The Okanagan School of the Arts is putting the Shatford Centre to work, hosting two sets of creative workshops in the renovated heritage building for the first time, starting later this month.
First up will be their annual Creativity Camps, run for the first time this year as a partnership between the Penticton Recreation Department and the Shatford Centre/Okanagan School of the Arts. It will run through both weeks of spring break, which begins March 21 with a choice of morning, afternoon or full day sessions in either week.
Established in 2004, Creativity Camp is a program dedicated to creative wellbeing and encourages expression and play through the arts. Mentored by teens, with guidance from adult mentors and arts professionals, the camps are for children aged 6 – 12 years to experience and share their creativity together. The week of fun builds on individual and group interests in creative expression through the arts including painting, drawing, dancing, drama, games, stories and music-making.
For more information about the Creativity Camps is available by phone at 250-493-0390 or online at www.osarts.com, www.shatfordcentre.com or www.penticton.ca/reg-e to read more about the classes. Contact the recreation department to register at 250-490-2426.
Midway through spring break, starting on March 25, Keremeos artist Bonny Roberts is beginning a series of weekend painting workshops.
The majority of Roberts’ art education comes through numerous workshops with a variety of instructors, including Richard Nelson of Hawaii, who she counts as her major influence. Colour, however, in it’s infinite variety, is what Roberts said is her major inspiration. For about 15 years she painted in watercolour using only the three primary colours. Sales of her work paid the bills and allowed her to experiment with many new ideas — collage, inks, acrylics and oils — while taking classes with artists from Canada and the States. And colour is the subject of the first of the three workshops in Robert’s series.
The Science Of Colour introduces some of the basic colour theories with a focus on developing a personal awareness of the relative nature of colour. The workshop is described as a course all painters should have taken before ever picking up a brush; trying to create a finished painting without understanding colour is rather like trying to write a book before learning the alphabet. The workshop starts with a evening session on March 25, followed by full day sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
In April, Roberts is following up with two more workshops, Tru-Hue Colour, looking at the three primary colours and A New Approach To Watercolour, examining Roberts approach to the medium. For details and registration information, again go online at www.osarts.com or call 250-493-0390.
