Maker Camp Student Showcase Now Open to Public at Sorenson Center's Lyndsley Wilkerson Gallery
Kenzo Tillitt and Bridger Thorne, assistants in the USU Arts Access program, pose with Ian Lopez
and Micah Larson, participants in the 2024 Maker Camp. Larson's animation video (shown in
background) incorporates sound design with voices recorded by fellow camp participants.
The Maker Camp Student Showcase, an exhibition that features artworks created by Cache Valley students who participated in the summer Maker Camp at USU, is being displayed in the Lyndsley Wilkerson Gallery.
The gallery, located on the first floor of the Sorenson Legacy Foundation Center on the USU campus in Logan, is open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit will run through July 15.
The Maker Camp is an annual summertime event for middle school and high school students supported by the CHAOS (Culture, History, and Art Originating in STEM) Learning Lab, which is housed in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. The Maker Camp is a collaborative project between the CHAOS Lab and USU Arts Access, a program in the Caine College of the Arts. This year, the CHAOS Lab provided the location and many of the supplies for the participants. Activities were facilitated by USU Arts Access Program staff.USU Arts Access was endowed by Beverley Taylor Sorenson to create open opportunities to experience art, express creativity and foster collaboration, with an emphasis on bringing the arts to students with disabilities. USU Arts Access began its programming in 2013.
“The camp hopes to provide participants with a space where they can safely and freely express themselves, build confidence in their creativity and feel a sense of belonging,” said Kenzo Tillitt, senior assistant in the USU Arts Access program. “At camp, we facilitate several projects. This year, they included metal embossing, symmetrical bug paintings, cyanotypes and collage poetry. These projects expand the horizons of participants and give them interactions with artistic mediums they may be unaware of, stretching their creative wings.”
Some creative projects at the Maker Camp included animation and sound design.
“This year we were able to purchase four iPads and Apple Pencils, where participants interested in animation were able to create animations using Procreate software,” Tillett said. “We have staff members experienced with Procreate and digital art who guided newcomers through the process so it’s less overwhelming. Learning to animate or even just draw digitally is a lot to take on. Several of these participant animations are on display as a part of the exhibit.”
A few of the animation projects involved sound design where artists either recorded sounds themselves or downloaded royalty-free sound effects and added them to their animations.
“This led to a few students taking interest in and getting involved in voice acting at camp,” Tillett said. “We also had students interested in making music, where they got experience recording and generating music in the program FL Studio.”
The Maker Camp is open to Cache Valley students age 12 to 17. Students interested in participating in a Maker Camp for summer 2026 may join a waitlist by sending an email to a02076275@usu.edu.