June 22-26, 2026:  Join CoastX in our Creative Arts journey encompassing the beauty and challenges of our coastal region.  Utilizing various shoreline locations as our plein air studio, we will explore color, texture, and form through a variety of art media and techniques including: cyanotype, acrylic and watercolor painting, journaling, cellphone photography, and more. 

Students will not only be engaging with the coast via transportation aboard the M/V Utopia, but will explore Wood Island Life Saving Station (CoastX Premiere Partner), and other locales for a hands-on experience with all that our coastal environment offers. We will also have the unique opportunity to observe underwater environs and creatures utilizing the CoastX ROV (underwater drone), and by participating in hauling lobster traps with a local lobsterman. 

 Additionally, various guest artists and speakers will be joining us, offering their expertise and skills and encouraging students to gather and synthesize new knowledge and skills. Utilizing art experientials and journaling students will continue to expand their creative range. 

 As our week-long adventure comes to a close, students will have a chance to integrate their extensive understanding of the opportunities and obstacles facing our local marine system, and compose a final image showcasing their unique perspectives formulated throughout the program. 

Blue Immersion:  Developing Your Artistic Voice

July 27-31, 2026:  Our rivers, shorelines, harbors, Islands, and the vast underwater environment all have stories to tell. As we observe, and listen, we can translate these stories into a unique visual language.  Art making offers us a powerful tool to not only give voice to the intricate and symbiotic relationship we have with the ocean and it’s marine ecology, but also provides us the opportunity to positively transform the future of our coast through a new form of dialogue.

We invite you to join the conversation by first becoming a keen observer of our coast. Students will be training their visual acuity as we venture out to explore Wood Island Life Saving Station (CoastX Premiere Partner) on the M/V Utopia, walk along the coast, attend guest speaker lectures, engage in the world below the ocean’s surface with our underwater drone (ROV), and learn new art techniques from local artists. Each moment engaging with the environment and immersing ourselves in a new kind of dialogue. 

Students will be offered many focused art experiences in order to identify and concentrate on how they can artistically translate the stories they gather on our daily excursions.  Throughout the week we will be learning and practicing new editing techniques to further refine photos,  Plein Air and studio painting with our guest artists, compiling art journal entries, and creating cyanotypes with found and natural objects. Students will be delving into the power of ART to "speak" by combining specific art and design elements.

As they begin to develop visual narratives, using their expanding artistic skills, students will add their voices to public discourse about environmental change. The week will culminate in a show of their final projects illustrating how they can create art to give voice to our coastal future.