Eastern Edge and Artforce NL are excited to announce the return of our Professional Development Workshop Series for emerging artists. This series will include a variety of free professional development workshops aimed at young artists and makers ages 15-30, but all are welcome to attend. Stay tuned to this page for more info on upcoming workshops and registration!
Artforce NL is an arts-based education charity, helping Newfoundland and Labrador youth overcome social and/or economic obstacles. Through arts-based programming and connections, Artforce helps young people coping with challenging circumstances develop life skills essential for independence and success.
Eastern Edge is an artist-run centre located in St. John’s, NL, dedicated to exhibiting work that facilitates critical dialogue concerning issues in contemporary art and society, and actively encouraging emerging and established artists whose work speaks to feminist, multicultural, queer, and other diverse perspectives.
In February and March, we will be working together to offer a number of workshops oriented around professional arts practices. There will be a mix of online (Zoom) and in-person workshops facilitated by local artists and arts professionals. Stay tuned for more workshop info and registration information!
Indigo Social w/ Megan Samms
We’ll visit together over the blue vat and dye on repeat — bring an item of your own or dye a bandana in an indigo vat with Eastern Edge resident artist, Megan Samms. Stay for a while or drop in and out of the space and dye at your leisure!
Participants can stay for the whole time and dye multiple items, or drop in and out of the space. Learn a little bit about the chemistry of a vat, turn a little blue, learn a few resist techniques and try out your own ideas in fructose-based indigo vats.
This workshop is free to attend, and all are welcome! This program is funded by an organization that serves folks aged 15-30, so we strongly encourage youth to attend.
Relaxing Creativity w/ Christine Hennebury
“I’m calling this a workshop but really we’re going to be playing around with the creative process and finding ways to relax. I’ve got a few teeny projects for you to try and I’m hoping you’ll be willing to be awful at each of them. Yes, I am encouraging you to be bad at art. Why? Because this workshop is about the process, not about the results. We’re not trying to create a beautiful piece of art, we’re going to play with paint or paper or words and just find some ease for a few minutes. Picture a little kid lying on their stomach, tongue stuck out of the corner of their mouth as they concentrate, scrawling away at a piece of paper with a crayon – that’s the kind of feeling we’re going for. You don’t have to be GOOD, you just haveto BE. Bonus points if you make a mess of things. All supplies will be provided and no one will be put on the spot at any point about anything.”
This workshop is free to attend, and all are welcome! This program is funded by an organization that serves folks aged 15-30, so we strongly encourage youth to attend.
Click here to register!
Palestinian Tatreez w/ Sarah Khraishi & Beck McLeod*
“Tatreez” (تطريز) is traditional Palestinian embroidery, recognized by UNESCO as part of the intangible cultural heritage of Palestine. Join us as we explore the history, significance and practice of tatreez as a symbol of Palestinian identity and liberation from Israeli occupation.
Tatreez has been used by Palestinian women for centuries to adorn their traditional robes, or “thobe” (ثوب). After the Nakba, the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948, the artform has evolved to reflect Palestinians’ political aspirations, and is done all over Palestine and in the diaspora.
This workshop is an introduction to the history and evolution of tatreez as a source of pride, joyful resistance, and identity. Students will learn the basics of tatreez on aida cloth, and explore a sampling of common traditional motifs to use in their own pieces. All supplies will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring a pair of scissors if possible, as there are only a limited number available.
This workshop is free to attend, and all are welcome! This program is funded by an organization that serves folks aged 15-30, so we strongly encourage youth to attend.
*This workshop is at capacity, but we are working on scheduling a second date to accommodate more participants.
Photographing Your Artwork w/ Matthew Hollett
High-quality images of your artwork make a huge difference when applying for exhibitions and grants! This is a workshop on documenting artwork through photography. We’ll compare different ways of digitizing your work, including professional cameras, phone cameras, and scanners. We’ll talk about the importance of good lighting, and using a tripod. We will also go over post-processing images in Photoshop: cropping and perspective correction, brightness, saturation and colour balance, and so on. Finally, we’ll look at different image formats and how to resize and format your files for different purposes.
Click here to register!
Introduction to Curatorial Practice w/Emily Critch
Are you somebody who is interested in the behind-the-scenes work of putting together an art exhibition? Have you ever wondered what exactly a curator is, and what it is that curators do? This is the workshop for you! Introduction to Curatorial Practice is a workshop for folks with no prior experience, and an interest in the field! Workshop participants will learn the basics of curatorial practices, including relationship building, considering community responsibilities and best practices, learning how to support artists in a variety of ways, the process of developing art exhibitions from the beginning to the final stages, brainstorming ideas for exhibitions, programming, writing, and more!
This workshop is free to attend, and all are welcome! This program is funded by Artforce NL, an organization that serves folks aged 15-30, so we strongly encourage youth to attend.
Materials: A computer or cell phone to participate virtually, and something to write notes with if you so choose! There are 20 slots available for this workshop. Click here to register.