Art Matters -- Summer shimmers with art possibilities for kids

If you have access to a bucket of glitter deep enough to stick most of your arm into, I need to know about it.

Glitter is the essential element in any good art supply room. Of course you'll want crayons, construction paper and glue sticks, but it is the more exotic supplies that really get a girl's heart pumping. Googly eyes. Plastic craft lace. (You know, for those supremely cool keychain lanyards.) And plenty of sequins and glitter. In no circumstance is this truer than when you are an 8-year-old girl at summer camp.

The summer of '88 brought me to the important revelation that I was one of the finest crafters that Camp Crowell-Hilaka had ever seen. My tie-dyed T-shirt was mighty fine -- I had a designer's eye as to where to rubber-band the cotton fabric. The turquoise dreamcatcher I designed? Sparkly. Friendship bracelets, beaded necklaces and woven bookmarks rounded out my opus.

And that's not to even mention the puffy-painted T-shirts I designed for an important stage performance of The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian."

Though none of my work made it out of the '80s, I do believe the skills I learned experimenting with new materials and making creative choices emboldened me to apply those same lessons later in life. When you're creating something, you have total freedom to go in any direction you choose. But, once you make an artistic choice (say, selecting teal, purple and hot-pink embroidery floss for that important friendship bracelet), you are also forced, as Tim Gunn of "Project Runway" would say, to "make it work." Art teaches kids so many skills -- vision, follow-through and problem-solving are just a few.

Thankfully, even if your household lacks the requisite bucket-o'-glitter, you can find plenty of art opportunities through Allied Arts over the next month. The nonprofit organization's lineup of summer arts activities features classes like Chagall Pastel Dreamscapes and Creative Collages, and drama and dance camps, too. Or, if you're out and about in the community, I'm sure you'll see the ArtsVan out in full force. This summer's theme is "I'm a Hero," and kids can do free projects like creating their own superhero logos and heroic-cause posters. The ArtsVan is in local parks weekdays through July 29, and also at Franklin Park every Thursday night from July 7 through Aug. 11. You can also meet the van at the Yakima and Selah farmers markets.

Sure, no summer would be complete without trips to the pool, family barbeques or twilight games of freeze tag. (I hope kids still play freeze tag.) But making art is essential to the landscape of summertime, too. There's certainly no shortage of art-filled ways to let the kids in your life flex their creative muscles and learn a thing or two about themselves.

Just remember the glitter.

* Jessica Moskwa is general manager of Gilbert Cellars. Before that, she spent three years as executive director at Allied Arts of Yakima. She holds an MBA from Ohio University and a bachelor's of glitter from Camp Crowell-Hilaka.