Crochet on Thursdays

We are delighted to announce that Ashling Keenan will be teaching a crochet course for four weeks on Thursday mornings from 11.00 am to 12.30 pm starting on 10th November. Contact us for bookings and further details.

Updates

We've been so busy with preparations for Ardagh School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and other events that there was no time left to post updates here all week. The weekend was a great success and we want to sincerely thank all of our volunteers for helping with beast building, decorating, face-painting, tea and coffee making and general scariness over the last few weeks. There are lots of photos now on our facebook page: Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre, please 'like' it and feel free to share the links.

All Block 1 classes have now finished and we are taking bookings for Block 2 courses which start from Monday 7th November. New students are welcome any week during each block (subject to places being available).

The 4 to 7 and 8 to 12 year old groups finished last week with small presentations of their work in front of family members. Classes resume for 8 to 12 year olds on Monday next from 4.00 pm to 5.30 pm and for 4 to 7 year olds from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm on Thursday 10th November. Creativity for 13 to 18 year olds also takes place on Thursdays from 5.00 pm to 6.30 pm.

Still-Life Painting is starting for adults on Monday mornings from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and Creative Textiles continues on Friday mornings from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm. Bookings on 086 3027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com.

Last week we also had an enjoyable costume making workshop as part of  the Aisling Children's Arts Festival and Club Ardagh mid-term camp students visited this morning and return tomorrow for some seasonal art. We are creating a winter forest and had great fun in the morning sunshine collecting leaves and branches in the woods and painting with twigs and other items. Pictures will be posted when it's completed.
We are closed for a well deserved break from 12.30 pm tomorrow until 10.00 am on Monday 7th November.

Still-Life Challenge

I really challenged the Still-Life group this week with two difficult objects, a metal jelly mould and an ornate glass bottle. As well as having the problem of complicated shapes they also had to deal with reflections and I'm glad to say everyone rose to the occasion and produced these fantastic drawings:

Time is flying!

The weeks are flying by, this time two weeks we will be welcoming our third group of recruits for the Ardagh School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For those who haven't heard we are transforming the building and forest for some exciting family events at 1.00 pm or 4.00 pm on Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th or Monday 31st October. (See poster below). We've been so busy already with preparations that we didn't find time to update you on this week's events. Here's some pictures and details of what was created in the last week or so:

 

On Monday the 8 to 12 year olds looked at abstract art, especially how colour and shape can be used to show emotions and expressed their reactions to a range of different music styles including Mozart, Elvis and The Flaming Lips. They also had to chose their drawing medium to match the mood. After that they got creative with cardboard boxes and fabric among other things. The initial idea was to create spaces for their rag dolls and clay pieces, but two competing fabic shops developed, with lots of bartering and business management discussions thrown in!

On Monday morning we also experimented, using blind drawing to increase observational skills before drawing large scale autumn leaves.

The 4 to 7 year olds fitted lots into their hour this week too, experimenting with drawing materials on black paper, trying out weaving on cardboard looms and looking at a table loom in action before designing with felt pictures.

The Creative Embroidery projects are nearing completion too. This class will be continuing after Halloween as Creative textiles which will include patchwork, felting, batik, applique and lots more techniques. We are now taking bookings for all Block 2 courses which can be paid for weekly or at a reduced rate for the full block.

Halloween fun

We will be magically transforming into Ardagh School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for three days over the Halloween weekend. Come and dodge the beasts in the forbidden forest, take part in an art workshop, attend potions class and lots more spooky fun on 29th, 30th and 31st October 2011.
Adults: 5 euro including tea or coffee; Children: 8 euro including workshop and treats; Family (2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children) 24 euro. Booking advised.

Monday afternoon clay and fabric

The 8 to 12 years class started with a quick tour of Shakespeare's Globe theatre and a discussion about what theatre going was like 400 years ago. We also talked about comedy and tradgey and the very different worlds of Athens and the magical forest in Midsummer Night's Dream. This tied in with the 'My World' theme and everyone then got to work on their own projects. Clay and fabric were the most popular media choices this week, but we also had some construction going on.

Still Life Week 5