and reinventing.
“I’m constantly looking around at what’s available and how it can be tailored or used in the next exhibit,” he said. “It’s new and fresh every year. Also, it’s exciting interacting with teachers and students.”
Todd Still’s Imaginative Mind: Where Magic Happens
As Dunedin Fine Art Center’s Director of Youth Education, Todd is chief imaginer behind the interactive exhibits and educational programs that inspire kids year after year. This summer, Todd will lead his 21st camp for the art center, and his work in the David L. Mason Children’s Art Museum interactive gallery space continues to delight children and their families.
“Growing up, we were allowed to explore sports and music, and encouraged in whatever we did—we could never do any wrong,” Todd said. Those early years fostered an agile imagination, and the magic in his creativity stems from a childhood spent surrounded by diversely talented makers.
Todd has two brothers—one a photographer and one a painter, the notable Christopher Still of Tarpon Springs—and a musical therapist sister. Their mom excels at sewing and craft, and dad taught history. From him, Todd learned an appreciation for sharing knowledge.
“I am kind of a mix of all that,” said Todd, who teaches, administers, designs, fabricates … and even plays in a few bands during off hours.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in art education from USF, teaching elementary and middle school students in North Carolina before returning to Florida and joining the Leadership Pinellas Class of 2009.
DFAC Magic Springboard
At DFAC, gallery themes provide the springboard for Todd’s museum exhibits and the interactive activities he plans, including classes, school tours, summer arts camp, and family workshops.
Concepts may change from day to day, or week to week, as Todd discovers new materials to incorporate into projects. It’s an ongoing process of interacting with what’s available, problem-solving, and repurposing.
“Someone can come up and say, ‘Here are these two mannequins, I want to donate them. What can you do with them?’” he explained.
Todd is continually finding ways to meld digital and analog elements within the museum. In his toolbox are new technologies like DFAC’s interactive floor computers, touch-screen wall computers, seven iPads, green screens, and wall projectors, largely funded by the Pougialis-Anastakis Foundation for the Arts.
“It’s a nice mix of low-tech and high-tech experiences,” Todd said.
Visitors can get hands-on at stations incorporating Braille, musical instruments, and even canned scents.
“You use your sense of smell, and then draw what you think the smell is,” Todd said. “There are cabinets that you reach in and try to guess what the object is inside, and you draw that.”
Under blacklights at the listening station, kids form lumps of clay into glowing shapes inspired by sound.
“The whole idea is incorporating the senses and art,” Todd said. “I like to see kids creating. I enjoy teaching and watching the assistants grow in a mentorship role.”
Bring the whole family to the hands-on museum and explore Todd’s latest creations. Click here for hours and more information.
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