Children can spring for art Week of theatre, puppetry and painting March 16-20 By Chris Woodall For the third year, Whistler children and young teens can exercise their artistic bones in a week-long series of visual and performing arts workshops during Spring Break. The Whistler and Pemberton Schools of the Arts Kids Camp has painting, sculpture, a magical masks theatre, shadow puppets, photo collage and mime to entertain ages 4-13 on a week-long or drop-in basis, March 16-20. The two community spring break arts courses are at Myrtle Philip Community Centre and at Pemberton Community Centre. Kathy Sigstad and Jola Muran are teaching the courses. The idea is that no matter how much a child participates, he or she will be able to go away with something they've made at the end of the day, Muran says. Monday's class is drawing and painting outdoors (if the weather's OK), cartooning or life drawings. In the afternoon it's puppet making. Tuesday has a sculpture and pottery studio with clay and found objects during the morning, and a magical mask theatre in the afternoon. Children will make their own masks, then use them as the principle prop for a performance, learning improvisation and how to animate the body. Wednesday's child will be fabric painting with stencils and silk screening on T-shirts, pillowcases or other items. Please bring the items to paint, but some will be on hand, too. The afternoon will have a theatre performance workshop, including makeup and creating props around which a play can be acted. Children will learn voice projection and other thespian tricks of the trade. By Thursday, participants will get to do what parents hate to see at home: paint furniture. Junior artists will be able to make their own furniture to paint from heavy-duty cardboard, or they can bring a chair, table or spice rack from home to make wonderful. "The pieces will be varnished later to preserve the art," Muran says. "Parents can pick them up at the end of the week." A mime workshop occupies the post-noon time, teaching students about animated movements, makeup and lighting. On Friday it's time for printmaking and a photo collage workshop. Children will make their own 3-D print block from anything — sponge, noodles or other found objects — that can make an impression on impressionable artists. Using magazines and newspapers, children snip characters to create a stage for a play. A shadow puppet workshop takes up the afternoon. Choosing a fairy tale, children make their own puppets and act out a play with them. "I like to finish off the week with an art show from 3-4 p.m. and a performance 2:30-3:30 p.m.," Muran says. The full week price is $160 for days that run 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The full-week half-day rate is $80. Drop-in full day is $35. Half-day drop-in is $20. All art materials are supplied except clothing for fabric painting. For more information, call Jola Muran at 1-888-938-8300.
