Meg Cloete has painted murals for the Riversdale arts trail and teaches a class of Year 4 and 5 children every week, so she knows the difference between how children and grown-ups approach a blank page. Later this month she wants to help the grown-ups catch up.
Cloete, who runs Skoodles Illustration, is one of two tutors leading three workshops for Riversdale Arts on 28 and 29 November, one for children and two aimed at adults, all built around making art for the joy of it rather than for judgement. "It actually blows my mind how scared people are of creating," Mrs Cloete, who took part in this year's Southland Arts Trail, told the Otago Daily Times.
It is her first time as a workshop tutor, and the aim is to give nervous beginners somewhere safe to start. The sessions are "focused on taking away the fear and the pressure of creativity that a lot of people have", she said, giving people room to be creative "without feeling judged, nervous, anxious or afraid". Riversdale Arts, based on Newcastle Street in the northern Southland township, is better known for its annual exhibition, when artwork from around New Zealand fills the community centre for a week.
Saturday 28 November begins with Cloete's Collaborative Floral Painting Workshop, from 10am to 1pm. Rather than working alone at an easel, participants move around one large sheet of paper together, sketching and painting floral designs with pencils, paint and pastels. On Sunday 29 November, Bailee Reid of Miss Reid's Crafts takes over with a Christmas-themed Kids Create session for children aged 5 and up from 11am to 12.30pm, followed by a festive "paint and sip" for adults from 2pm to 4pm.
Reid, a teacher at Thornbury School who has run workshops for five years, said adult artists could be a "wee bit more hesitant" than children. "I wanted to take away the … stigma that you have to be … an expert, and be an artist to do a painting," the Invercargill tutor told the ODT. "Have a go, and be surprised at what you can do … sometimes you just let the paintbrush do the work, and then you've got great results."
Cloete believes the confidence is there in all of us to begin with. Children, she said, make things simply because they enjoy it and are not fussed about how the result turns out. "But, I think as we get older, it either comes from comparing yourself to others or from some kind of offhand remark," she said, describing how adults often retreat into a "creative shell".
Materials are supplied at all three workshops. At the paint and sip, adults may bring their own alcohol, nibbles are provided, and under-18s are welcome with non-alcoholic drinks.
The Collaborative Floral Painting Workshop costs $40 a seat, the Kids Create workshop is $45 a child and the paint and sip is $75 a person. All three are at the Riversdale Arts Centre, and bookings are through the Riversdale Arts website.
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