Artist and educator, Stephany Hernandez, gets crafty with students at two Montreal-area High Schools.
Jewelry Making and Expressive Art Journals Workshops
In February and March this year, Stephany visited two schools in the Lester B. Pearson School Board where she shared creative ideas and basic techniques that students could take away and build on in their own creative practices.
Bracelet-Making Workshops
In February, Stephany led jewelry-making workshops as part of Beaconsfield High School’s Winter Carnival. She set up in the library and welcomed two groups of Cycle I students.
In just 50 mins, they learned basic wire and bead jewelry-making skills by crafting custom bracelets for themselves using beads and tools supplied by Préville.
A highlight of the activity was the addition of Turkish Evil Eye beads to each bracelet, along with an explanation of how and why they have been worn–and still are – by different cultures around the world. For these students, the goal was for them to leave the workshop wearing handmade talismans of resilience, protection and good luck.
Expressive Art Journals
Stephany’s workshops in March focused on showing students how to begin and continue a mindful, creative art journaling practice.
She met with approximately 120 students from four Cycle II English classes at John Rennie High School. Préville provided the materials, which included blank journals, fine-tipped pens, gold Sharpies and all kinds of paper – from magazines to music manuscript – that the students cut, ripped, coloured and glued to make collage covers for their journals. This is just the starting point for this project! Students will take away their journals to fill with more collage, writing, quotations, drawing – you name it!
The emphasis for this workshop is on creating with intention. Stephany explains how the process can help to center one’s thoughts and create a sense of well-being:
“A regular practice in a creative art journal is a form of self care because you allow yourself to be spontaneous, creative and free in a space where there is no right or wrong. Exploration possibilities are endless! Both the process and the results are meditative, and empowering. This in itself plays such an important role in maintaining positive mental health and overall well-being.”
She is passionate about enabling all of her students to use art as an outlet for finding calm and creating beauty, with simple materials that most people have on hand.
Incorporating Creative Workshops into Your Curriculum
As mentioned above, Stephany’s Expressive Art Journals workshops were presented during English classes. Préville’s arts-based workshops can be worked into any curriculum, from social studies and math, to music, art, media and phys ed. We are here to help! If you need ideas for how to incorporate the arts into your classroom, just give us a call.
For more information and to book a workshop, please visit our Préville In Schools page or see our listing on ELAN’s ArtistsInspire page! Funding from AristsInspire grants can be used towards any of Préville’s in-school and online workshops.