Learning to tell stories

Instructor Pan Willson, centre, and a group of students do their learning on the beach during the 2016 spring break workshops offered by Deer Crossing the Art Farm. Chloe Langmaid photo

Deer Crossing the Art Farm is hosting their sixth annual Spring Break Children’s Art & Nature Workshop March 13 to 17, based at The Arts Building in Lower Gibsons.

This year’s theme is “Spring Awakening” and will feature five mornings of jam-packed fun exploring art and nature.  Working with professional artists and youth leaders, children will explore storytelling through movement, paint, sculpture, video, and sound. They will utilize techniques that are inspired by traditional First Nation’s storytelling as well as tools developed through new technology and modern media.

“We all have a story to tell,” says Sandy Buck, Community Engaged Arts Coordinator. “In some ways, storytelling has become a forgotten form of communication. We used to gather around the fire in the days of old to hear the elders retell the stories that were told to them—enhanced, as they were, with the storyteller’s personal tales intertwined. Over time, the storytelling method has shifted – left to the professionals through the mediums of modern technology – Youtube, television, and Netflix episodes.”

During this workshop, the Art Farm hopes to inspire children to tell their own stories.

There are two classes: Mixed Media Arts (Ages 7 to 10), $150 for non-members; and  Creative Filmmaking (Ages 11 to 13), $175 for non-members.

Learn more at www.deercrossingtheartfarm.org/springbreak

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