Highlights from the Winter Workshop 2016

Winter Workshop 2016, was a 5-day workshop during the Winter Break, planned for kids to learn a new skill each day, to engage and explore in a new art form, to encourage each child to extend and stretch his/her creativity. As per Picasso; every child is an artist, and I believe that all a child needs to grow into one is a little guidance, direction, and encouragement to build on and develop his/her skills. 

Participants in this workshop belonged to a wide age group from 7 to 14, each had a different skill set and experience. While smaller kids in the age group of 7 to 10, were just beginners, the ones in the bigger age group had the skills to do things better than the beginners. However, the exercise planned for both the groups were similar each day, and all the kids were actually doing most of these exercises for the first time in their lives. Perhaps, schools nowadays focus more on academics and there is little or less focus on arts and crafts. Whatever may be the reason, I found that the participants, belonging to different schools in the city, didn't have much exposure to different forms or styles of art.

However, all the children were very enthusiastic learners, focused on their tasks and carried out every exercise with equal fervor, patience, and joy on every single day of the workshop.

Art and Craft Winter Workshop 2016, Art Hours, Dubai

Here, are some highlights from the Art and Crafts Winter Workshop, held by Art Hours from 18th to 22nd Dec 2016, in The Gardens, Dubai.

Day 01: 

The activity for the first day was Stencil Painting, wherein, the kids had to cut out their own stencils using a paper and then use the same stencil for painting. This task was successfully done by all. Below are a few pictures, wherein the kids painted some patterns and designs, snowflakes, trees, etc. using a stencil.

Day 01: Stencil Painting

Day 02: 

The second day was learning to write in 3D Calligraphy style. The kids were taught how to write using 3D letters. It was a tough exercise for the little kids especially, but they were delighted to write their names in 3D calligraphy style. I was pleased with the final outcome. Every child had the patience till the end and didn't give up in the middle, and that's what impressed me.

Day 02: 3D Calligraphy

Day 03: 

Painting with nature was planned for the 3rd day, wherein the kids were taken outdoors and were made to scavenge for dry leaves first. Thereafter, they were to use those leaves as stamps to create a painting. The exercise didn't end there...they were to identify the positive and negative spaces in the painting and color them in black. The entire activity was carried out in a beautiful manner by all and we had beautiful masterpieces by every child at the end of the day.

Day 03: Painting with Nature

Day 04:

The 4th day was an Origami exercise, wherein they were taught some 7-8 origami elements, and each one of them had to create a miniature cityscape, rather a city diorama using those origami elements. I was not very surprised to learn that it was a first-time experience for most of the kids as they had less exposure to origami. However, the end result turned out to be excellent. Every child had built a beautiful cityscape. Kudos to their creativity and patience again!

Day 04: Origami Diorama: A cityscape

Day 05:

The last day of the winter workshop was learning the Zentangle art combined with watercolors. They were shown the Zentangle work of various artists and explained certain basic rules about zentangle and water coloring. The end results, as it turned out every day, were some beautiful masterpieces by each child.

Day 05: Zentangle and Watercoloring

Some things that immensely pleased me during the workshop were that some kids went back to their homes and actually tried out the new skill they learned that day, came back to the workshop the next morning and showed me the work they did at their homes and were asking for feedback from me. That further reinforced the fact that they were learning something interesting and something new that they would love to explore further. And that's what Art Hours is all about; to learn and explore further. 

The five days of the workshop ended with great enthusiasm, positive energy and loads of creativity from every participant. 

Art Hours looks forward to conducting more such workshops and interact with the little but intelligent and creative minds.

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