School Workshops

Painting Workshop (Grade 2+)

Step by step instruction for students to learn techniques to create their own painting. In addition to learning about composition, colour mixing and painting techniques – emphasis will be on how art resembles life, students learn:

• There’s many ups and downs so we must be kind to ourselves – we aren’t Picassos
• They’ll all be the same but different, and that’s great! Embrace you – your painting is yours you can add whatever you wish
• No such thing as mistakes. They can always be fixed but often those mistakes become the best part

Doodle Workshop (Grade 4+)

Doodling is a form of art that is non-representational and unplanned, the intention is to focus on each stroke as you make it. Letting go of expectation and self-criticism, and fear of failure. There is no right way or wrong way to do zentangle, its done in pen to embrace “mistakes” as in art mistakes are often the best part. In life, we’re given no erasers, we just make do. This meditative state of drawing engages students in the present moment, fully engaged in what they are doing. This is a great tool to utilize when feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or angry. Students will learn simple patterns that can be repeated in many designs, and will be given time to create their own drawings.

Self Talk: Inner Critic vs. Inner Cheerleader (Grade 7 – 12)

This workshop helps teens identify the impact of our thoughts and how it can impact our feelings and behaviours. It does so by helping teens develop an awareness of when thoughts and self-talk may be having a negative or irrational influence on the way they act. Students will be invited to participate in a discussion about self-talk – what is self talk, how does it sound, and what are some ways which we may talk to ourselves. Students will create their own character that represents their inner critic, discussion will focus on emphasizing that we all have an internal dialogue, despite not always being able to recognize it as such. Goals: develop an awareness of how thoughts affect our feelings and behaviours. Emphasis will also focus on self-compassion, how to treat ourselves and talk to ourselves when faced with a difficult situation.