CREATIVE START OPEN STUDIO PROGRAM FINAL EXHIBITION

HERE ARE SOME IMAGES FROM THE FINAL EXHIBITION OF THE CREATIVE START OPEN STUDIO PROGRAM.

CREATIVE START OPEN STUDIO PROGRAM FINAL EXHIBITION

Here are some more images of the exhibition of artworks by the participants in the Creative Start Open Studio Program.

CSOSP COY GALLERY

Here is a sample of artworks by the participants in the Creative Start Open Studio Program.

FIRST UPDATE OF THE YEAR

Well it has been some time since I have sent out an update on the Visual Connections Project activities.

Starting on Tuesday January 18th the Visual Connections Project will be offering an art program for youth from The Mulgrave Park community in Halifax.

Working with two other Community Arts Educators / Leaders I will be co - facilitating a Community Arts Based Training program through NSCAD University's School of Extended Learning starting in September 2010.

I will be sending more info as these programs progress.

CSOSP GALLERY

CSOSP GALLERY

Creative Start Open Studio Program is Growing

We just got the word that we have received a Cultural Opportunities for Youth grant from the NS Department of Tourism ,Culture and Heritage. This grant will allow us to offer another Creative Start Open Studio Program for youth with disabilities and related challenges. This open studio program will be offered in the Spyfield Area and will start in November 2009 for ten weeks. We will be posting the dates and location for the open studio program in the very near future

Creative Start Open Studio Program

The Creative Start Open Studio Program will be offered to youth with disabilities ages 17 - 21 years of age. In this program youth will decide what types of art materials and processes they would like to work with. So if a youth wants to explore drawing for five weeks and painting for another five then we will facilitate this request. At the end of the ten week open studio program we will celebrate the accomplishments of the participants through an exhibition of their art works at Veith Street Gallery

Dates: September 11, 2009 to November 13, 2009
Times: 12:30pm to 3:30pm
Location: Veith House Community Centre, Board Room
3115 Veith Street, Halifax

For information about registration contact Gerard McNeil by phone at
456 - 0861 or by email visualconnectionsproj@gmail.com

Some Great News

We received some great news this week from the Halifax Peninsula Community Health Board that we have been awarded a grant to offer the Creative Start Open Studio for youth with disabilities.

This program will be different from the Creative Start Workshop we have been offering in the past, in that the open studio program will be more self directed. Essentially the way it will work is each youth in the program will decide on a medium or mediums he/she wants to explore during the ten - week period of the program. We will then provide the art materials and any training required for the youth participants.

The program will start in September and run to November, and will be offered at Veith House were Veith Street Gallery is housed.

We will be sending out information on how to register for the program in June and July.

Creative Start Workshop Participant Exhibition

Here are some images from the final exhibition of the Creative Start Workshop participant exhibition at the Pedway Picture Gallery on March 14th.

Creative Start Workshop Winter 2009 Update

Here are some artworks created by participants in the Creative Start Workshop. We are only in week two so there will be more work to profile.

Youth on the Radar Project

Here is some exciting news, VSGSA - Visual Connections Project will be part of the Youth on the Radar Project (YOR). The YOR Project is a crime prevention program for youth 12 - 17 years of age that utilizes the creative arts. The youth participants will come from J.L.Illsley High School and its feeder schools in the Spryfield area (South West Halifax).

VSGSA - Visual Connections Project Education and Outreach Curator will function as the project manager, Blogger, as well as instructor for part of the media arts component. The other components of the project include street dance and mural/street.

There will be a new blog site developed for the project.

The Creative Start Workshop Fall 2008

The images below are from the Creative Start Workshop. This workshop is designed for youth with disabilities and is five weeks in length. We will offer the workshop again in the new year.

Update on In Our Voice: Visual Conversations

After trying to get the the In Our Voice: Visual Conversations workshop off the ground we had to cancel it because we could not get any youth participants. We were going to bring youth and elders who have mental illness or mental health issues together to address various issues each generation have or will experience. We were going to use the visual arts as a vehicle for dealing with these issues. We are now going to apply for funding from another source to work with just the elders.

Update

It has been quite awhile since a posting. In part because we have been procrastinating and also I have been very busy getting ready for learning programs coming up this fall. There is both the Creative Start Workshop and the In Our Voice: Visual Conversations program. We are also getting ready for number of arts festivals and the Tools for life conference. And finally we are also working with a number of other community arts educators to develop a proposal for community arts education program that will be submitted to a number of universities to see if this program is feasible.

Update

Just received news from the 4C's Foundation that the In Our Voice: Visual Conversations project has received funding. The In Our Voice: Visual Conversations workshop is a partnership between Veith Street Gallery Studio Association, Visual Connections Project and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Halifax - Dartmouth Branch.
The workshop will be eight weeks in length. Participants in the workshop will consist of youth who are dealing with mental health issues and people fifty years and over who are also dealing with mental health issues. The youth participants and the elders will pair up with each other. Each week the facilitators will pose a question dealing mental health issues. The pairings will then respond to this question using various art materials and processes. After the eight week workshop there will be an exhibition of the art works at Veith Street Gallery.

New Web Site and Anniversary

Veith Street Gallery Studio Association has a new web site. The site is still under construction but should be completed in two weeks.

www.veithstreetgallery.org

Veith Street Gallery Studio Association is also celebrating its 5th Anniversary on March 20th and 22nd.

UPDATE

Well it has been some time since created a posting, and a lot has happened since December 2007. Veith Street Gallery Studio Association through the Visual Connections Project, has now established partnerships and collaborations with organizations and institutions such as NSCAD University, who has established the new Community Service Learning program, APSEA (Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority) and Nova Scotia Provincial Autism Centre. We will be offering educational programs for both APSEA and the Nova Scotia Provincial Autism Centre. The program we will be offering the Nova Scotia Provincial Autism Centre will tie into a research project around art and autism. Below are some images from an exercise that I lead for participants of a program called ACEE (Adults in Community Education and Employment). We may be working more closely with this program in the future by offering the Creative Start Open Studio Program to ACEE participants.

More Good News

Last week we received $2200.00 dollars from the Dartmouth Community Health Board - Community Development Fund to deliver the CREATIVE START WORKSHOP for youth with disabilities living in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. We are still in the planning stage and have not secured a location for the program. With this said, however we are hoping to begin the program in February 2008.

Creative Start Workshop Fall 2007

Well the very first CREATIVE START WORKSHOP offered for youth with disabilities finished with a public exhibition of the four participants artworks. This workshop was as much a learning experience for as it was for the participants. Much of the learning came not from the teaching but the administration of the program. Here are some images created by the participants of the CREATIVE START WORKSHOP.