Enriching all students, at any stage of their art journey, in the creative process.

Lesley smitheringale

My aim for these classes is to provide a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment where all students feel relaxed and comfortable enough in order to create. The studio is in our home in Alexandra Hills.

Art Classes for children ages 7 – 17 by professional artist and qualified art teacher in a small and cosy environment, fostering great friendships within the group.

NO SET TASK

I feel that it’s extremely important for children to choose what they would like to do in their extra-curricular art classes. They get enough set tasks at school and at Engaged in Art they have a huge part in the decision making as every child is unique with different passions and interests. So, the classes are tailored to suit the needs of each child.

Class sizes are small, ensuring that each student gets lots of one-on-one tuition and guidance.  Chances are that students will not be working on the same themes or using the same art forms and media as the classes are tailored to suit the needs of the individual.  I have chosen to structure the children’s art classes in this way as each child has different interests, passions, strengths and weaknesses.  They need to be given the flexibility to achieve at their own pace where their confidence is allowed to grow.

Students will be steered in different directions to try out new media when they are ready.  They will be encouraged to try lots of new things which may mean going out of their comfort level in order to grow as artists.  Artworks are never rushed, just for the sake of getting them finished and nothing leaves the Engaged in Art Studio until the student has achieved their very best.

CAN PARENTS STAY IN THE STUDIO?

Parents and Carers: Please note that Engaged in Art Classes are not set up for parents staying on the premises during the lessons and the expectation is that the children will be dropped off with parents collecting them at the end of the session.

For the very first lesson only, parents may stay for part of the lesson to make sure that both the child and you as parents feel comfortable with Lesley, as a teacher, the environment and the care and safety of your child. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding with this.

THE YOUNGER STUDENTS [AGES 7- 10]

This is an exciting time in a younger child’s art journey as they express themselves through mark making, the joy of colour and the feel of paint on the canvas or clay in their hands. In these classes the children will also be story telling through their art, expressing their feelings about themselves and their environment. For this age group there will be a little more structure and teacher guidance.

The younger children are free to choose their own themes and art media too using their imaginations a lot of the time as they create artworks. They will be given lots of guidance and tuition to build their skills in using a range of art media. The art elements and colour theory/mixing is an integral part of their art journey too and will be explained to the children as they deal with each project.

THE OLDER STUDENTS [AGES 11 AND UP]

The older students will be working in a range of media and themes of their own choice to enable them to build on prior knowledge in order to fine tune their skills alongside their school based art. Digital artworks may also be done using programmes such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator if students can bring a laptop and graphics tablet.

WHAT DOES MY CHILD NEED TO BRING?

• Ideas for their artworks as there is no set task. I do have a growing collection of pictures in my bookshelf but not covering all topics. Many children bring IPads or tablets and use our wi-fi. This is the best option for finding resources. Library books, printed pictures, postcards etc are good too.
• Wear old clothes or bring an old T-Shirt or apron. I don’t keep aprons in the studio.
• A visual diary. These are A4 books with blank pages inside and the cheapest I have seen is by Derwent which come in a range of colours from Officeworks. If you don’t live near a branch, you may also purchase them from KMart, Dollars and Sense, BigW, Target, Riot Art and Craft, Oxlades Art Shop in Cleveland, some Newsagents and good stationery suppliers. These visual diaries will remain in the studio.

The reason for using a visual diary is to teach the children about the art process – the planning of the artwork through to the development of ideas with trials and experimentation before embarking on the final major artwork.  This is an extremely important process for older students to learn in particular as it is a requirement for their school art in Years 10 -12.  I would like to embrace this idea in the Engaged in Art classes also and start the younger children off with this concept as well.  I have been doing this anyway with all of the children but I think we need to just organise everything in the form of a visual diary.

Low joule cordial and cookies will be available as a light snack during the class. Alternatively, they can bring their own snack and drinks.

Students will also be able to enter art competitions which will be ongoing throughout the year.