10th Annual Student Art Exhiibit - POSTER

For our 10th year we made a BIG effort with our Photo Booth, Wall of Fame and Silent Auction for Heaven Can Wait!

Elks Hall - Photo Booth

Three weeks of prop building and prepping for this event were probably the most fun in three weeks I've ever had... who knew I'd be making oversized art supply props for a kids art show.. but what a BLAST we had!

Photo Booth close up-with text

A few borrowed items from the Okotoks Film Society, The Dewdney Players and the Okotoks Public Library-- with the props turned out better than I expected!

Merrilie, Me and Mom

...So of course, after we finished setting up on Friday night, we had to do some photo booth shots ourselves!

Dianne H and Dianne W

Two Dianne's from my Phoenix Art Club offered to be our animated Photo Booth Greeters! They had a lot of fun with the paintbrush!

Dianne H- painting

Dianne was 'painting' the welcome sign as I was switching her prop to a paint tube...

Family friends- silent auction

Most of these gals have been in my life honestly since I was only 2. The rest I've grown to love over the past 15 years! AND... three of them won their silent auction pieces too!

Queen Shirley visits!

Shirley Paradis is one amazing individual. She is an artist of MANY facets, she has taught art on cruise ships, lived in Turkey and Switzerland, scuba dived in Hawaii and has gone skiing all over the world. She ran the Okotoks Arts Council and art camps (with me) between 2002 - 2011.

Betty Boop Visits!

An alter ego of my mom. If she could JUST break out of her conventional shell of grandma and preschool teacher- there's no telling how far she could go!

Jada and Kacey - photo booth

These members of the Monday Tweens Art Club had WAY TOO MUCH fun at the photo booth...

Kacey and Jada- Battle Scene!

See what I mean?

Brynn vs Astrid

Kids Art Club Brynn vs Awesome League Astrid....

Passerby Guests

These guys couldn't wait to pop in and do some fun poses with the props!

A Big Paintbrush

This guy was overjoyed at the fact that the palette LOOKED authentic - and not with perfectly round paint shapes...

Brynn vs Reava

Brynn took things even higher when she advanced upon her mom!

Silent Art Auction - composite

My Art Kids consistently ask me why my art is not at their big June show. It's because it's a Student show only-- but this year I decided to add in a silent auction to raise funds for a charity close to my heart...

Students' Wall of Fame

23 students is a LOT of kids to manage! But they sure have been fun to teach and spend time with. Likeminded creative kids... aaaahhhh...

Theo's table

Theo Ayas has been with me since he was only 9 years old with his brother Alex. He started off at the OAG taking 6 week classes and art camps each summer. THEN.. Covid-19 hit and I opened up the Monday Tweens Art Club. Boom. His mom registered him and his twin as well as their younger siblings Oliver and Emiko.

Jada's table

Jada Swain was new to the Monday Tweens Art Club and what a sweet addition she made. Later her best friend joined us through a magical coincidence!

Emiko and Alex

Alex Ayas with his kid sister Emiko. These twins are starting to show some definite signs of difference in opinion and how they approach their projects.

Kaceys table

Kacey joined the Monday Tweens Art Club right after Easter break. She was a great addition to the club and Jada had so much fun with her!

Oliver's table

The younger bro of the twins Oliver. You can spot his super mom in the background. He has also been with me for 3 years!

Rose's table

Here is Rose being dramatic.. this little eight year old packs quite the punch where creativity is concerned.

Emma, Rose and Astrid

Emma F's Table

Emma started off in the Kids Art Club in 2020 and now she's headed to the Monday Tweens Art Club this fall! It's gonna be great!

Emma's Candyland

This gal has a real knack for detail and engineering! She's gonna make some waves in the world - that's for sure!

Emma's turtle

And speaking of waves... she did this piece entirely on her own.

Daphne's table

Another incredible kid artist is Daphne- who also began lessons in 2020 and is headed to the Monday Tweens Art Club this fall.

Emiko's table

Emiko Ayas has a wild heart and loves animals and abstract art. She's going to quite the little leader in the Fall's Kids Art Club for her 3rd year!

Ethan M's Table

This guy is one I knew as a preschooler. He also has helped with some teen mural projects. His skills are intense. His awareness of politics, history, social norms, oddities and a fascination with drawing sci-fi characters will surely take him far as he enters high school this year.

Ethan M's Table

You can see if you look really close- just how dedicated he is to his character sketches and visual story telling...

Ethan L's Table

Ethan Lawrence is one of my Calgary students and his interests lie in fencing, gaming and drawing with "clean art" materials. Even though he LOVED making his five foot pumpkin canon last October!

Ethan L's Table

Having a Friday Teenz Art Club has been an eye opener into the world of Generation Z... and really how far displaced I am becoming as a teacher...

10th Annual Student Exhibit

These kids finally got to work together, in person to create a single piece of art as a performance. Yes, it took me weeks to figure out the logistics, create the pieces and squeeze them into regular lessons to be painted ... in time for the show.. but TOTALLY WORTH IT!