K-12 Workshops and Programs
A. Kids' Art with Prav (Salt Spring Arts Academy)
1. Stop Motion Animation
This is an introductory course to stop motion animation using LEGO! Together we create sets and develop simple stories and movies while learning the basics of character creation, set design, and story development. Kids can bring their own lego models and people or use create from the the Academy's humungous LEGO bin.
2. Monster Factory
We explore a variety of materials and techniques to develop mysterious and funny creatures of all sizes and shapes. Paper mache, clay, plasticine and found objects will serve as materials as we have fun creating strange creature characters.
3. The Art of Science
We create fun art projects and learn about the science behind them that makes art interesting or beautiful! Each day we explore specific theme through an art based project or experiment that will provide a hands on understanding of how scientific method and artistic process complement each other. Themes that we expect to be cover are:
- Light, Colour and Shadow
- Sound and Vibration
- Kitchen Chemistry
- Nature and Ecology
- Movement and Matter
Depending on material availability, learner interests and group size, we will make and get to understand the working of didgeridoos (sound), shadow puppets (optics ), plant paintings and natural material bug sculptures (biology), natural dyes (biochemistry), origami from our own marbled paper (chemistry), and maybe even a kinetic sculpture (physics)
B. Artist in the Class Program (Salt Spring Arts Council)
1. Eco-Art (K-12; 1 hour/week or 3 hour sections)
This workshop will be co-designed with the teacher so that it enhances current curriculum and learning objectives. The focus is on art making using natural materials and seeks to cultivate different ways of seeing and knowing a place. Using our senses and intuition, we will explore materials and processes found in nature to understand and experiment with tone, colour, pattern, structure and texture in conveying feelings and ideas. Integrating story telling, games, art making, science and traditional knowledge, learners will be encouraged to develop their ability to listen to the earth and draw on their creative voice to generate works both individually and collaboratively. Visiting First Nation artists and traditional knowledge keepers familiar with the ways of the nature in this bioregion may be engaged to support and ground learning activities.
Educational Benefits
Learners will:
a. Develop a deeper understanding of nature and its functional and aesthetic properties and processes
b. Practice and gain a sense of how to apply basic principles and aesthetics of sculpture based eco-art
c. Obtain familiarity and appreciation for Ecology, First Nation culture and traditional and scientific knowledge
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2. Art Based Inquiry and Research (K-12)
Using artistic methods and approaches learners will be guided through a process to understand how art based methods of research and inquiry can unpack the complexity of most subjects and communicate in a compelling way the essence of what is yearning to be explored. Whether it is new developments from time-crystals or why teen culture seems hardwired to use social media or the poetry of stillness during an age of ecological collapse, art based research and inquiry has a way of surfacing curiosity and wisdom while honestly reflecting confusion and perplexity.
Educational Benefits
Learners will:
a. Learn the basics of art based research and critical theory and critical thinking to uncover the creative nuggets in the everyday ambiences of life
b. Consider how to turn discoveries and insights into artworks by choosing appropriate materials and production processes
c. Understand how materials and production processes can dialogue with a particular idea or discover so that material or production process can enhance the final work produced.
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3. Community Based Public Art Projects (Grade 10-12; Five sessions of 3 hours each)
Together we will develop and execute a local art project that will deepen public understanding about a particular subject that is identified by the learners.
This workshop aims to expose learners to a project based inquiry approach to researching, understanding, and communicating the essence of their findings into creative and engaging manner.
Educational Benefits
Learners will:
a. Obtain a clear understanding of and experience in the steps required to successfully develop, fund and execute a collaborative community based public artwork
b. Gain experience in theory and practice of social, community based, and relational art forms and importance of artists and art in evolving contemporary culture
c. Be able to demonstrate their experience in developing a public artwork to future funders and sponsors
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4. Transformation in Stone and Earth - Project Based Inquiry (Grade 9-12; Social Change and First Nations Studies)
This series of workshops is the same as the Community Based Public Art Projects except that learners are invited to work with the artist in developing a local node of a networked project based inquiry already under development by the artist in other communities in BC and Alberta. Over the school year, learners will work with community members and special guests to explore local first nation tradition and knowledge, dialogue on contemporary environmental issues and First Nation Title remedies and create a site-specific stone engraving on a basalt column at the centre of a semi-permanent potentially self renewing mandala garden generated from cedar mulch, on- site materials such as twigs, stones and leaves and both flowering and non-flowering perennial plants.
The idea of transformation into stone is quite literally an ancient idea with local First Nation history of creatures and humans being transformed into stone so that future generations can learn from an important moment. Carved stones or erected stone monuments can be found everywhere from ancient Persia, Korea, Africa, the Americas, or Europe. The petroglyph style engraving into a column of basalt stone will reflect the commonality of human history in art making and story telling, and we will centre on the theme of transformation. The piece will reflect carving styles and motifs from a number of different cultures, based on the local people we interact with as part of the creative and public engagement process.
The mandala garden is expected transform with the passing seasons and years and the overall community generated design will incorporate the site-specific aesthetics and possibility of it dissolving back into nature leaving only the engraved basalt column for future generations. However, being symbolic of the temporal while the basalt column is the eternal, the mandala also holds the possibility of renewal should individuals, communities, owners of the host site wish to regenerate it according to their cultural traditions and creative inspirations.
In this project based inquiry, learners will become an active creative element in the process of reweaving the relational fabric between First Nations, newcomers and nature.
Educational Benefits
Learners will:
a. Obtain a clear understanding of and experience in the steps required to successfully develop, fund and execute a collaborative community based public artwork
b. Experience how theory and practice of social, community based, and relational art forms function and the importance of these forms to enable artists to function in evolving contemporary culture
c. Experience in developing a ritual based ceremonial artwork and inquiry into the relevance of such forms in the contemporary art world
d. Be able to cite this work to future funders and sponsors in demonstrating the learner’s experience and ability to develop and execute a public artwork
e. Understand how traditional art forms can be used to inquire into and engage publics in dialogue in contemporary, community, First Nation and environmental issues
f. Understand how First Nation Rights and Title are the strongest environmental laws in Canada and how these laws can function to meet the environmental needs of future generations