Archives for posts with tag: workshops
puppie

wistful kitteh

At Fleurbain, we are excited to offer a two-evening workshop, in which participants will create a formed puppet out of wet felt.

The workshop takes place over two Tuesday eves in April. The puppet will be a simple “mitten” style, formed seamlessly over a form.

The first night students will learn the feltmaking basics, and create this formed puppet. The next week students will make round felt eyes, needle-felt decorations, and decorate/finish details on the puppet to take home. Choices can be made about “what” or “who” this puppet is… it can be a portrait, a fantasy creature, an alien… a favourite pet.

fancy kitteh

This class is excellent for those who have made a flat felt object (such as a scarf) before, but is also appropriate for those who have not yet made felt. Rest assured, you will be guided through all the stages to ensure your puppet will pup!

The workshop is taught by Natasha Henderson, a painter, fibre artist, arts educator, and Fleurbain’s gallery curator. Her work is exhibited across Canada, and she also offers custom workshops.

TIMES: Tuesday April 16 and Tuesday April 23, 7-8:30pm each night.

COST: $60, all inclusive

REGISTER by responding via email to fleurbain@gmail.com

Workshop is held in Fleurbain, located at 460 Ste-Catherine West, H3B 1A7, Montreal. Suite # 917.

student making felt

nothing says “opportunity” like the hope of a blank canvas

Have you always wanted to paint? Whether you have your own supplies or not, here is an opportunity to paint in a welcoming, open, and fresh space.

Your instructor, Natasha Henderson, is an equally fresh and funny artist with loads of experience in teaching painting to all levels of learner.

Natasha with a few of her own works-in-progress

This summer, we have set up a casual and fun schedule so that you can opt to “Drop-In” to paint, with a rotating schedule of different focuses for each class.

Perhaps due to our love of yoga, we are always flexible at Fleurbain.

To encourage you to paint more often, there is a discount on the purchase of six tickets, good for any six of the summertime classes that you choose. Tickets are entirely transferable, so if you want to treat a friend to a class, you can! Perfect for out-of-town guests to make their own souvenir of Montreal.

If you have your own paints, or want an excuse to buy them, there is an option to bring your own supplies. Enquire if this interests you… nhen@videotron.ca

Cost for one class with everything supplied is $35. Cost for six summertime classes, with everything supplied, is $180 (savings of $30). For a special-special-special trial offer, this Tuesday July 3, we are offering the drop-in class for only $25, all inclusive!

Click to see the schedules (and zoom on in) to see what’s happening:

July’s Schedule

August’s Schedule

About the painting experience, Natasha says: “I am here to facilitate, get you painting, and have fun! Learning skills and techniques are important facets to enjoying your craft… however…. Expression and simple joy in making are equally important.”

Fleurbain is located at 460 St Catherine Street West, Unit 917, in downtown Montreal.

Drop-In Painting is Tuesday and Wednesdays 7-9pm, Saturday 1-3pm and Sunday either 11am-1pm or 1-3pm.

Sun July 1: 11-1 glazing and thickness, 1-3 colour

Tues July 3: 7-9 open painting fun (discount day! $25)

Wed July 4: 7-9 abstraction

Sat July 7: 1-3 brushwork skills

Sun July 8: 11-1 chiaroscuro and form, 1-3 glazing and thickness

Sat July 28: 1-3 colour

Sun July 29: 11-1 open painting fun, 1-3 abstraction

Tues July 31: 7-9 brushwork skills

Wed August 1: 7-9 chiaroscuro and form

Sat August 4: 1-3 glazing and thickness

Sun August 5: 11-1 colour, 1-3 open painting fun

Wed August 8: 7-9 abstraction

Sat August 11: 1-3 brushwork skills

Sun August 12: 11-1 chiaroscuro and form, 1-3 glazing and thickness

Tues August 14: 7-9 colour

Wed August 15: 7-9 open painting fun (special deal… BRING A FRIEND FOR FREE!)

Sat August 18: 1-3 abstraction

Sun August 19: 11-1 brushwork skills, 1-3 chiaroscuro and form

Tues August 21: 7-9 glazing and thickness

Wed August 22: 7-9 colour

Sat August 25: 1-3 open painting fun

Sun August 26: 11-1 abstraction, 1-3 brushwork skills

Tues August 28: 7-9 chiaroscuro and form

Wed August 29: (last class!) 7-9 glazing and thickness

It is the middle of winter.

Energy is a little low, “sigh…”

The weather is a little intimidating with all the snow and ice and icy cold mountains of slush.  It’s not just the ubiquitous boots, but the whole experience of walking down the street makes people scream, “Ugg!”

We see this and so, we thought we would make it a little easier to do something good for you!

All courses starting in February are half-price, even if they span into March.

Yup, half-price!  🙂  We knew this would add a little warmth to your winter!

Here is a list of what is going on in the next couple weeks.

Tammy Schmidt, CHT

A fleurbain mid-winter Cleanse

You may want to shed a few of the post-holiday pounds or you may want to improve your energy by eating better.  Find supportive and positive approaches to nourishing yourself and renewing for Spring.

Includes anti-inflammatory recipes, menus and plenty of helpful information.

Tammy Schmidt will be facilitating this support group. She is trained as a clinical herbal therapist. She also provides consultations and education on herbal remedies.

Monday February 6th – March 12th; 7:30pm – 9:00pm, $120 for the session.  Half price discount is $60, plus tax, for the six sessions.

Intro To Painting: Old masters Basics

In this eight-week course, students will learn about techniques used in both oil and acrylic painting. Students can choose to paint in oil or acrylics. Natasha will provide you with a list of supplies you will need, and advise on your choice of paints upon registration.

Instructor Natasha Henderson has taught art for several years, and has exhibited her paintings for over a decade. Her classes are supportive, fun, and informative. Please check out her website to see more of her work.

Play, colour theory, illusion… perspective, perception, and more will be covered in this class. The final day will be spent out of the studio, on a field trip to the Musee des Beaux Arts to look at, and talk about, painting. Great painting that will further inspire our hearts, minds, and souls… and art. We will learn by doing and making, and then revel in what we now know.

The class is held in Fleurbain, at 460 St Catherine Street West, Unit 917 H3B 1A7, close to McGill and Place des Arts metros, ts of nearby parking too. Class is scheduled for either Saturdays (February 11 to March 31) or Sundays (February 12 to April 1) 12-3pm. Cost is $320.  Half-price discount, the price is now $160, plus tax for 8 sessions! (If you join late in the session, class prices will be pro-rated.)

Four Weeks of Felt (aka “I ♥ Felt”)  

In I ♥ Felt, students will learn how to make felt in the wet-felting process.  Instructor Natasha Henderson is experienced in feltmaking, puppet-making, painting, and cartooning. Over the last several years, she has been inspired by seeing her students take felt-making to new levels.  This will be a fun, informative, and relaxed workshop.

We will make: *a flat project (the ever-popular scarf!)
* a simple form that can be crafted into a cell-phone case or small purse or other nifty little object
* a larger, more complex form using a resist technique (either a larger purse or a vase)
* jewelry, forms and decorative shapes

Classes will be held in Fleurbain Tuesday nights, February 14th to March 6th, 6:30pm-8:30pm. Cost of the four weeks of supplies and fun, is $160, plus tax. The half-price discount price which includes supplies and instruction is $80, plus tax.

Are you looking for affordable one-on-one instruction from a skilled painter?  Come explore your creative side at the Wednesday Night Drop-in Painting from 6:30pm-8:30pm, $35, plus tax, per drop-in.  For the month of February, Half-price discount is $17.50, plus tax. All supplies are included!

All classes are held in Fleurbain, 460 St Catherine West Unit #917. Please email us at fleurbain@gmail.com to register or for more information.

Creativity knows no bounds… but it does work better when there are some constraints!

I read an article last night in the Globe and Mail, written by Russell Smith. I agree with his musings. I have seen students grow in their creative endeavours when there are constraints placed on them, a few rules they must adjust to.

Art is like surfing. Art is also like cooking, jogging, yoga… art is like surfing, because you have a platform on which to stand. You must balance this platform on a shifting and volatile surface. You balance, and sometimes you fall off. It is a rush. You normally survive these falls, and get back on that platform again. You have experienced a fall that is actually an opportunity to learn, provides some exciting fun, and is an integral part of the activity itself.

What I’m musing on is that those constraints are good, sometimes within those constraints you can grow and expand (think outside the box… it is a six-sided structure, and when you think hard enough you can bow the lid off one of those sides, now you have a five-sided box bursting with ideas.)

I have applied unnecessary rules to my own art, when I found that it was becoming unruly. I needed some sort of guidance… and I found it in poetry. I used strict poetic forms and applied their rules to painting. I ended up creating cohesive works, works that were easy to exhibit together. 

one of the poetry paintings (Click to see more of the poetry paintings!)

The most surprising and indeed creative classes I took in art school were the ones where we were made to create in a way we hadn’t thought of before. An example: we would make our own drawing tool, and it must be over six feet long. At the end of the three-hour session, we all had created our tools, and had done some pretty remarkable drawings! Even constraints like: “use no red”, or, “only use imagery that starts with the letter G” can seem arbitrary yet force you to think…

Natasha Henderson, Montreal

Natasha can be reached at fleurbain@gmail.com for workshops in team-building and creativity  

Come on over!

Fleurbain is under construction. Fleurbain is moving… moving in, setting up shop, shifting around, clarifying, distilling, and experimenting to compound our knowledge and expertise.

Fleurbain is no longer only a dream and a website… Fleurbain is a site.

We will have a grand ouverture and vernissage soon (probably in early November), but in the meantime we will have small open-houses, host workshops, and meet with our clientelle in the realms of herbalism and art. In coming weeks we will announce regular opening hours, but for now we are available by appointment.

Tammy Schmidt, Clinical Herbal Therapist, is available for appointments through tammy.schmidt.herbalist (at) gmail.com and Natasha Henderson Artist and felt-making crafty Workshop Instructor is available through nhen@videotron.ca. We can both be reached through fleurbain@gmail.com!

See you soon, Montreal!

Tammy Schmidt and Natasha Henderson, Montreal

ACRYLIC PAINTING LEVEL ONE: In this course, students with very little or no painting experience will learn about painting techniques, and practice these techniques through creative exercises. Students will not only learn and enjoy the process of painting, but will lose that fear of the blank canvas.

DATES: September 25-November 27 Sundays 9:30am-12pm (10 weeks) $250. Ask me for supplies list: nhen@videotron.ca (OR borrow communal paints/supplies for an additional $5 per session.) Located in Fleurbain, downtown Montreal on St Catherine Street.

ACRYLIC PAINTING LEVEL TWO: This course is suitable for students who have tried painting before, but have hit a wall with it. Or, perhaps they have found that they paint the same thing over and over again. We will expand our ideas of “what to paint” while inspiring one another and working on painting skills. We will talk about concepts in painting, and just generally have a great time.

DATES: September 25-November 27 Sundays 12:30-3pm (10 weeks) $250. Ask me for suggested supplies list. nhen@videotron.ca Located in Fleurbain, downtown Montreal on St Catherine Street.

PUPPET-MAKING WORKSHOP!!! Over two evenings, Wednesday the 26th of October and Wednesday the 2nd of November, from 6:30pm to 9pm each night.

In this two-evening workshop, students will learn the basics of creating wool felt from scratch in the wet-felting process, create their own hand-puppet template, and make a felt hand-puppet! Everything will be supplied, and cost for the two-evening workshop is only $60. Although puppets are for every one at every age, this course is for adults over 16 years old. Look out as this popular workshop will be repeated a few times over the autumn and winter, and kid-friendly courses too! Email me for more details: nhen@videotron.ca

FELT-MAKING PROJECTS: In this four-week course, students will learn how to make wet-felted objects and accessories for fall, for gifts, for fun. Scarves, beads, wallets and purses can all be made out of fluffy, loose felt from scratch and in these workshops we will do so!

DATES either Sept 20-Oct 11 OR Nov 8-Nov 29. 6:30-9pm. Cost $150 all materials supplied! Located in Fleurbain, downtown Montreal. Email me for more details nhen@videotron.ca

One of my early books.

BOOK ARTS: Yes! Learn the basics of book-binding, and make your own simple (or elaborate!) books. Sewing signatures, folding pages… make your own sketchbooks, poetry books, blank pages to fill or to give as gifts.

DATES: Saturdays from September 24 – November 12, 12-2:30pm. (eight weeks). $280 all basic materials supplied. Please email me for more details nhen@videotron.ca Held in Fleurbain, close to the McGill Metro in downtown Montreal.

PLEASE CONTACT ME at nhen@videotron.ca for registration, information, and payment. More workshops being announced soon!

Natasha Henderson, Montreal

creation during a previous workshop

The brains behind Fleurbain, Tammy Schmidt CHT and Natasha Henderson BFA, are pleased to announce an exciting new service: Customised Workshops.

Combine these two women’s talents for an inventive and innovative experience that is tailored to meet your needs. For groups, clubs, corporate teams, or just a gathering of friends, Tammy and Natasha will craft a unique workshop with the greatest of expertise and care.

Tammy is a Clinical Herbal Therapist with an extensive knowledge of herbal remedies. Outside of her clinical practice, she excels in creative Green ideas for the home, bath, and beauty. Let’s not forget that she is brilliant in herbal/cooking fusion! Tammy will encourage you to grow and create while you learn.

Natasha is a graduate from the Emily Carr Institute of Art in Vancouver, with experience in teaching painting, felt-making, crafting, and general creativity to groups of adults and children alike. Natasha is an empowering instructor who invites the potential in every student.

Fleurbain will come to your location for workshops, or we can meet in our central studio location. It’s up to you.

in the midst of cooking/herbal infusion

A very few ideas for your workshops: Herbal bath treatments and notebook making; Team-building mural painting with a herbal tea session; Puppet-making workshop for kids or adults; Painting with herbal pigments; Informative nature walk while drawing from nature; City-scape walks, seeking nature in an urban environment; Crafting workshops with groups. Check out the two-day experience we hosted recently, in which we steeped herbalism and crafting together to create a unique Spa Weekend.

creative learning through activity

The sky is not even the limit… Give us an email at fleurbain@gmail.com to see what we can do together. Please provide dates and location desired for the workshop, as well as a rough idea of number of participants, their ages, and the purpose or reason for the workshop (eg team-building, fun event, educational, etc).  We will put together a package customized for you and your group.

Please note that we are in the Montreal area.

snow painting in herbal pigments

A friend of mine remarked to me a couple of months ago that Arcade Fire’s music is very marchy.  Sometimes when I am listening to them on my Ipod, I test this comment and try to march a little.  Unfortunately, I can usually march along to their music.  This does not really matter to me.  I still like them, even if I am marching to it!  I think this a positive thing to do in March, I have a hunch that there is an Arcade Fire song for any day in March, no matter the weather.  So, get out there and try it!

Coming up in March (the month) in fleurbain:

Resto reviews of three places you really shouldn’t miss in three very different Montreal neighbourhoods (Downtown, St Henri, and The Village).

Herbalism, recipes, photography, cartoons, an art review…

Felted DIY Nesting Bowls and Slippers (it’s still cold outside, baby!)

In honour of International Women’s Day on March 8th, a three-part feature on Canadian Women in The Arts.

Simple herbs for cats… this isn’t your Grandcat’s catnip!

A new web feature: Online Featured Artist. Every Month we will share a new artist with you in this online Gallery, with images of their work, links to their websites, and other cool info about them. Submission requirements will be announced shortly…

A heart-wrenching, mind-boggling, gut-churning anecdotal tale about Professionalism In The Arts.

A Snow Painting and book-making creativity spa workshop! Bringing the web to real life, yet again. Also, we will officially announce our new service: Customised Workshops.

March looks like both a lion and lamb month, so join us as we gear up for Spring!

Tammy Schmidt and Natasha Henderson, Montreal

some of the herbs that were used

The first Herbal Creativity Spa Weekend workshop was held this last weekend. It was a thoroughly delicious, educational, creative and fun experience.

in the midst of making Herbal Truffles

Participants learned to make succulent herbal truffles, beautiful felted soaps, and pretty Boudoir Boxes.

fancy felted soaps, made by participants

They enjoyed some herbal teas, made a bath tea, and tasted a Healthy Hot Chocolate.

making some Boudoir Boxes from scratch

They made (and some dared to sample…) a true Love Potion.

pouring something good...

A relaxing, yet invigorating, time was had by all!

finishing touches, choices being made... a Boudoir Box

Stay tuned for the next Herbal Creativity workshop, which will be announced in March…

les pieces des resistances... herbal-infused truffles

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