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Homemakers.com
5 artistic activities
to try
Inspirational endeavours to
awaken your creative spirit
by Courtney Muir
Art classes aren't just for kids. Nowadays,
adults are free to express their creativity with child-like abandon
and without the need of any previous training.
According to Lola Rasminsky, the founder and director of the
Toronto-based Avenue
Road Arts School, art classes offer great
opportunities to take part in activities that are charged with
meaning. "When you do any of the arts, you're accessing
the richness of your own imagination -- and making choices. The
ability to make choices is one of the most empowering things
you can do."
Although many of us are adept at nurturing and caring for our
physical bodies through diet and exercise, we can sometimes neglect
the importance of cultivating our emotional and spiritual sides.
Whether you're a complete novice or you're revisiting a forgotten
passion, art classes offer a myriad of ways to engage your imagination
and feed your soul. Here are five artistic endeavours to make
your creative spirit blossom.
1.Sketching and drawing
Drawing instructor, Klaas Hart of the Avenue
Road Arts School,
suggests that there are two main factors that motivate people
to take a drawing class. "Drawing is the foundation of
the art process and students are looking for an understanding
or skill that can grow into something more." Sketching
and drawing will not only allow you to sharpen your proficiency
with a pencil, but to also express a part of yourself that
you might have otherwise kept hidden. Hart is continually astonished
by how much of a person's personality is revealed through their
art. Draw out your true feelings at the Emily
Carr Institute or The
National Gallery of Canada.
2. Needlecraft
Whether you have dreams of entering your first quilting bee,
or of simply embroidering a pillow, mastering the art of needlecraft
can leave you with beautiful and functional finished products.
Piece together the secrets of sewing with the help of Quiltmakers or
the Embroiderers'
Association of Canada.
3. Sculpture
Although you're probably familiar with Michaelangelo's David or had an eyeful of Rodin's, The
Thinker, sculpture is a medium
best appreciated with your hands. Get a handful of modeling
clay and start molding your dreams at the Art
Gallery of Ontario or the Alberta
College of Art & Design.
4. Pottery
Laura Jolicoeur, a pottery instructor at the Art Gallery of Nova
Scotia believes clay finds you -- and not the other way around. "It
encompasses all skills of art," says Jolicoeur. "There's
an emotional and intellectual response that's brought out by
the process you have to follow. Because you can't break the primary
rules -- like firing [in a kiln] and temperatures -- the method
has a grounding effect on people." Jolicoeur also thinks
just mucking around with the clay and wheel can have healing
and therapeutic effects. Take a spin with a potter's wheel at
the Avenue Road
Arts School or the Art
Gallery of Nova Scotia.
5. Dance
With a vast array of styles to choose from, dance classes can
range from experiencing the exotic vibes of bellydancing to
perfecting your point in ballet. Step into one of the classes
offered at the National
Ballet School of Canada or check out
Dance Canada.
Regardless of which class you choose, remember you don't have
to suffer for your art. Nothing stifles creativity like stress
and worry, so let loose and remember that there's no limit to
what you can create. "When you take an art class, you become
very absorbed in the work...you forget what was worrying you," Rasminsky
says. "It becomes a wonderful escape."
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