Preview: Cartoon Art Workshop on 16 August 2014

Want to have a preview of our next Art2Heart session? Here it is!

Our next Art2Heart session on 16 August will be led by Dave Gibb, who is an accomplished cartoon artist based in Ballarat. Not only his work is award-winning, Mr Gibb also comes with an extensive experience helping kids through cartoon. In this 2012 article published on spec.com.au (Click here for the original article), Mr Gibb worked with children from Portland South Primary School to produce a mural about friendship and self-confidence.

JCI Eastern is extremely excited to have Mr Gibb volunteering his time with us and working with our children from the Art2Heart project.

Source: http://www.spec.com.au/blog/2012/04/04/project-helps-children-feel-mighty-valuable/

Art2Heart 2014: Lead-light Glass Art

Our Jaycee Hall was filled with excitement on Saturday 9 August when our Chapter President and acting-workshop leader, Ben Morris, ran the very first Art2Heart session in 2014. More than 10 children referred by the local schools attended the art session and learned about the techniques to make a small glass art project using the tools and materials generously provided by Mr Phillip Wright of THEOAK Studio, Ferntree Gully.

Here are some highlights of the session.

Art2Heart 2014 : Induction Session

It was with great pleasure that we commenced this year's Art2Heart program on Saturday 2nd August. Wonderful work has been done by our volunteers, Sithira Tennakoon, Reza Orbien and Jessie Bleakley, promoting Art2Heart to local primary schools. As a result, we have 5 schools sending their students to participate in this year's program.

We also welcome the generous support of 5 artists whose involvement will enable us to run exciting art workshops including lead-light glass art, cartoon art, jewellery and landscape glass art, felting and African drumming.

Here are some photos from our induction session featuring this year's project lead, Sam Gibb and JCI Eastern 2014 Chapter President, Ben Morris welcoming our 2014 participants.

Art2Heart 2014 is BACK!

JCI Eastern (aka Junior Chamber International) is proud to present the award-winning Art2Heart project again this year. Art2Heart 2014 is specifically designed to cater for 15-20 children aged 9-12 years, who are currently experiencing social problems either at home or at school, or who would benefit from building their self confidence. Children who may not have the opportunity to visit galleries, or whose parents may not be able to support their artistic interests at home are also invited to attend.

Children are encouraged to explore a wide range of media, and learn art making skills they may not acquire from their usual school classes. Children from local schools meet and work together in a supportive and inspiring environment. With mentoring from artists, children are encouraged to reflect and evaluate their experiences and gain confidence in their own artistic abilities.

Please register your interest by 28 July 2014 with via jcieastern@gmail.com. The program commences on Saturday 2 August 2014 for 6 consecutive Saturday sessions. For further details, click on the flyer below.

Presentation with an African Rhythm

All fun things have to come to an end; but in line with JCI Eastern's tradition, we finished our 2013 Art2Heart Program with a twist and on a very high note.

Students, families and friends were invited on Saturday 7th of September to a Presentation Session. Each student received a certificate from JCI Eastern celebrating their creative achievements. Our program coordinator, Suzi Chen, put together a slide show with original music written by Sound Alibi. The slide show featured the photos taken during each of the art workshops. We also welcomed the visit from Mr Phillip Wright (the Oak Glass studio), our tutor/artist from the lead-light glass workshop on the day to support our program.

Then there was Mohamed Camara, a renowned African musician from Rhythm of Life. Mohamed brought with him 14 drums and the wonderful traditional music from Guinea, West Africa. So our Jaycee Hall was soon filled with groovy beats and rhythms for the next 40 minutes.

It was a fitting finish for our award-winning and popular Art2Heart Program!

Workshop 4: Jewellery Glass Art with Kirsten and Garey Laken

Once again, the Art2Heart Program returned to Spirit of Glass on Saturday 31 August to learn from the awarding-winning glass artist, Kirsten Laken and Garey Laken (also an accomplished artist) about jewellery making with glass. This workshop featured a different application of glass art, which is very different from the leadlight glass art workshop we had the previous week with Phillip Wright.

As expected, children, parents and volunteers were impressed and inspired by the Spirit of Glass Studio in Selby and had a great time of experimenting fused glass technique. Not to mention the fun we had with the cute chocks!

Workshop 3: Leadlight Glass Art with Phillip Wright

The leadlight glass art workshop that we had with Phillip Wright on Saturday 24 August was fantastic. Children from the Art2Heart Program not only had the chance putting together a sun catcher (apparently "bird sun catcher" was the most popular choice on the day), they also learned first hand about how to work with glass safely. We sincerely thank Phillip from The Oak Glass for his time and superb organisational skills with running an intricate workshop like this one.

Special thank-you also goes to our volunteers, Alan and Lorraine, for assisting the workshop on the day.

Note: JCI Eastern's 2013 Art2Heart Program is made possible through Monash City Council's Community Grant.