Colouring Outside Your Mind Spring '12 Day 4

In the final session of the Colouring Outside Your Mind winter workshop, the students began with a warmup exercise to get the creative juices flowing.  They drew into styrofoam, and then used acrylic paint and gel medium to paint the "plate" and make quick prints onto black paper...so fun, and very addictive!

After this exercise, they dove right into the task of cutting and ripping and gluing together fragments of the many different painted surfaces that they had created over the previous 3 sessions...this final session is called "the art of putting things together."

Using gel medium as "glue," the students were encouraged to simply begin, and to evaluate their piece after they had something to critique.

It is helpful to look at the composition from different sides, to turn the piece, even as you work, to consider other angles that might work better compositionally.  Rather than thinking about the piece as a whole, it often works to "crop" the larger piece into smaller compositions, and to continue building on each piece independently.

Acrylic paint was added to develop areas further, to cover up parts that the students didn't like, and to tie the whole piece together.  The final "layer" of oil pastel and/or grease pencil was added to highlight certain shapes and areas of colour or texture.  The final products from this exercise are abstract and fabulous...see for yourself!

Thinking Outside the Canvas Spring '12 Day3

Here are the collograph prints made during the last class...

On Day3, "Mapping the Mind," the students did a warmup exercise using words, but in a visual way.  They created a stream-of-consciousness mind-map, beginning with one word inspired by the image they brought with them, and branching out into a network of words, thoughts and feelings.  

Then Sarah demonstrated how an idea for a piece of art can arise from looking at everyday objects in a slightly different way.  We zoomed in on a map, looking for a piece of cartography that when enlarged, becomes an abstract series of lines and symbols.  The students drew these lines on paper, and then painted with acrylic paint... 

The last exercise involved listening to a series of instructions on drawing a series of lines and shapes in a particular order, and then painting these in.  The "image" the students were drawing was an aerial view of (loosely) the Capilano watershed.

Despite the fact that the students were all following the same sequence, it is amazing how different their final products were...

And last, before leaving for the evening, the students added another layer to their ongoing piece of canvas, in this case torn or cut pieces of old maps.  These were adhered to the canvas with gel medium.

Xwalacktun (Rick Harry) receives the Order of BC

It was recently announced that artist, friend of Artists for Kids and Squamish Nation member, Xwalacktun (Rick Harry) will receive the Order of British Columbia in a ceremony at Government House in Victoria on September 6, 2012. Xwalacktun's work is known both locally and internationally. Congratulations!

http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/squamish-nation-artist-to-receive-order-of-bc/Content?oid=2303542

We're Moving!

It's almost time; our move is happening soon.  The last day in the current location is Friday, June 8.  Our offices will open at 2121 Lonsdale on Monday, June 11 with the gallery opening on October 13.  If you need to contact us, the phone numbers are staying the same.

Thinking Outside the Canvas Spring '12 Day 2

The second class of the Thinking Outside the Canvas adult art class began with pushing paint around on gessoed paper to create a colour field upon which the students will build additional layers over the next two classes.  The final piece will be a mixed media collage loosely based on an image/photo that each student brought to the class to serve as inspiration and reference for many of the exercises.

This class was all about print-making, starting with basic inkblots using india ink and acrylic paint, and then working into these with oil pastels.  We also did direct transfers by drawing into thin sheets of styrofoam and then painting these with acrylics...the results were amazing, and the process simple, but addictive!

The last printing we did was using a collograph as a plate, inking up the plates with Speedball ink,  and running them through the press...always a bit of a mystery when pulling the print off the plate!  There will be more images of these prints in next week's blog post.

Robert Davidson Art installed at New Gallery

Our move is getting closer and preparations are well under way.  Today, the sculpture "Meeting at the Center" by Robert Davidson was installed outside our new location on Lonsdale.  It's sure to be a focal point in the outside area.