Granny and Grandaddy Boo are over from the UK, affording me a rare chance for a spot of on-hand babysitting. In spite of the sweltering heat and my remaining nausea and fatigue, I'm trying to spend a little bit of time in this place, my studio refuge. The book SHALL be finished. I'll show you something soon I promise...
Until this week, I had held back from taking Boo to art classes. After all, she has an art studio bedecked with quality art materials and an experienced art educator (c'est moi) at home. But, you know, sometimes planning and delivering thoughtful projects in the course of a busy week is just too much for this mama, especially when her creative energy is being channelled into building a wee human. And I have been somewhat out in a creative wilderness for the last couple of years whilst at home with Boo. So, both being in need of fresh creative input, I thought it was high time for a long-desired visit to Collage Collage, a shop come kid's workshop space come gallery space located near Main St, in Vancouver.
We've been planning this visit since February when we found Collage Collage's kids drawing station, in a downtown gallery in the midst of Olympic mayhem. For us, it requires a car journey across a busy bit of town, but my confidence in driving and negotiating the city has grown since I got my own car in February, and I was finally up for it.
There are many art workshops for kids available in this area, but it takes a little something special to entice me, and Collage Collage seemed to offer that. There is contemporary artists' work in the shop and there seems to be a broader approach to studying artists' work than the frequently trotted out 'modern masters', though I appreciate that they are 'new' to the kids!
I was practically salivating in the shop. As well as many familiar favourites (books by Lisa Cinar, Oliver Jeffers, colouring books by Taro Gomi and Rosie Flo, Okido magazine, art materials by Lyra, Stockmar etc etc) there were many things new to me and some artists' editions which look very interesting. I wasn't there to shop on this visit, however; I fancy a solo visit for that.
We dropped in on a Thursday morning for a drop-in one hour workshop for 2-3 year olds (and mamas/dadas), led by the owner Erin. The shop was flooded with little ones, and Erin managed to accommodate 13 little artists along the central table and on small desks. The class begun with free drawing on long rolls of paper and a chance to say hello to other wee ones and their parents. Then the children moved to the 'story carpet' and were introduced to some books about the surrealist artist Rene Magritte designed for children.
We looked at 'Mr M: The Exploring Dreamer' (Sozick Meister et al, Simply Read Books, 2010), an interpretation of Mr Magritte visiting landscapes of the imagination, which did seem to resemble Vancouver, with mountains, bridge, a bear, crows, and beach and so on. We also looked at a board book about Magritte which was most probably 'Magritte's Imagination' (Susan Goldman Rubin, Chronicle Books, 2009).
Storytime over, the children moved back to the table and drew elements from the landscape (bridge, mountains, beach etc) with oil pastels onto brown paper. Erin then gave out silhouettes of Mr M, his umbrella, crows, and trees, which were collaged onto the background. The next stage was to paint onto the composition. It was very effective to carry out the piece of work in stages for this age group as they are often quick to declare they have 'finished' and this created a good pace. I may have chosen to do the silhouette stage later as many of the kids obliterated theirs with paint, but its a small point. I don't want to generalise (as I don't really know) but at 2 years, Boo's art was all about process and experience. Now, however, she is beginning to approach some degree of representation. When she paints a narrative accompanies the painting to describe what she is painting. So I think she found the task of painting different elements such as the bridge (that's the green vertical lines in her painting!), the sea, beach, snow on the mountains etc helpful for her in structuring the composition. The final stage was the application of blue glitter paint which was pushed around with a spreader to represent rain.
The workshop concluded with a recap on the story carpet, a second look at the books studied, and some time to explore the book box, whilst the adults paid, chatted, or looked at the shop. There is also a little cubby hole with organic felt shapes and boards for those of approx 3ft in height.
This was Boo's first experience of making art in a class with her peers, and she was totally engrossed throughout. As well as drop-ins, 3-5 yr olds can attend a series of booked classes 'sans mama'. I'm sure it'll be great for her to do this once she is familiar with the place and structure, but I have to admit I'll be reluctant to leave, not for her sake, but for mine!
Apologies for the lack of pics of Collage Collage (forgot my camera - doh!) but you can see a whole load and find out all info about workshops etc at www.collagecollage.ca
My friend Riffat and her family have just completed an exciting round-the-world trip, and we were lucky enough to host them in Vancouver, their last port of call before returning to the UK. Riffat practises as a henna artist in the UK, and her work is known in henna circles throughout the world, so we were lucky enough to host a little 'henna party' when she met up with Tammi, aka Henna Bee, a henna artist from Kamloops BC. Cue lots of little cones, puffs of glitter and whiffs of lavender oil from the henna paste (apparently lavender is a safe oil to use during pregnancy, other essential oils not being recommended).
Boo has developed quite a fondness for pretty things and pink glittery stuff ( I really have tried not to encourage the pink thing, but there you go), so she was up for it, and sat patiently whilst getting her little henna lovelies from Riffat and Tammi.
Many years ago, whilst as student, I regularly coloured my hair with 'extra red' henna powder, available from the Body Shop in the days when you took in your little bottles for refils and it wasn't because we were 'worth it'. Then somehow I ended up using box dye, Body Shop went all swanky and didn't carry the powder, and my poor hair was all dried out. So I was most excited at the prospect of having my hair hennaed by a pro, and yes, it does still feel like having a cow pat on your head, but I am most pleased with the results and proud that I haven't put chemicals on my noggin again, esp as I'm preggers.
Whaddya think?
Now, I'm not about to turn down the opportunity to put my feet up, so how blissful was it to sit and have henna applied in tiny swirls and blobs to my plates of meat? Very, I can assure you.
Henna by Riffat
Henna by
Summer is most definitely not over here, but the berries have been ripening in the endless sunshine we have been enjoying.
Amongst the green fruit we discovered enough blackened berries to put together our favourite blackberry and apple crumble.
With the prospect of all those green-uns ripening in the near future, I'm on the look-out for new blackberry ideas. Suggestions gratefully received!
In other news, my nausea has now subsided enough for me to tolerate ceiling fans (ah, what a relief) and to get back to knitting. Having spent the last 6 weeks cursing pregnancy, I just might be able to begin to enjoy it.
Been a little quiet around this space of late. All things extraneous to the basics of getting through the day in once piece have been jettisoned. I've had to put aside my knitting projects for a while as the movements of the needles make me nauseous. Despite baking heat, the ceiling fan has had to be turned off at times as the spinning of the blades has made my stomach churn. Reclining has been my favoured pose. I will admit to plenty of moaning and groaning, and frequent declarations of 'never again!' (which I do actually mean this time). Boo has spent a whole lot more time inside the house than I would ideally like for her during a beautiful summer. But despite all that, I am happy because a little one is growing inside me. We expect Boo's little sibling to join us around 11th Feb 2011. In the meantime things may continue at a slower pace and I expect my posts to be infrequent, at least until I regain some energy and my stomach settles down.
A quick run-up this week, a set of pocket dolls from Clothkits, reprinted from a vintage pattern. Super simple, super quick, they would make a great present for a little girl. Boo gets these ones, but I'll definitely remember them for other little girls.
I'd love to make one of those 'topsy turvy' storytelling dolls, where you flip the doll's dress over to reveal another character from the story. I think most of the ones I've seen were the Red Riding Hood story. Will be looking out for a pattern.
We're back and slowly shifting back to our regular schedule, which seems a whole lot faster after a deliciously slow time in Ontario. The sun spotted we'd skipped across country and right on schedule decided to get summer underway in Vancouver.
Here's a pictorial taste of our time in Ontario.
Lion Safari, Hamilton
Lion Safari, Hamilton
Lion Safari, Hamilton
dog days of summer
Who ate all the pies? (Well the blueberry was jolly good). St Jacobs food market
anyone for pickles? St Jacobs food market
Boo n bubble gum flavour
Wings of Paradise butterfly conservatory, Cambridge
Wings of Paradise butterfly conservatory, Cambridge
Anndale park, Waterloo
snake play
Anndale park, Waterloo
Childrens Museum, Kitchener/Waterloo
Canada Day fireworks, Columbia Park, Waterloo
Canada Day
Ahem, this is what happens when we find ourselves in Tim Hortons. Not wise. Note the diddy red maple leaf sprinkles.
Guelph Arboretum
Bear in the woods, Guelph Arboretum
Japanese Garden, Guelph Arboretum
Happy Summer!
