The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children, Dublin, Ireland

From 3 to 103

Every Sunday is family day where we have two workshops for people aged 3 to 103. The theme of the workshops is 'family' too - so it's for you to bring your family, create work about family and have fun too.

Last Sunday we had three generations of participants, all intently focused on clay pictures: waves and sand, palm trees and sunny days.

Starting today we have a week of drawing - scratching, ripping, cutting and collaging. There are so many more ways to draw and materials that you can use to draw than you would have thought - you can even try to draw in sand and washing-up liquid. Watch this space for photos - or ring the box office and join in!

Labels: art, family, The Ark, workshops

Exhibit Me! in action

Last week Exhibit Me! began with a week of workshops making Clay Sculptures. Terry O'Farrell, who leads the workshops, has a number of pieces displayed in our Longroom and Gallery, which she uses as the starting point for the workshops. Children and adults are brought through the process of making art and displaying it in a gallery.

Here you can see Terry demonstrating how to glaze your pieces. As she says, it's a bit like painting in yogurt but has much better results.

The theme for the Exhibit Me! workshops is family...dogs, cats, uncles, aunts and great-great-grandparents included. Here is one participating artists impression of their family.

And last but not least are the finished artworks! A lot of them have been fired but there are so many patiently waiting for their turn in the kiln.

The first few pieces have gone up in the gallery, lit with spotlights or displayed on pillars. You can come and view this exhibition in progress all summer from Wednesday until Sunday.

Week two is Clay Pictures and this runs until Sunday the 25th July - so book now if clay is your material of choice. Week three is Drawing... but this will be no ordinary drawing workshop... participants can rip, scratch, cut or collage paper to dazzling effects.

Labels: children, clay, drawing, gallery, pictures, summer, Terry O'Farrell, The Ark, workshops

Sensory Saturation

What a weekend! We've collected a few photos from the Feast of the Senses workshops that took place over the weekend and it's so hard to choose what to put up. But do not fret - for Exhibit Me! - a series of delightful workshops in clay, cloth, plaster, drawing and mixed media - started today and runs until 22 August.

Here's a selection of what went on...

Yummy Scrummy: decorated glass bottles and tasty elderflower concoctions / juice / love potion.

Touchy- Feely: Textured landscapes from beans to glitter and fluff.

Scope-Up: Mirrors, card and all things decorative to create a clever seeing device.

Listen-In: Music time! Chimes and bells, bits and bobs.

And last but not least... Aroma-Rama: Eyes, ears and tentacles with smelly stuff within.

Beautiful and delicious

Ever dreamed about the perfect drink that would satisfy your thirst on these long summer days? The answer is elderflower, a large tree which produces large creamy white flowers in late June. It may already be the beginning of July but Jane Groves, the artist who will be running the Feast of the Senses workshops here at The Ark from July 8th, is on a mission. She has discovered one tree which is still flowering at this late time, high up in the Wicklow Mountains, just to bring you a wonderful concoction of elderflower cordial for the first workshop entitled Yummy-Scrummy.

For all of you who didn’t manage to book early for Yummy-Scrummy, there’s another way to enjoy elderflowers - you can eat them!

Elderflower Fritters
100g plain flour
15ml tepid water
Pinch of salt
1 egg
Washed flower heads of elder

Make a batter using all the ingredients except the elderflowers. Hold the flower heads by their stalks and dip into batter until thoroughly coated. Deep fry the flowering heads in hot oil until golden brown. Serve hot, sprinkled with sugar. Do get an adult to help you with any hot stuff, and if you're an adult, be careful too!

Sounds of Summer - Listen In

On Sunday 10th July we'll be exploring sound in a workshop entitled Listen In with artist Jane Groves. You will be able to construct a wind chime from all sorts of materials.

Wind chimes have been used as musical instruments for centuries.
There are Japanese ones:

and ones made of dragonflies:

and ones made from all sorts of exciting materials:

We will be making them from willow and 'found' materials such as bells, crockery, cutlery and copper tubes. You can investigate these noisy materials and choose your favourites to add to your wind chime. What will yours sound like?

It’s almost sold out so book your tickets at www.ark.ie

Labels: children, sound, wind chimes

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Previous Posts

Archives