Saint-Lambert Seniors Try Their Hands at Expressive Art Journals!

Artist and Préville educator, Stephany Hernandez, inspires seniors to tap into their creativity at the St-Lambert Public Library

Expressive Art Journal Workshop

Back in early September, Préville artist and educator, Stephany Hernandez, visited the St-Lambert Public Library to deliver her “Expressive Art Journal Workshop” as part of the library’s Mornings for Retirees programming.

The goal of Stephany’s workshop is to help participants start a weekly art practice, in a sketchbook, in order to exercise their creativity and promote a sense of well-being through art making.

In total, 21 participants gathered with Stephany in the library’s Zia room, where they were each given their own personal kit that included an art journal and some special pens that they were able to take home afterwards.

Over the course of the two-hour workshop, participants used collage and other techniques to create the cover pages of their journals. They took inspiration from Hannah Höch’s artwork that Stephany shared with the group. Höch was an interwar avant-garde artist who worked with collage and photomontage.

Vintage sheet music used as part of the project!

All materials were provided by The Préville Fine Arts Centre, such as magazines, glue and paper of all sorts–notably vintage sheet music that had belonged to Préville founder, the late Belva Thomas, and was donated by her daughter and our current director, Veronica Thomas.

The workshop ended with Stephany encouraging participants to continue their new practice by keeping to a regular schedule of art making–committing time once a week or once per month to putting their imaginations to paper. Several participants were artists themselves who used the opportunity of the workshop to renew their commitment to a practice that had lost its momentum.

 

Everyone Asked When Stephany Would Be Back!

The good news is that she will be present at the St-Lambert Christmas Farmer ‘s Market on Saturday, December 10th (from 10-12pm) and on Sunday, December 11th (from 1-3pm). She’ll be leading a FREE informal holiday card-making activity as part of the market’s offerings to the public! 

Préville is very excited to have been invited to animate this fun activity at The Christmas Farmer’s Market, which will be held just next door to the library, at the multi-purpose centre at 81 Hooper Street and is open from 10-4pm both days. For more information visit the market’s website and follow the market on Facebook.

We’re looking forward to making art with you at this festive celebration of local, artisanal food!

Creative Community Workshops

A special thanks to the St-Lambert Public Library staff, especially Audrey and Elizabeth for their help in setting up and welcoming the participants, and to Nancy Riendo, for coordinating the event!  We look forward to collaborating with the library on a future project!

Préville offers over a range of arts-related workshops that could be of interest to community-based organizations and associations, as well as schools, and can be tailor-made to suit all ages and ability levels.

We do all of the planning and organizing so that you and your participants can get the most of the experience. If you need ideas for how to incorporate the arts into your programming, just give us a call!

For more information and to book a workshop, please visit our Préville Productions page.