From the rainbow-painted cabinets to the clusters of children’s artwork scattered throughout the room, the headquarters of Kent & Kaboodle, an art camp, is a quintessential art classroom.
For 46 years, Mary Ellen Green and Sanlyn Kent taught kindergarten, first grade and art in Dallas ISD. But it’s from the comfort of Kent’s Preston Hollow home where the now-retired duo teach art.
The pair met when they were 12 years old. Green moved to Dallas and her mom started the Girl Scout troop Kent joined before starting their teaching careers in Dallas ISD.
Growing up with Pennsylvania Dutch grandparents, Kent’s family prioritized the practical. After graduating high school, her mother told Kent that she could either be a secretary, a nurse or a teacher.
“During the 50s and 60s, women’s opportunities to be professional were very limited,” Kent says. “If it hadn’t been for teachers, I would’ve had some really stupid job.”
Years later, they separated to go to different colleges before starting their careers at Dallas ISD.
“The second year I was [teaching at Withers] I was sitting in the library, doing the orientation stuff, and in walks Sanlyn,” Green says.
From that moment on, the pair has been inseparable.
While teaching at DeGolyer Elementary School, teachers were required to contribute to an auction hosted by the Dad’s club to raise money for school dances. Green and Kent decided to team up and auction off an art camp.
And they continued to do so every year until they retired in 2011.
The decision to retire was an easy one, the pair says. Teacher workloads, changing academic standards and increased reliance on standardized testing effectively changed the job.
But they see their continued camps as the opportunity to continue teaching, and to provide an intensive art experience that most kids aren’t able to get in school.
“When you’re in public school, you only have little tiny bits of time with the kids. And sometimes it’s a week apart, sometimes it’s two weeks apart, and you spend most of your time reminding them what it was you were working on two weeks ago,” Kent says. “I can accomplish a year’s worth of progress in one week of 20 hours.”
The camp sessions focus on “everything,” whether it’s culturally oriented or a deep dive into the work of one artist. Camps and classes have included painting, clay, drawing, weaving — “everything imaginable.”
During the summer, the classes follow a new theme each week with themes like Greek mythology, ancient Egypt, Van Gogh and modern art. One week focused on David Bates, a local artist known for work done in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
The summer camps serve children in grades first through seventh, with minicamps in November and December for Christmas-themed classes creating nativity scenes, angels or Christmas villages.
One mother of four sons has enrolled the boys in Christmas camp for several years in a row, encouraging them to make clay figure angel choirs to pass out as gifts to the family. They also add on to the family’s clay Nativity scene each year, and have “made it to the wise men.”
Kent teaches the classes, while Green is the “organizer,” Kent says. “Without her we wouldn’t be here.”
Kent also volunteers with the Dallas Museum of Art giving tours.
“The DMA is an encyclopedic museum, which means we’ve got just about every culture in the world,” Kent says. “I love to compare the different cultures, talking about how some things never change.”
After almost seven decades of friendship, the loss of their husbands and retiring from their semicentennial careers, the pair continue to feel they are making a positive difference in their students’ lives.
And they’re doing it all alongside their best friend.
“It’s kind of funny, because we’ve known each other for so long,” Green says. “When we irritate each other real good, it’s like sisters arguing.”
Those interested in taking classes or signing their children up for summer camp can check out the Facebook page, Kent N Kaboodle for more information on registration. Summer camps cost $200 for the week. Holiday classes cost $100.
