By Blake Moren

The Chisholm Trail Arts Council will host its annual Arts Explosion week July 15-19 at the Stephens County Fair and Expo Center. Seats for the camp for young artists are filling up quickly.
CTAC executive director Darcy Reeves said there will be a western theme to this year’s Art Explosion. There will be three groups of students. The first group will be students from the third to fifth grade. For this group, their hours are from 9 a.m. to noon. It will cost $70.
The second group will consist of students from kindergarten to the second grade. Group two is full and the group’s hours are from 1-2:45 p.m. Group three is also full and will consist of students from the sixth to the twelfth grade. Their hours are 3-5 p.m.
Those teaching at Art Explosion are Cash Wheeler, Pam Ferguson (former teacher), Trey Hayes (Governor’s Award recipient from Tishamingo), Abbie McQuinn, Josh Conway (owner of Missing Bristles), Alyssa Cox (former CTAC Assistant), Steven Dixon (with Second Chance Ranch and CTAC artist).
Teachers that are returning include Arlyn Brantley (Marlow High School art teacher), Lacy Burch, Stephanie Jeffords (retired Colonel), Jana Oakman and Sharon Banks (Empire elementary teacher).
Brantley is going to teach a pottery class and Wheeler is going to teach drawing and sketching. Banks is going to teach watercolor and acrylic. The second group will learn about watercolors, and the third group will learn about American Indian art and history, macrame and printmaking.
There will be a family night on July 19 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. During this, families and friends can view the students’ artwork. Any student that registers later than July 1 will be given a $10 late fee.
For additional information, call 580-252-4160. If you want to register, go to https://chisholmtrailarts.com/programs/arts-explosion/.