BARRHEAD – The Barrhead Art Club held a reception on July 26 at the Barrhead Art Gallery with fun activities, creative art pieces by youth and a fun time for all who attended.
“The focus on youth art is part of our mandate,” said club president Claudette MacLean.
“We focus on youth and seniors.”
There was chalk painting for the kids and there was a scavenger hunt at the event.
The youth were supplied with a list to complete the scavenger hunt, and they had to look at all the paintings in the gallery.
“It was really great to see the turn out and to have the children engaged,” said MacLean.
This was the biggest event for the Barrhead Art Club other than their gala later in the year.
The Barrhead Art club partnered with the Barrhead Library through July and hosted several art activities in the community, an extension to many endeavours to further art in the community this year.
A big part of the reception was the display of LEGO art.
Kyle Hughes, known as Mr. Lego at the Barrhead Library, told LEGO that there was a planned activity for youth to build art with LEGO to be displayed in the local art gallery.
LEGO provided free kits to build famous painting replicas in LEGO, such as Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and van Gogh's Starry Night and Sunflower paintings.
The kids from the LEGO club also displayed LEGO art inspired by books they had read. The objective was to read a book and then illustrate the book with LEGO.
Friends, family and stoppers-by bought art from the youth.
The Barrhead Art Club offers programs all year, with activities ramping up through the fall.
They have a senior art session held at a seniors’ lodge in Barrhead.
There is an upcoming exhibit of their work.
Tammy Cote, the in-house art instructor, does art classes at the gallery location.
Sue Rees spearheaded online art classes including sessions with 15 home-schooled youth earlier this year.
They were taught graphite coloured pencil art, watercolour using Crayola water pads, and acrylics.
The youth ages ranged from five years to 13 years.
MacLean said the artwork was excellent.
She shared that five-year-olds were doing shading, a skill that many of us would-be artists practice for a long time.
These online classes will begin again in the fall and are very popular.
The Fine Arts Camp, which ran through July in partnership with the Barrhead Library, was a huge success.
It involved a week of two-hour shifts – two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.
Anthony Ignacio did 3D Foam Art and Prop Making classes at the Barrhead Library.
Donna Mast did some watercolour art cards classes.
MacLean did oilskin painting, which is something she developed. It is painting onion skins, and she taught the children the technique.
The process was very hands-on, and the kids got dirty, which MacLean said they loved.
The Barrhead Art Club had a display at the County Tour supper.
Stephanie Shochat-Gruss and Lois Macklin exhibited at the Agricultural tour.
Sue Rees gave a talk at the supper for the attendees.
Luella Kile and Kathy Wereszczynskiis painted a diorama-like mural for the museum in the spring.
Wereszczynskiis is feature artist for August and will have her art displayed at the gallery at 4814 - 53 Ave. in Barrhead, open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Barrhead Art Club started in the 1950s and incorporated as a society in 1981.
