St. Clement’s Island Museum is opening registration for its popular “Art Kids” summer class series, offering young Southern Maryland artists two rounds of hands-on sessions this month and next.
The program invites children ages 7 to 14 to experiment with drawing, painting, simple weaving, sculpting and other creative projects, with students also reflecting on how art can make a positive impact on their communities. Every session sends participants home with a finished piece of original artwork to share with family and friends. Sessions are scheduled for Aug. 24-27 and Sept. 14-17, with preregistration required and a $7 per-child fee covering all materials; families are asked to bring a light snack for their child. Museum officials are encouraging families to sign up soon, since past sessions have filled quickly.
The Art Kids program has run at the Colton’s Point museum for years, evolving from a series originally known as St. Clement’s Island Museum Art Kids, or SCIMAK, that dates back to at least 2019. For much of that run, the classes were taught by local artist Ellen Duke Wilson, who returned to lead the program multiple years running; museum staff have credited her with helping build the series into one of the museum’s most consistently popular children’s offerings. In some past years, finished student artwork was featured in a public exhibit tied to the museum’s annual Children’s Day celebration, giving young artists a chance to see their work displayed alongside their peers’.
St. Clement’s Island Museum sits on the mainland shore across from St. Clement’s Island in the Potomac River, near the site where Maryland’s first English colonists landed in 1634 aboard the Ark and the Dove. The museum is one of four sites overseen by the St. Mary’s County Museum Division, which the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County established to collect, preserve, research and interpret the historic sites and artifacts that document the natural and cultural history of St. Mary’s County and the Potomac River. The division’s other sites include the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum, the Old Jail Museum in Leonardtown and the Drayden African American Schoolhouse, each reflecting a different chapter of the county’s history.
Registration and additional information on this year’s Art Kids sessions is available by contacting Olivia Flack with the Museum Division at Olivia.Flack@stmaryscountymd.gov. General information on museum hours, programs, events and admission is available on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCIMuseum.
The program adds to a summer calendar of children’s programming across the county’s museum sites, part of a broader push by the Museum Division to give young residents hands-on ways to engage with local history and culture outside the traditional classroom setting. Officials with the division have said programs like Art Kids are intended to build both artistic skills and a sense of connection to the region’s history and natural surroundings, giving children an outlet to explore creativity while learning about the community they call home.
The museum itself remains a popular family destination beyond its children’s programming, offering exhibits on the region’s colonial history, its watermen heritage and the natural environment of the lower Potomac River. Visitors can also take a water taxi from the museum’s mainland site to St. Clement’s Island itself, home to a replica of the historic Blackistone Lighthouse and a monument marking Maryland’s founding landing site, giving families who attend Art Kids classes an easy opportunity to explore the broader museum grounds during their visit.
