Douglas

This residency I wanted to give the students an opportunity to explore Zines in all their different forms. 

If you look through the Zines you will find booklets geared towards creative thinking, educating the audience, exploring our connections to each other, abstraction and colour, and many more. I gave the students an opportunity to be self lead in the topics they cared about and wanted to display because Zines are an incredibly diverse medium that allows for a wide display of different life experiences to shine. 

We were able to imagine, share, and collaborate while learning how to draw and visually communicate. 

Zines are a medium that has a primary goal of accessibility. Historically they were used to spread information and share ideas among people who were often disenfranchised and did not have access to expensive supplies and techniques. Zinesters would use newsprint or scrap paper, they would use ballpoint pens and collage magazines and photocopy and print at the library. The students are able to take home and make Zines in their own time with nothing but printer paper and whatever art/office supplies they have on hand.

The students came away from this with the power to communicate.

A la decouverte du centre de son etre, de sa voix interieure et de sa verite !

A travers le voyage sur la page, le mouvement intuitif et !'exploration de la

couleur et de la forme; on vise le developpement d'une ecoute interieure, de

prises de decisions artistiques confiantes et de la construction d'un langage

abstrait personnel.

L'environnement de classe est presente comme un endroit sacre ou on peut se recueillir sur soi et s'investir dans son silence personnel. On entre l'acte creatif comme on entre une meditation; c'est une pratique d'un silence mental qui permet de mieux entendre !'intuition et !'inspiration.,

Avis pour les eleves d'apporter un chandail ou un tablier pour proteger ses

vetements; la peinture acrylique ne s'enleve pas !

Rotation d'un groupe d'un groupe d'eleves responsables du nettoyage.

This year, students explored the concept of craftsmanship through hands-on

engagement with the humble medium of newsprint paper. By setting aside conventional

tools and working primarily with their hands, they were invited to experience the act of

making as a thoughtful, embodied practice. Each week, students were introduced to a

new way of working with the same letter-sized sheet of paper, developing their skills

through observation, practice, repetition, and play. These transformed pieces were then

gathered for the final week, coming together to form sculptural compositions — a

collective expression of their learning.

Embracing Resilience and Openness

Craftsmanship calls for patience, care, and the ability to work through challenges. In this

studio, students were invited to notice the agency of the material itself and learn to

respond to its unpredictable nature. They discovered how each movement — no matter

how small — contributed to the ongoing dialogue between hands and material. Folding,

rolling, tearing, and crumpling became not just techniques, but moments of connection,

revealing the subtle ways in which a material responds to touch, intention, and attention

over time.

Reciprocity: Connecting Mind, Body, and Material

The studio became a space for reflective making, where students engaged deeply with

their material. Paper became a partner in this process. The curve of a fold, the tension

of a tear, and the memory of a crease revealed the connections between mind, body,

and material, offering moments of insight that can only emerge through practice.

Perhaps this is what keeps a master craftsperson motivated over years of practice: it’s

less about using a material and more about working ‘with’ it.

Initially, I wanted to share with the students my love for just making stuff, while also sneaking in some useful drawing tips. In the six weeks of the residency, I gave them different prompts and tools each session, ranging from depicting the feeling of “I don’t know” with watercolours to collaboratively working on a giant story with papers taped to the table in strange shapes. Students were encouraged to make as many drawings as they wanted, and not to be afraid to experiment and get a little messy. 

We worked together to string their pictures in the later weeks; deliberating thoughtfully, the students decided which drawings got to be neighbours. I carefully collected all the strings every week, and for the final day, connected them all together into a giant web-maze.

Each string varied in length; some had three drawings strung up together, while other had twelve or more in a row. The different drawings from each week were mixed up and scattered amongst each other. We tied the strings up in the art room: first from wall to table, then wall to window; we tied string to string, connecting high to low and ultimately creating a winding, twisting path from the hundreds of drawings.

Students meandered through the twists and turns, and could see tangibly the connections between their drawings, stories, memories, and ideas.