children's Art Camps - August 2019

Calling all little Monet's.............

Forest Tryptech Painting

This summer at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery . . .

Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Klimt as Teaching Partners

The paintings in an exhibit which opened today March 4th, at the Smurfit Stone Library in Bathurst are the result of two sessions of "Painting Like the Masters", a course given by Adrienne Elfner-Hazen, B.F.A., at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery in Bathurst.  The artists taking part in this study were Rita May Gates, Sherley Kenny, Priscilla Laffoley, Laura Lavoie and Rosita Sprohge.

Here you will see how the Impressionist Painters defied the traditionalist painters to create a new order of painting.  They painted every day life, peasants working in the fields or attending to animals in the pastures.  They also developed a new style of painting, concentrating on broken brush strokes allowing underlying color to come through.  This was a rebellion against the tradition of blending all brush strokes to achieve a form of realism not unlike photography.  This is very evident in the works of Monet, and Van Gogh.

Artists like Cezanne, broke up their paintings into simplified shapes that were often geometric in design.  Cezanne, one of the Impressionists, often painted Mont St. Victorie in France.  Rita May Gates and Sherley Kenny have successfully re-created Cezanne's work in this manner.  

Although Gustav Klimt was not an impressionist he was an Austrian artist from the same time period who brought symbolism into the forefront in his exquisite paintings.  Klimt loved painting women both in portraits and in larger concepts such as the "Three Stages of a Woman's Life".  He used gold and silver in special gilding techniques so there is often a lot of shimmer and dazzle in his works.  In April of this year a new movie, "Women in Gold" will be released staring Helen Mirren based on the golden painting of Adele Bauch-Bauer.  This painting has been reproduced here by Sherley Kenny.

We also have some paintings here, that are totally the creation of the artists themselves but where they have used the learned techniques of the masters to achieve translation of their ideas onto canvas.  The show will be on for the month of March and possibly the month of April as well.

Hazards in Art Rooms and Studios

I want to focus on the danger of solvents used to clean up brushes, skin and work areas of oil paint.  Turpentine, White spirits and even Odorless Solvents are very dangerous.  Here is the scientific reasoning for this:  "Anything that dries (most notably paint), or anything you use to "cut" the paint does so by off-gassing some sort of solvent. For water colours, this will mostly be water (harmless) but some of the paint will also come off as a vapor. For oils, the reason they take so long to dry is that the molecules are generally much larger. The general rule for things you ingest into your body is that like compounds stay together. So anything that is water soluble (water colours) will likely be flushed from your system quite quickly. Oils on the other hand, will tend to go into the fat stored in your body. It  gets locked up there, but if you were to lose weight, it can cause all of these toxins to become released at once. The other problem with oil based products is that over time you can build up more and more in your fat stores, eventually getting to toxic levels. I have no idea about the metals that may be present  in both types of paints, but from what I have read they tend to get locked up in fat stores as well.

 

Generally everything that is in the air will eventually get stuck onto the surface of something (wall, dust, etc). If it is some place like the floor, then it can repeatedly get kicked up (and thus inhaled). As to ventllation, this will help, but would need to be (1) very close to where you are working (2) blowing material outside. If you simply have a fan, you don't really get rid of anything, just mix it up better, and in some cases it can make things worse."

 

Other ways to clean, are to use Turpenoid Natural, Baby Oil and Murphy's Oil Wood Cleaner.  None of these products are toxic and a good alternative.

I am back to my Bay Breeze Blogger site!

After a period of absence from this blog I am back with information to artists and the public on various subjects of interest and importance.

I have very recently launched a new website www.nbartverntures.ca and this blog will be shown there as well.  The new site will keep the public updated on classes, art materials, special events and a gallery of my own personal work.  Classes and art materials are located at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery located in La Promenade, 82 Douglas Avenue, Bathurst, N.B.  E2A 7S6.  Our gallery telephone number is 506-548-6937. Please stay posted and add me as a blog to follow!  Cheers,  Adrienne 506-548-2160

Plein Air Water-Color Course with Martha Robinson

Martha Robinson is coming back to Bathurst to teach a week long course in Plein Air water-color on location at some of the Chaleur Region's most enchanting spots.  The course will take place from Aug. 13th to 17th and is open to any non-beginner water-colorists.  The course cost will be $250 for the full 5 days and $60 per day as selected by the artist if they simply want to come for one day or more or to specific locations.  To register please contact Adrienne at 506-548-2160 or at aelfner@rogers.com.  Registration and payment must be completed by August 10th. 

Thank you and I hope you will consider this wonderful opportunity to paint Chaleur at it's best!

June Art Workshop Weekends at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery

New Art Classes at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery                                                                      

Birch in Fall - Water Colour

Water Colour Weekend - June 9th and 10th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This is a course for beginners to the wonderful medium of water and paint.  You will learn the basic terms, materials, and techniques to successfully work in this manner.  Water colour is a medium that is easily transportable from outside to indoors with minimum effort.  A great way to enjoy your holidays no matter where you may be.  Cost is $120
Materials are available at the gallery.

Opera - Acrylic, and collage on tissue paper



Sea Grass - Acrylic, sand and gesso

 Acrylic Weekend - June 23rd and 24th, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

This is a course for people who would like to explore the medium of acrylic paint while reaching outside the box, to use acrylic mediums now used in modern contemporary art making with such additives as glass, sand, gesso, and collage.  This course will allow you to be totally creative and we will not be copying greeting cards, or paintings of other artists.  Cost of course is $120 for the weekend.  Materials are available for sale at the galllery.

 

To register call the Bay Breeze Art Gallery at 506-546-6937 or

Adrienne Elfner-Hazen at 506-548-2160.



Art Classes at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery

Art Classes are up and running again at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery!

We have a lot more interest for the contemporary acrylic painting classes which are based on the principles taught by American Artist Robert Burridge. This is an upbeat class with music to get you moving! Here we break a lot of the rules previously set out in traditional approaches to art making. Want to varnish a water-colour? Why not! Want to drip, splatter, throw and paint with your fingers? Yes, you may! Energy and freedom are the key of achieving great success and enjoyment in creating your own unique style of art.

The next session of these classes may be in the form of 3 or 4 day workshops in the Spring.

Besides this we are offering, Formal Drawing classes on Wednesday nights and Intermediate

Water-colours on Tuesday mornings. In the Water-colour class we are experimenting with some new and adventurous techniques as well, such as working with syringes and needles to spray the water-colour on our paper randomly to create unique effects.

My Little Kids and Big Kids art classes did not go this session due to low registration but I am keeping my hand in Children's art by teaching a fun class with grade 3's at a local school.

Stay tuned for further announcements!

Greetings to everyone! Well it doesn't look a lot like Christmas here in Bathurst, N.B. but we are just that much closer to spring minus all the usual number of times out snow shovelling! I am thinking that climatically, we have changed places with Vancouver, B.C.

I wanted to let you know that I will be starting all new art classes at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery the 2nd week of January.

I will be offering: Drawing, Water-colors, Children's Art Classes, for both little kids ( ages - 6 - 9) and (ages 10 - 14), and my new favorite - Contemporary Acrylic. Whether you want to learn the fundamental formal techniques of drawing or watercolors or if you want to break out and explore art without borders I believe you will find what you are looking for with me!

The painting above is not really what I'll be teaching but you never know where your talent may lead you! (This painting is "Boiled Beans . . .", by Salvador Dali). Just look at the imagination this artist had!

If you want to leave your name for any of my upcoming classes please call me at 506-547-0491 or 506-548-2160. The gallery will close today for the holidays at 4 p.m. It will re-open only for teaching art classes until later - time to be announced.

Love to see you all back and I would be happy to have any new students who want to break into this method of creativity for relaxation, fun and to break through the barrier of fear of trying your hand at art making! This is such a great way to balance the stress of everyday life or to simply loose yourself into the serenity of painting and drawing.

My best wishes go out to you for a Happy Holiday Season and a Wonderful New Year!

The Dominican Republic by Marie Oliver

This month the Bay Breeze Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of Dominican Republic Art created by Marie Oliver. These pictures are a collection of memories of Marie's third tour to the Dominican where her mission was to assist a local Bathurst group of missionaries in building a new church, a school and helping the local people in any way they could. Each year this group brings clothing, medical supplies, educational tools and much more donated by their churches and the community at large.

As of today most of the paintings have been sold and all the funds will be donated by Marie for to supporting the 2011 mission back to the Dominican Republic where assistance to the local people is greatly appreciated. The time, artistry and materials were also donated by Marie to make this fund raiser possible.

There are still 6 paintings in the larger size (24 x 24") available for sale at the unbelievable price of $100.00 each. The fall hours for the Bay Breeze Art Gallery are Tuesdays to Saturdays from

10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Even if you are not in the market for such a bargain please drop in to see the exhibit and life as it is depicted in this collection of inspiring works!

True Patriot Love

Well we've painted a lot of pictures on many different surfaces but this is the first time we've painted on military helmets! This was our job this past week at the Bay Breeze Art Gallery.

We were asked to paint something unique and individual on these helmets to be auctioned off

in Fredericton to help support military families in need.

The mother instinct in Marie Oliver and myself came out with our messages of hope and peace!

Marie painted butterflies on hers with the message< "Butterflies are Free" and mine was a collage depicting the symbolic dove carrying the message of "Peace".

This was special to me this year because our family welcomed home my nephew Cpl. Adam Elfner (age 22) from Afganistan after his first deployment. We were so thankful that he returned safe, although several of his very close comrades did not. Adam is back in university where he is working on a degree in history.

This week marks the start of new art classes at the gallery. There is still room in all the classes so if you are interested please call Adrienne at 548-2160 or Marie at 548-3493. Little Kids classes begin next Saturday.

We're Ready to kick off an all new season of art lessons at the Bay Breeze Gallery

This photo is of Holly, Olivia and Audrey who created a co-operative painting based on Vincent Van Gogh's Stary Night! Great job girls!!!


Hello everyone! Well it is mid-September and it's time to think about how you are going to spend your time this fall and winter!

As some of you may be aware a schedule of fall art classes has been prepared and is in the Northern Light newspaper this week, on the City of Bathurst website and available at the Gallery (new hours 10-4 p.m. daily - Tues. to Sat.)

Just to re-cap:

Marie Oliver and I are offering the following classes:

Marie: Traditional oil and acrylic painting - times to be announced.

Adrienne: Advanced Water-color Tues. 9:30 - 11:30 10 weeks
Beginner's Water-color Tues. 7:00 - 9:00 10 weeks
Formal Drawing Weds. 7:00 - 9:00 10 weeks
Contemporary Acrylic Thurs. 9:30 - 11:30 10 weeks or
7:00 - 9:00
Children's Art Sat.
(This class can be separated into 2 groups Little Kids in the morning and
Big Kids in the afternoon).

The cost of all classes, except for children has gone up to $200 for 10 weeks to keep in line with other art classes in the region. The children's classes are $150 and includes materials. If you are a member of the Bathurst Art Society there is a $25.00 discount advantage. Call me at 548-2160 to register or Marie at 548-3493.

We have all kinds of new products for sale at the gallery for pastel painting, oil painting, water-colors, acrylic and drawing. We also have a wonderful new product of canvas and floating frame for excellent prices as well as various formats of new canvases. We have great prices and charge no sales tax! Come and see us.

Summer's End at the Bay Breeze

Summer is winding down at the Bay Breeze Gallery and we are in our last week of Big Kids Art Camp. This week we had Audrey, Olivia, and Holly and we had plenty of time to work on watercolors, acrylic, pastels, tie-dyeing, sandpainting and today a co-operative painting where each girl will re-create a section of Van Gogh's Starry Night! We will then put them back together for form the whole picture and mount it on some formboard to show in the gallery.

We also say good-bye this week to Hailey and Emilie, our summer students who are on their way to university this fall. Good luck to you both in your studies and we hope you have a great year ahead!

This summer we had an explosion of interest in our gallery, our artists and our art probably due to the great success of the Promenade Waterfront Village's programs of entertainment on a nightly basis and all the new existing shops and food outlets there. Thanks to Charlene D'Entremont, manager of the village and her staff for making this happen! We will be back to our fall schedule with reduced hours from 10 am until 4 pm operating Tuesdays to Saturdays. We will be manned by volunteers who are members of the Bathurst Art Society.

A new schedule for fall art classes is available for you to pick up at the gallery, or is available under upcoming events at www.bathurst.ca I am offering 6 classes beginning the week of Sept. 21st: beginners drawing, beginners water-color, advanced watercolor, 2 classes in contemporary acrylic and children's art. These are all 10 week classes and will be followed by winter and spring sessions.

Multi-Culture Celebrated at the Bay Breeze Kid's Camp

At our Little Kid's Art Camps this summer we were attended by children from many different backgrounds. Part of our program included making flags of the children's heritage. These included:

Germany, Finland, Scotland, Korea, Canada and more specifically Acadia. Eric MacDonald created his very own flag of Toronto and Lola Clerc, although born in Switzerland chose the flag of Sudan where she will reside as of September with her parents who work in the health field. It was wonderful to see the diversity of these children, share some of their experiences and see how the cultural makeup of Bathurst is changing to include people from all over the world.

Special thanks to Charlene Pearce who provided yoga sessions for these children. They all thoroughly enjoyed their time with her and the weather remained beautiful so the yoga could be done outside. Also, a special thanks to Lacey Sullivan, my assistant and aspiring artist for all her help with the camp. The kids loved her and she enjoyed her time with them too!

There is still room in next week's Big Kids Art Camp. Contact Adrienne Elfner-Hazen to register at 506-548-2160.

They're Back!

Welcome to the August Session of the Little Kids Art Camp! On Monday we had 6 new little artists show up at the gallery, 5 little girls, Lola, Eve, Annabelle, Alina and Jenna and one little man - Eric!

The little kids worked on their portfolio, then had a yoga session at the tower with Charlene Pearce and this was followed with a picture of a lizard created with oil pastels and watercolor.

Other activities this week will include painting plaster of paris dinosaurs, tie-dyeing t-shirts, making an acrylic painting, creating our heritage in flags of our origin and drawing techniques.

On Tuesday Lacy Sullivan joined us to lend her special talents in helping the younger children with their work. Good to see you back Lacy!

Next week it's the big kids art class!

Week End Critique for Martha's Course

Martha Robinson's 4 day water color course came to an end yesterday after painting at the Bathurst Marina and the lovely garden of Joyce Neuberg shown above with her sun flower.

The students and teacher gathered together at the gallery to show the previous 2 days work and critique them. The students enjoyed this new experience in working outdoors and the challenges of working in an environment where conditions were constantly changing ie.) cloud formations, tides coming in and going out not to mention that a boat you may have been painting could suddenly leave it's dock and go out to sea!

Thanks Martha for a great week and we hope that you will come back again next year to share your insights and knowledge with our aspiring artists!

Stay tuned for updates on the next two weeks of Kids Art Camps with Adrienne and Charlene Pearce!

On location at Tetagouche Park in Bathurst, N.B.

Martha Robinson's - Painting Inside and Out

It was an exquisite day by the river on Tues. with sunny skies, calm water and no winds when the class began their second day of outside painting. A new experience for many of the students working outdoors was a challenge to paint a small window of the bigger picture of their surroundings. Getting used to painting without tables and on uneven ground was also a new experience but the results were really good!

The next two days will be beautiful and now the process of digesting all of Martha's information will settle in as the class goes out again to a new location.

Good luck class - you are doing great!

We are Having a Great Summer at the Bay Breeze Gallery!

We are experiencing great numbers of visitors to the gallery this summer and we have had good sales for many of our exhibiting artists. The Promenade Waterfront Village is drawing the tourists and locals to this exciting destination which now offers a variety of great shops and food outlets. The ongoing evening entertainment has been a huge draw as well and with our gallery's extended hours we see many people who are discovering for the first time Bathurst's artistic community.

We have a variety of art supplies for sale at the gallery and specialize in unusual canvasses, in specialty sizes and formats. The piece above, "Glow Mandala" is made of 4 tri-angles which can be spaced to create unusual effects, spaced slightly apart such as this is, or hung separately as 4 triangles, or grouped in two squares. The size of this is 34 x 34 ". Smaller versions are available. Come in and see if we don't twig your imagination with the variety of canvass supports that we are carrying. We can certainly order as well.

Martha Robinson welcomed 7 students to her course yesterday! The weather was blustery so demos and instruction began indoors but as luck would have it the sun broke through for the afternoon and plein air painting began in the Promenade Waterfront Village under the canopy of the tower.



The weather for the rest of the week looks great so we are looking forward to going to some beautiful painting experiences at various sites around Bathurst.

Don't forget the Little Kids Art Camp next week - ages 5 - 9! Every morning from 9 - 12 with a yoga session included. For more information call Adrienne at 548-2160.