My community field experience took place at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, BC. I worked closely with the arts programmer to develop and pilot a school workshop in coordination with the New Media Gallery, located in the Anvil Centre. The goal of the workshop was to give students a better understanding of conceptual art, as well as time to work in response to the exhibit “POPart” at the New Media Gallery. Students were guided through the gallery by the curators, and then we moved to the workshop space where I guided them through some art making as well as a discussion period.

The students had three areas in which they could work, the first being pendulum art, the next was charcoal art, and the last was snap art – where they dipped party snaps in paint and then threw them on to the paper. The students were very engaged and loved being able to respond to the work they saw in the gallery, in meaningful ways during the workshop. Students were given the freedom and encouraged to experiment with the materials and take each “station” further than the given boundaries. It was a joy to develop and implement such a program! Working in and near the gallery in an educational setting was a great combination of two of my loves.