Artasia at Centre de Santé Gage Park

The program delivery at Gage Park always brings a flurry of activity; the energy is high, the group is large, and it’s incredible to watch the children dive in and to watch what they make. During my fourth week, there were a lot more children than normal because of a parent workshop taking place at the same time, and we were working with the bleeding tissue paper and wax crayon resist all crowded on one picnic table. To save some space, I set up a tarp for them to place their finished experiments in order to let them dry, and as the class went on, I watched the whole tarp become filled with tons of different experiments and colour. One girl approached me and said “I actually like how the colour looks more if I scratch the page first” and so she did that for her pieces and inspired the others watching her to try the same. I had not thought of trying that! There were also a couple of children who would go to look at the tarp, see someone else’s experiment, and get inspired to make their own interpretation with different colours and materials so they could then place their finished piece next to the original. The children were engaged for the entire hour and a half I was there, and by the end had created close to 60 pieces of art as a group. I think the parallel play and sharing of a small space really helped them motivate each other to try different things, and it was so incredible to see them inspire each other and build off the others ideas.

– Naseem Anvari