Visual Arts
Watercolour and the Art of Seeing
With David McEown
Explore watercolour’s magical flowing spontaneity and essential techniques as you paint directly from nature. Enhance your perception, way of “seeing”, and connectedness to the earth with this travel-friendly medium. Enjoy a dynamic watercolour demonstration; exploring paint as a form of meditation and play. Uncover the secret hydrodynamics of watercolour paint and the brush work manipulation […]
Sketch by Sketch: Connecting with the World Through Drawing
With Emma FitzGerald
Learn to sketch without fear of making mistakes! Join celebrated author/illustrator, Emma FitzGerald as she leads participants through a series of exercises that build confidence and improves observation skills, while allowing for the happy accidents that make a drawing that speaks from the heart. Using pen and water colour paint, and working both together and […]
Untangled: Moving Past Fear in Knitting and Writing
With Matthew J. Trafford
Get unstuck in your creative project and grow beyond what's holding you back. Knitting and writing are both crafts that require working on projects for a long time. Stitch by stitch and word by word we build our creations, but sometimes this process can be overwhelming, intimidating, or paralyzing, leaving us stuck and frustrated. Grab […]
Contemplative Mind, Spontaneous Brush: Ink, Colour and Japanese Washi Papers
With Heather Midori Yamada
Relax body, breath and mind with short guided meditations and simple perceptual exercises. Follow brushwork demonstrations using Japanese sumi ink and watercolour on various Japanese washi papers (provided). Inspired by surrounding natural subject matter, and mixed media approaches of layering, tearing and collaging cultivate personal and unique expressions in abstract or naturalistic imagery. Deep intuitive […]
Nature Paints Itself
With Jeremy Herndl
What if the world created us humans to speak its names, sing its rivers and winds? What if nature paints itself, using our deft human hands and the tactility of sight to emulate its textures, colours and spaces? In this workshop we shall enter the space of nature, the garden, forest and ocean and paint […]
Slow Art, Somatic Practice, and Creative Rest
With Shauna Kaendo, Registered Art Therapist | BFA, RCAT and Trudi Smith, Registered Clinical Counsellor | MC, MA, PhD
Bringing our bodies into the conversation through creative process. In this therapeutic arts program, we get curious about what self-care practices can look and feel like both individually and in community. Through creative meanderings we will experiment with solo and collaborative art-making processes, for example, bilateral drawing, collage, watercolour, bookmaking, slow stitch, and somatic felting. […]
Cyanotypes on Fabric
With Sarah Fuller
This alternative photography workshop focuses on the historical Cyanotype photo process, using objects and plants from the Hollyhock ecosystem to create one-of-a-kind images on fabric. Participants will learn how to create Cyanotype prints on fabric and will be encouraged to use natural elements from the Hollyhock ecosystem to create photograms. A photogram is a photographic […]
SAORI: The Zen of Weaving
With Terri Bibby
"Terri flawlessly combined the techniques of SAORI with the philosophy. I didn’t want the week to end" - Past Participant Explore the beautiful SAORI weaving philosophy from Japan where there are no rules and no mistakes. This philosophy encourages you to “look out through eyes that shine” and see beauty in new ways. It places […]
Translating Science through Writing and Art in Times of “Climate Boiling”
With AM Kanngieser and Zoe Todd
In this time of boiling climate crisis we are inundated with data and information about the dire state of the world. But how do we tell these stories in ways that center our interconnectivity, interdependence and the power of our shared and common action? This four day intensive study will work with participants to build […]