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WINTER SCHEDULE 2011
14 Aug. 2011
Registration Open Now! Ages 5-12
Jan. 2012
Fall 2011 Highlights and Art Show
4 Jan. 2012
Noelle and Everett in the studio
4 Jan. 2012
My niece and nephew come for some fun in the studio. They painted a house, made sparkle pictures, bracelets, and played with the light table... could have spent all day in there!
Becoming Mad Scientists
4 Jan. 2012
How art and science can collide in the studio.
Wooden Sculpture
3 Jan. 2012
The boys started by painting their bases of plywood with bright bold colours. They then happily dug through the bins ...
Haunted Houses
3 Jan. 2012
I’ve been noticing a real sense of humor emerging in Max and Hugo, along with a willingness to learn, to ...
More Dollhouses.
3 Jan. 2012
This is a project that I have been doing with little girls for years. Watching their imaginations zoom in to a miniature scale, where clam shells are kitchen sinks and old mardi gras necklaces are bead curtains, never gets old. This time I tried to provoke conversation about houses, and here's what it sounded like.
CORKS!
3 Jan. 2012
What to do, what to do, with so so so many corks....
Aug. 2011
A Poet's Life
30 Aug. 2011
Another book project with the wonderful group of grade 4 students that I work with. This book was an expression of who each student was. They wrote beautiful and honest poetry, supplied their favourite lines from other poems they had written, and made incredible collages of their most prized possessions as the layout for each page. The quality and diversity of each student's contribution is amazing.
Cardboard Fish
30 Aug. 2011
Just like the bugs, but with fish! The kids had more fun playing with them after they were made. Now that's some fun art!
Splatter Paint Pine-Cones
30 Aug. 2011
With the giant tree in my yard always dropping the biggest pine-cones you've ever seen, we just had to go crazy on the driveway splatter painting them!
August 2011 Camp Highlights
30 Aug. 2011
8 hard working young artists gathered at Shyness and Bloom this August. We had so much fun making squirrels, name plaques, cardboard fish, beach collages, splatter-paint pine cones, canvas paintings, plywood and nail art, and more. So incredibly fun. Wish it didn't have to end!
Beach Treasure Hunt
25 Aug. 2011
We walked down to the beach one sunny afternoon and collected all sorts of natural beach treasures. Then we came back to the studio and arranged them to make these beachy collages! Simple elegance.
Squirrels!
25 Aug. 2011
The kids were able to quickly and easily form the basic shape of a squirrel with paper mache and an over-turned cup, and then went "nuts" when it was time to add the finishing details. We had a hardcore earring and leather jacket wearing squirrel, a few crazy hats, a squirrel with a giant grin,one with long blonde hair, and lo and behold, it turned out to be one totally cool gang of squirrels. We did this project again in the next summer camp, and this time we even had a squirrel turn into a boot, and one into a toucan! Anything can happen here!
June 2011
June 2011 Camp Highlights
25 June 2011
We had 6 girls in the morning, and 3 more arrived for the afternoon. This week was busy busy busy! We experimented with all sorts of mediums, most worked, but one did not. We spent an afternoon building a city at the beach, and pretty much had the time of our lives... Thanks for the fun, ladies! Here are some photos that capture some of the arty fun.
Quilts
25 June 2011
Many hours of love, perseverance, and creativity went into these beautiful handmade quilts. The girls individually made their own patches using iron on transfers, a realm of fabric bits and pieces, ribbon, buttons, felt, and their own handmade tie-dye patches.
Ted Harrison Inspired Paintings
25 June 2011
Inspired by Ted Harrison’s style, the kids painted in bright bold beautiful colors in acrylic and experimented with a variety of textures including lentils, rice, pasta and yarn to create depth in their colorful paintings.
Bottle Cap Initials
25 June 2011
Sparkles, jewels, glitter, oh my! The girls decorated their first initials using a variety of fun colorful sparkly what-nots. They then decided to create a saying, using the letters they made…LIFE IS ART IN PARADISE, LIVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!
Little Village
25 June 2011
The girls built themselves houses and jumped right into them with their wild and hilarious imaginations. There were hammocks and hot-tubs, draw-bridges, and swings! They then made little people out of wire and yarn to live in their houses. And I am not quite sure if they spend more time creating their houses, or more time playing with them. What a great example of the best kind of kid art, something totally merged with what their play-time inspires, and where their imaginations naturally go…
Wood and Nails and....
25 June 2011
Plywood is one of my favourite materials to use in the studio, maybe because of the woodshop right next door, but I think there’s something special about wood, it just feels like something real. The girls drew a picture of their choice in crayon on a piece of plywood then painted a stain, hammered in nails and used yarn to complete the project. The kids came up with unique ways to decorate their nails too!
Needle felted pictures
25 June 2011
Needle felting is extremely satisfying. The more you stab your creation, the better, and more solid it gets. The girls had so much fun stabbing wool to create these wonderful pictures. Beautiful!
Mixing with Shades and Tints
25 June 2011
First printing their paper with black inky rings, the girls then chose a colour and added black and white paint to produce a range of shades and tints. Good practice for mixing, and learning about colour, and a good intro to the Ted Harrison inspired painting activity!
June 2011 Art Show
14 June 2011
Here are some pictures of the studio all set up for the Art Show! Well done to all the artists ...
The Ocean and The Ship
14 June 2011
This was a great project for Michael and Colin to work on together. Colin loves to draw, and Michael loves ...
Popsicle Stick Bird Houses
14 June 2011
This term Max and Hugo really took the lead in the direction of their classes. Being just the two of ...
A House, A Restaurant, And An Aquarium
14 June 2011
Right from the beginning, this project was lead by Lainey. She came up with the idea of making houses as the kids went through my supply of cardboard boxes. Her constant streams of ever-changing ideas and enthusiasm were infectious, and soon all three of them were excited about this new project.
Marble Tracks II
14 June 2011
What a great opportunity to yet again throw out all my plans, to embrace the adventure in following the lead of the child, and to have two brothers work together to build themselves a marble track.
Clouds
14 June 2011
Our journey up into the sky began with only a few simple instructions to create the soft foundation for which to land our highest flying ideas, our fantastical imaginings, and our soaring spirits. Clouds: Soft round shapes with cut cardboard tubing, lids, foam, and pearls. White, white, white.
Water Colours
14 June 2011
The kids were going to use their softly blended paintings as part of their clouds in the next project... so ...
Piggy Banks
14 June 2011
I thought that Max and Hugo were enjoying the masks, that is, until they began their piggy banks. Hugo started ...
Fan Brush Trees
13 June 2011
Good ol' Bob Ross. I owe this one to him...
Max's Portrait
13 June 2011
It is my hope that exploration of materials and enthusiasm for creating develops into an ability to communicate ideas, express emotions, or share with the world whatever they decide is important.
Teddy Bear Chairs
13 June 2011
I had laid out the materials: toilet paper rolls and cardboard squares. The kids began to pick up and check ...
Raining Rainbows
1 June 2011
Over the course of time that I have known Max and Hugo, I have seen the unfettered joy they express when simply being given the opportunity to explore materials...
May 2011
African Masks
27 May 2011
I wanted this project to give the kids a chance to adorn their imaginations with ideas and images of bold ...
Bird Houses and Mosaics at James Bay
17 May 2011
For the second year in a row, I was invited to take part in the James Bay Community School Gallery Gala! This is one of the most special events celebrating the arts and childhood creativity.
April 2011
A very sparkly Birthday
19 April 2011
For my birthday, I would like to make a mobile.....
Squirting and Pouring a Picture
19 April 2011
I had a collection of Frank’s Bottles and filled them up with acrylic mixed with water. How fun would it be to slosh out the paint to make colourful pictures? What would the kids learn? Let’s find out.
Our Imagination is In Our Hands
14 April 2011
What could you hold, if you could hold anything? During the Spring Break camp, we did a project that asked ...
