Creative Minds – Community Zine Collab for Teens

This interactive program will delve into the depths of drawing, printing and zine-making techniques for a fun, hands-on learning experience that will leave participants feeling accomplished and engaged. Come and learn with members from our very own community about our shared connections to the people, places and things that we enjoy, and discover fun, exciting ways to depict our story with relief-cut printing techniques.

Project Objective: Students will leave the program with one 6″ x 9″ folded zine which features six interior pages, one cover page with a title and one back cover page with all the students’ names. The zine will be printed in black ink using relief cut lino block printing techniques, where each student will make one row of comics and mix and match their rows together to create a non linear story about “shared spaces”. 

Learning Objectives: In this program students will learn all the key steps needed in order to create relief-cut lino block prints. They will learn how to assemble a relief cut tool, how to properly bray ink and press prints, how to transfer a design and how to design an image for relief cut prints. They will also learn all the key steps needed in order to create a folded zine. They will learn how to prepare a sheet of paper for a zine layout, and how to cut and fold a zine out of a single sheet of paper using no glue or staples. 

Week One: Tuesday, October 15 – Comic Design
Students will design a single 6″ x 3″ comic based on the phrase “shared spaces” where they will explore what it means to be part of a community using sequential art.

Week Two: Tuesday, October 22 – Transferring Techniques & Intro to Relief Cutting
Students will use graphite pencils to trace, flip and transfer-rub their comics onto their lino block. Students will ink the transferred image onto the lino block using sharpie markers. 

Week Three: Tuesday, October 29 – Relief Cutting
Students will cut their designs out of the lino block using the cutting tool.

Week Four: Tuesday, November 5 – Cutting & Intro to Printing
Students will finish their lino-cutting and create their first set of prints. They will check these prints for mistakes and finalize any cutting that needs to be done.

Week Five: Tuesday, November 12 – Printing & Folding
Students will fold their blank sheets of paper into a blank zine. They will load their brayers with ink and then apply the ink onto their relief cuts using the loaded brayers. Then they will stamp their lino cuts to transfer the print onto the zine.

Week Six: Tuesday, November 19 – Printing & Folding
Students will fold their blank sheets of paper into a blank zine and print onto them with their relief cuts.

Weekends at YZD – Textile Workshops with Kat Singer

On September 22, October 20, November 10, and December 1, from 1pm to 3pm join North York Arts and Weekends at YZD with textile artist Kat Singer for creative monthly workshops including needle felting, tree sculpting, and pompom making!

To register for these workshops, there is a fee of $5, which will be donated to North York Harvest Food Bank. If this fee is a barrier, send us an email at info@northyorkarts.org for a promo code that allows free access any of the four workshops.

We’re thrilled to join the exciting activities of Weekends at YZD, happening every Sunday from 10 AM – 4 PM with free events, programs, and pop-ups at the YZD Plaza. Dive into YZD’s community spirit and enjoy complimentary mini-golf, interactive playscapes, lawn games and more!

Creative Minds – Summer Series

Creative Minds – Therapeutic Dance Movement

Through the means of Cultural Dance Movement and Therapy, (Indian and Latin styles), dance therapy will be explored for the purpose and joy of pursuing a hobby as opposed to merely replicating choreography.

Join Ishaa during this 6 week program divided into 3 parts to explore various dance styles and increase in difficulty to challenge your growth.

Session 1 & 2: Explore Latin Dance rhythms in a ‘Zumba’ style to explore beats. Dance styles will include: Salsa, Bachata, Flamenco.
Session 3 & 4: Explore Folk Dances of India such as the North Indian Bhangra (From the state of Punjab), Ghoomar (Rajasthan), and Gujarati folk music. We will be utilizing a combination of Bollywood and Pop Music for the classes.
Session 5 & 6: Experience a short introduction of the Indian Classical dance form of Kathak focusing primarily on swift pivots or ‘Chakkars’, footwork or ‘Taatkaar’, and various ways of using numbers and division in aspects such as “Ginti” or ‘counting’.

Creative Minds – Creative Photography Storytelling

Registrations are now closed for Creative Photography Storytelling

Photography is an art form that captures the beauty and meaning of the world around us. But to master this art, we need to learn its language and grammar. Without knowing the basic elements and principles of photography, we cannot create compelling images. That’s why this workshop with 

Hamed will teach you how to use your camera and your creativity to produce stunning photographs. You will learn how to see the world differently and how to adjust your camera settings to suit different situations by learning how to use different lenses, filters, and flash modes to enhance your images. 

You will also learn how to analyze and interpret the visual elements  in a photograph, such as shapes, colors, lines, textures, and patterns. These skills will help you to compose your shots with balance, harmony, contrast, and emphasis. You will be able to capture the essence and emotion of any scene or subject and discover how to use your camera as a tool for expressing your vision and creativity.

• Session 1: Introducing basics of photography, cameras, and cellphone photography. Different techniques in different photography lighting conditions such as natural light, artificial light, low light, and backlight. Making familiar the importance and value of photography in our era by reviewing photography’s why, what, when, and how.
• Session 2: Learning about exposure setting and exposure triangle, Shutter speed, Aperture and ISO. Analyzing their impact on photos including motion blur and noise.
• Session 3: Analyze shapes, forms, and textures (visual elements) in various compositions that support a story behind photographs.
• Session 4: Reviewing, troubleshooting, criticizing some popular photographs technically and aesthetically based on course contents.

Memoria: Photography and Digital Scrapbooking – Creative Minds

Memoria: Photography & Digital Scrapbooking is a virtual course happening via Zoom with Workman Arts and  North York Arts. Registration will be open during the duration of the course. Please note there is a 15-person limit on participants. 

What would it feel like to be nostalgic for our present, not just our past? Memoria is a beginner-friendly digital media program for those with no formal training in photography.

Participants learn referencing and the basics of dissecting art direction, and with journal prompts and discussion reflect on what themes resonate with them based on the images they are intuitively drawn to. Using this as a framework, participants will document elements of their environment via photos, videos, and/or soundscape recordings and leave with an assembled digital scrapbook memorializing a period of being.

Introduction to Needle Felting – Creative Minds

Introduction to Needle Felting is an in-person course happening at the Meridian Arts Centre in partnership with North York Arts and Workman Arts and TO Live. Registration will be open from Sept 11 to Oct 3, at which point accepted registrants will be contacted. Please note there is a 15-person limit of participants.

Felting is a process of mechanically bonding fibres to create garments and household objects that predates knitting. Through exploring felting together, we will discover ways to soothe the nervous system while learning the forgiving medium of fibre art. Kat encourages learners to connect to the materials they are using as well as each other, listen to their bodies, and approach creative challenges with curiosity and compassion.

In this class, you will:

– learn about felting tools, materials & safety practices for 2D and 3D design & embellishment
– harness focus, planning, and creative problem solving skills
– develop a soothing arts practice with repetitive hand movements and quiet tactile sounds.