Interested in the visual arts and wanting to learn a little more? Ever thought about learning to draw? Ever wondered what artists are really thinking?
Comox Valley Art Gallery presents a new season of Art Education that could answer some of these questions. Running from January through to April, you will find programs for ages five to 125 and spanning all interests, including art classes taught by local professional artists, talks and panel discussions.
For children, there’s a course called “Wild and Wacky Animal Paintings” taught by Comox Valley resident Tracy Kobus. She will teach a class for children ages 5-8 on Saturday Feb. 4 (cost is $17 and includes supplies) and one for ages 8-12 on Sat. Feb. 11 (cost is $27 and includes supplies). Mary Anne Moore offers two courses; both called “Art Buffet”. On March 10, parents and children ages 5-8 will work together, while the afternoon course is for children only, ages 8-11. These workshops are $22 pp and include all supplies.
Jenja McIntyre, a recent graduate of Emily Carr U at NIC will offer a class called “Really Big Art! Where do I belong?” Children ages 5-8 will work on large pieces of wood panel in a university style course where they explore the idea of “my community”. Cost is $45 and includes supplies.
For youth ages 12 -17, local artist Jeremy Hook instructs “Graffiti Drawing Techniques”, a course that will show students how to design graffiti style images and text on paper or in sketchbooks, then transfer the design to large canvas, paper or wall murals. Students will take home a finished canvas with their own art work on it. This course runs for two Saturdays in March, cost is $65 and includes supplies.
Jenja McIntyre offers “Legal Graffiti: Me and My Community”, in which students ages 12-17 will work large scale on wood and create renditions of the theme 'my community'. The background will be focused around place and things important to the student concerning their community.
Students will then place themselves upon their large scale masterpieces either through collage or large projections of their face. This course is two Saturdays in April and costs $60 which includes most supplies.
Adults also have a variety of courses to choose from:
“The Figure with a Thousand Faces: Myths, Memes and the Life Model with Clive Powsey” is a drawing class running four Tuesday nights in February. Students will start with a brief slide show and then proceed to two hours of drawing from a nude model.
The focus will be in studying and representing iconic poses that have been repeated, often for millennia, and that may be steeped with meaning. The model will strike poses both sacred and secular, from the sublime to the ridiculous, representing gods, saints, martyrs, angels, clowns, kings, despots, cover boys and girls and recurring characters from advertising, stage and film. Cost is $125 and includes model fees, supplies are extra.
“Adapting Your Photograph as a Watercolour Painting with Tony Martin” is a watercolour painting course which entails working from a photograph. Instructor Tony Martin says: “Let’s not kid ourselves, 99 per cemt of us use photographs as subject matter for our paintings, especially in this digital age.”
In this course, instructor/artist he will show the most efficient methods of transfering the photo image to watercolour paper, how to abstract it or eliminate unnecessary content, and then the basic techniques of layering colours with paint. This two- day intensive course in late March costs $145.
“Texture in Watercolours on Masa Paper with Judi Pedder” introduces students to a special method. Dramatically change the look of the watercolour paintings with a unique Masa paper technique taught exclusively by Judi Pedder.
Your paintings will attract attention. This technique is suitable for almost any subject matter: flowers, simple landscapes, sculpture, fish, star fish and butterflies for example. This one-day intensive course in April costs $115 and includes one prepared sheet of Masa paper.
New at the Comox Valley Art Gallery this year is a bi-weekly art discussion program. Beginning Wednesday Jan/ 18 at 3:30-4:30 p.m., CVAG presents ART:21, the award winning and Emmy nominated PBS documentary series in bi-weekly screenings and discussions.
ART: 21 explores today’s most fascinating artists. How do they work and why? “Meet” the artists at work and speaking in their own words – direct, accessible and unfiltered. This series takes us into artists’ studios, homes and communities to provide an intimate view of their lives, work, creative processes and sources of inspiration.
Each session, we will look at a segment on one artist followed by a facilitated discussion. the Jan 18 session will look at artist Ursula von Rydingsvard (Brooklyn, NY). Every two weeks, we’ll look at a different artist.
For a complete list of classes, talks, viewings, and details visit the gallery’s website at www.comoxvalleyartgallery.com under the “education” heading or FMI contact the gallery at 250-338-6211.
– Comox Valley Art Gallery