Despite the quarantine in 2020, this year has been pretty busy for me and my students!
I started to rent out a nice space, Brubacher house in Waterloo, and organized art workshops there in January and February. Then we had the first lockdown and I was able to teach online only, so I pivoted and offered online art classes for kids.
In June, when we were allowed to go outside again, my friend gave me an idea to organize outdoor art classes. Then, another friend shared the location of a beautiful park which was perfect for this purpose - Waterloo Pioneers Memorial Tower in Kitchener. All summer I ran art workshops there for kids and adults. It was so awesome to paint outside together! Á la paint nights, I provided workshop participants with all art supplies needed to create a beautiful piece, as well as refreshments and snacks. I came up with the name of "Art Picnics" for this series of classes. Art Picnics are a great activity if you are looking to do something outdoors in Guelph or the Kitchener-Waterloo region. Since we are outside, it is very easy to maintain safe social distancing from other participants and it is a very safe COVID-19 activity. I'll show a collage about our Art Picnics in the next posts.
Now I would like to share some numbers and collages about my Art Workshops in 2020 where you can see the works we created and my wonderful workshop participants hard at work.
Here are the totals for Art workshops for adults 2020:
17 workshops in total
5 locations including Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo
No workshops for 3 months due to the pandemic
2 male participants which is great!
14 pastel paintings, 2 acrylic paintings and 1 watercolor painting
86 participants in total. Many people came back for more than one class!
My most active participant, Anya Goyova, came to 10 workshops in total! To thank her for being my most active supporter, I presented Anya my tulip watercolor work as a gift:
I also ran art workshops for kids in the Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo area. Art is a great class for kids of any age to take because kids are so creative and have such unique ideas! Drawing, painting, and hand sewing is very good for children's motoric skills development and creativity. Each child's interpretation of a painting or craft we did is very special and should be celebrated. We worked with dry pastel, oil pastel, acrylic, and watercolour so kids could try different mediums and see what they enjoy the most. We worked with all kids at a safe social distance so kids could attend the workshops safely even during the pandemic which is great for parents who had something for their kids to do!
Here you can see the collage of Art workshops for children in 2020, including the paintings we did and the crafts we worked on:
Here are the total for art workshops for kids:
3 months - no workshops at all due to the pandemic
4 locations in total, including Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo
8 workshops with dry pastel
5 workshops with hand sewing: pumpkins, hedgehogs, cats, dogs
3 watercolor paintings
1 oil pastel painting
1 acrylic painting
121 participants in total, boys and girls. Many kids came back for more than one workshop!
My most active participant, Beki and her mom Tetyana Romantsov, came to 9 workshops in total! I am very glad that they enjoyed painting and hand sewing. I gifted them my pastel illustration, Indigo bunting bird (9x12"), to express my gratitude for their support.
I am so glad I was still able to host art workshops this year and help people express their creativity! It's been wonderful for me to connect with so many adults and children and teach them art, I hope they can continue to make art at home. Thank you to all my wonderful participants for attending my workshops and supporting me in my passion - teaching art and making art.
If you are interested in art workshops for adults or kids in 2021, please contact me! You can also give a gift card with a set amount on it to be redeemed for art workshops or lessons.
And, I have some of my works for sale that you can purchase if you are interested. There are some works here https://www.yuliabalobanova.com/gallery and in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yuliab.ca/
Have great winter holidays and see you next year!