D.I.Y. Media for Teens... A March Break Programme

Oakville Galleries is proud to offer a weeklong programme of hands-on workshops designed to introduce teenagers to the world of Do-It-Yourself media + art practices. Designed to teach young people how to be creative with easily available materials and techniques, this program will give teens the ability to express themselves on issues and situations in their daily environments.

Participation in the programme is limited to 15 individuals.

When: 13 March – 17 March 2006
Cost: $150/person
All materials and transportation costs are included in the price of the programme

Schedule
Monday 13 March - Small Press Lab
At the Oakville Public Library, teens will participate in a writing and book-making workshop. Various printmaking and book-binding techniques will be demonstrated and tested and some library research time will be given to gather materials for the publishing projects (newspapers, zines, chap books or broadsides).

Tuesday 14 March – Case Study: Kensington
Participants will travel to Kensington Market in Toronto and will visit a silkscreen workshop, a knitting co-op, a sound recording studio and an alternative bookstore.  Teens will meet and talk with the talented people who run these places that bring Toronto’s vibrant Kensington Market to life.

Wednesday 15 March - Placing + Making
Specific locations in Oakville will be explored through walking and photo-documentation. Participants will be asked to consider and respond to such notions as signage and its visual impact and public space usage and behaviour. During this process, teens will formulate ideas and concepts for their own printed matter. Participants will also tour the current exhibition at Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square, Addressing Oakville. Returning to Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens, teens will set up their workspace and begin to sketch out their projects for the next day.

Thursday 16 March - Production Distribution
This day at the Oakville Galleries’ studio in Gairloch Gardens involves intensive production - teens will make the visual products that will be publicly circulated. All kinds of prints and stencils on paper and boards will be made, as well as a variety of wearable prints on buttons, pins and clothing. Time and weather permitting, an optional 5-7 pm activity will consist of going outdoors in order to integrate some of the stencil designs and prints into the lakeshore garden environment of Gairloch Gardens. The projects will be digital documented and made available on CD.

Friday 17 March - Blogging Day
Electronic publishing will be introduced through a series of discussions and a workshop, conducted in a computer lab at the Iroquois Ridge branch of the Oakville Public Library. Each participant will be produce their own individual blog and/or e-zine, and will link up online with others in the group. 

Oakville Galleries can offer three subsidized programmes for teens in financial need. Please contact Catherine Sicot, Education Manger, at 905.844.4402 ext. 30 or catherine@oakvillegalleries.com for more information.

To register for Do It Here: A March Break Programme for Teens, please contact an Animateur at 905.844.4402 or e-mail <animateurs@oakvillegalleries.com>