Sandra Coombs has headed the Armory Art Center’s school and galleries since 2009, following six years as director of the American Museum of Britain in Bath, England. She has also worked at the Norton Museum of Art and Flagler Museum in Palm Beach.

She and her husband, Paul, an English abstract painter, live in SoSo, the West Palm Beach neighborhood south of Southern Boulevard on the city’s east side.

What’s going on at the Armory this summer?

We’re in the middle of our summer arts camp for kids, which this year has been broadened to include children ages 2 to 4 1/2. We’re really starting their exposure to art early. Called My Little Artist and Me, it’s a drop-in program on Tuesday and Friday mornings for a child with a parent. We even have little smocks for them. This year, we have more than 450 students, from 5 to 17, enrolled in our regular summer art camp.

How does art instruction impact kids even if they aren’t going to become artists?

I think being able to create something when you’re young builds self-esteem and critical-thinking skills. When you’re working with your hands, you have to concentrate and be focused, with the advantage of taking home a nice little project at the end of the week. Two weeks ago, they made bento boxes and even made the “sushi” that went inside them.

What art do you collect?

I collect Greek and Roman antiquities, mostly ceramics but some small bronzes, as well. My favorite piece is a gold ring I wear on my pinkie finger with an image of a stag. It dates from about 500 B.C. from Athens. It’s never coming off my finger. I also love my husband’s paintings which are all around the house.