Founder Fire
Artists enkindle creative communities
February 19, 2025
The American Youth Foundation strives to create vibrant, expressive spaces for its camp communities, and this year, it bolstered those efforts through new artist-in-residence programs at Miniwanca and Merrowvista.
Vice President of Advancement Sandra George said the AYF welcomed three talented creators to spend one to two weeks on site this summer, teaching interest groups to campers and working on their own art.
“This new program is designed for creative professionals to share their passion and expertise with our campers and staff,” George said.
At Merrowvista, mosaic artist Lizz Van Saun took up a one-week residency and worked with campers to create their own small-scale mosaic pieces.
“I think everyone had fun,” Van Saun said. “Everyone felt successful. Everyone completed the project. They seemed to really love it a lot. And I think they were really proud of what they did.”
At Miniwanca, artist and Lake Michigan neighbor Jeffrey Meeuwsen recruited the camp’s two artists this summer: Yolanda Gonzalez and Regin Igloria.
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Gonzalez specializes in illustration, fine art, printmaking, and painting. She helped campers design and carve their own printmaking blocks. Gonzalez said it was fun to then watch the campers use each other’s blocks to come up with patterns that they printed on fabric headbands.
She said she had no idea what to expect out of this unique residency but enjoyed immersing herself in camp life. “There’s just something special about the joy that you get from the community there,” she said. “I’m still making artwork from the experience. I think that’s really special, when there’s just a whole lot of intensity for those two weeks and you just want to create more and more afterwards.”
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Igloria said he has participated in about eight other residencies across the country and overseas, so he was excited to find an experience different from anything he had done.
Igloria specializes in artistic bookbinding and describes himself as a multidisciplinary artist mostly focusing on drawings and collages. He hosted introduction classes to creating zines and bookmaking.
“It was nice to just jump in, throw a couple of techniques and concepts at the campers, and see where they went,” Igloria said.
“And what always tends to happen when I introduce books to people who have never made books – which is a really wonderful thing – is that they want to give it to somebody they love and care about as a gift, so they put all this time, effort, and energy into it.”
Meeuwsen will continue to assist the Minwianca team as it plans and designs its own centennial artworks at Girls Camp and Boys Camp. All three artists said they’re excited to see where the residency program grows from here. “The framework and overarching premise of an encouraging environment is already in place, so it lends itself well to this,” Van Saun said.
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