VISUAL ARTS PROGRAMS
Details
* Each program consists of a series of half-day or full-day workshops
* Program length: one to ten workshops
* Implementation of many of the curriculum expectations from the Ontario Curriculum Guidelines for the Arts – Visual Arts
* Designed to link with many curriculum themes or subject areas
* Workshops can be adjusted to work within any space or environment
* Activities can be adjusted to accommodate any age/grade level of students
* Workshops can accommodate 8-35 students
* Fees per artist: $75 per day or $50 per half day workshop (some material fees may apply)
Workshop Choices
Mural Making
This workshop involves multiple days, where students design and paint panels that relate to a variety of chosen themes. Single or multi-paneled murals can be designed and installed permanently on any wall surface. The mural’s imagery and composition are developed in co-operation with the school or organization and the involved artist. This workshop choice can be designed to involve one class or up to the entire school’s or organization’s population (depending on the size and details of the request).
Youth X Press: Murals on TTC Buses
Participants will create murals depicting a theme of their choice, which will eventually be displayed on the sides of TTC buses serving Toronto. The buses become a mobile gallery, exhibiting the art created by the youth to audiences both in and beyond their own communities. The project gives youth a voice and empowers them to express that voice through visual messaging.
Healthy Living Lunchroom Transformation Programs
Participants will design murals that change school lunchrooms into child-centered, educational spaces that will inspire kids to make better food choices. Students have full input into the imagery, design selection, messaging and composition, giving participants an opportunity to make something tangible out of classroom health lessons. Each program has a formal unveiling to reinforce the “healthier choices” message to a broader audience, while participants act as excellent daily ambassadors for healthy living to their peers and families.
Drawing & Painting
This workshop employs the imagination by exploring innovative approaches to line and colour using subject images chosen by the participants. Integrating both unpredictable and regular art-making supplies, participants will create unique drawn and painted artworks.
Watercolour
In this workshop, participants will explore the medium of watercolor paints, which are more fluid and transparent than other paints. They will learn basic watercolor painting techniques such as wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry and dry-on-dry.
Modern Batik
This painting workshop involves the ancient cultural tradition of dying cloth with elaborate and colourful designs. Selected areas of the cloth are blocked out with stencils or wax, and the cloth is then dyed. After removing the stencil or wax, the flexible fabric artwork is ready for displaying or wearing.
Intergenerational Art Making: Meals on Wheels
This workshop bridges the gap between seniors and youth in the community. Young participants will create art pieces for the Meals on Wheels program, and the seniors who receive the art with their meals will also be invited to draw their own creative voice into the works to complete them. The program can been expanded to include seniors in a local Congregate Dining program, followed by a shared exhibition.
Graffiti Wall
This contemporary form of artmaking approaches art as a form of communication. Large scale, painted panels that convey a message or theme, chosen by the participating school/organization, can be installed onto a wall space temporarily or permanently.
Styrofoam Printmaking
Create beautiful multi-coloured prints using vibrant inks and textured styrofoam printing plates. Through demonstrations and discussion, students will gain a general understanding of the processes involved in the creation of the printed image.
Self Portrait Collage
Examine the countless possibilities working in the art of collage. By employing a wide variety of materials, including recycled; students are given the opportunity to explore textures and surfaces that are unique and inspiring. This multi-disciplinary approach integrates photography, painting, collage and drawing with the concept of self-portraiture.
Mask Making
Interesting techniques and concepts of mask making will be demonstrated including symmetrical design, paper sculpture and scoring methods. Using cultural references such as, ancient civilizations and North West Coast Indigenous People, to name only a few, students will design three-dimensional masks that generate emotion and movement.
Plaster Sculpture
Participants will construct creative forms, such as animals, architectural structures or plant life, using a variety of materials. Demonstrated techniques employ materials such as found objects, foil and plaster strips. Students will gain a better understanding of the elements of form and space, as well as general concepts of assemblage sculpture.
Clay Construction
This workshop focuses on hand-building techniques used in clay construction. Students are given the opportunity to work with earthenware clay and low fire glazes to create unique clay pieces. Students are introduced to the process involved in working with clay – construction, drying, glazing and firing. Please note: Added costs are applied to this workshop.
“Junkestra” Art & Sound Sculpture
Children or youth will construct a large-scale sound sculpture using only found objects, including garbage and discarded items such as cardboard tubes, tin cans, hockey sticks and other materials. The participants will learn how to build a sculpture that has the capacity to make musical sounds. They’ll even learn how to play the piece! This workshop incorporates curriculum-based environmental learning.
Living Letters – The Literacy Project
Participants will create a sculptural alphabet, using papier mache and paint to build 3-D letters, which may find a home in their own school or in a public library. The scale of each letter will be approximately 3 feet high. The letters can be used as an educational tool, a visual aid for young readers. Letters can also be portable, for use as educational or entertainment props during assemblies and events.
Cultural Chain Sculpture Project
Participants will create environmental, culturally-themed sculptures, in the form of a series of 3-D wooden cubes. They will learn how to paint each side of the cubes with their chosen subjects. The cubes will be mounted onto a base that connects them corner-to-corner, forming the shape of a chain that visually and physically links each part of the project. The free-standing sculptural chain can be permanently installed in the participants’ own school. One extra cube will be created and painted, so the participants can donate it to a community service organization of their choice, such as a local library or hospital.
Eco Architecture – Environmental Arts Education
Children or youth will work with an artist/architect to create 3D models of buildings, for example, environmentally-friendly tree houses. Students are led through related discussions and lessons on environmental design to construct the models using natural and recycled materials. The students will embrace the opportunity to design their own “home in the trees” that incorporates both artistic and place-based learning and environmental education.
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored tiles, stone, buttons and more! Making mosaics can teach kids about art and ancient history, and also inspire imaginative thinking, encourage spatial learning and help improves small motor skills in children of different ages. Children can design their own mosaics on wooden panels, or create a large-scale mosaic mural for the inside or outside of a building.
Puppetry
Puppets are fun and great for the imagination. Children become puppet makers as they each create a puppet to take home. Participants will explore different puppetry styles and learn basic puppet manipulation. This workshop can be tailored to any group or classroom theme.
