Connecting and engaging with community members through contemporary art is a core aspect of the Nanaimo Art Gallery’s education space.
Art Lab was created in May 2014, after the gallery consolidated its operations downtown. While the gallery has been running education programs since its inception, the change allowed the gallery to cement Art Lab as a community engagement space, bringing all the education programming under one roof.
“Getting people connected to the gallery is really important to us. We want people to see this as their gallery, connected to them,” said Yvonne Vander Kooi, the gallery’s art education coordinator. “We would like people to know what we’re offering here is something everyone can take advantage of.”
Art Lab’s mantra is experiment, create and learn.
The gallery’s education programming is divided between children and adult offerings. The programming offered in the Art Lab reflects the gallery’s current exhibit.
Julie Beven, the gallery’s executive director, said it’s a place of personal connection that allows people to “explore different ideas through the lens of art.”
Programming offered usually draws on a theme connected to the exhibit, such as using wood to create art in connection with the gallery’s current exhibit Silva Part II: Booming Grounds, which explores the forestry industry.
“We want to get people excited about contemporary art and open doors about what it looks like and get people engaged,” said Vander Kooi.
Workshops are often started with a tour of the current exhibit. The kids’ programming runs every Saturday and is divided between ages five to seven and eight to 12. All supplies are included for $12 or $20 for two siblings.
Adult workshops include acrylic painting, Macro Flora Explorations on Feb. 25 with Vander Kooi, which looks at forest flora and will cover negative space, additive and subtractive painting and taking risks with art.
On March 3, she leads a workshop on gestural portraiture to help participants learn how to experiment and play with their artwork through a series of exercises.
The space also hosts an open studio drop-in session every third Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. During that time there are tables and easels set up with art supplies. Open studio is cancelled in March due to spring break camps, but starts again April. 19.
For more information, please visitwww.nanaimoartgallery.com or call 250-754-1750.
