The creative mind is at work in the studio of Langdale artist Lee Croy.
She likes to take an image, for example, hands moving in powerful gestures, a movement learned during a NIA dance class, and add to it, change it, involve this single image in new works of art using different colours and styles. The hands might be featured in a print, softened and raised in praise, or they might turn up as one segment of a painting. The current image that has tripped her imagination is of a beach scene that she sketched involving driftwood and spent salmon. While playing with this image, she has incorporated Celtic art forms and has come up with nine more sketches, each one tied together visually. The process is fascinating.
Her passion is printmaking, in which each single image is an original piece of art, though each may be similar and part of a series. Croy will teach printmaking in October in two courses called First Impressions and Second Impressions at the Arts Centre through a Sunshine Coast Regional District recreation program for children aged six to 12.
"This is the time for kids to experiment with art," she says. "I give gentle guidance."
She will also offer another interesting course, Pastiche Pizazz, starting Sept. 25 (Pro-D Day) in Gibsons for children aged five to nine in the morning and for kids aged 10 to 14 in the afternoon. It kicks off with creating a work of art based on the style of Emily Carr using various mediums: pastels, charcoal and paints.
"This is how artists learn," Croy says, "by studying other artists."
She's very excited about the following session of Pastiche Pizazz on another Pro-D day, Nov. 27, which will reproduce the style of renowned B.C. artist Jack Shadbolt. As he was also a teacher, he has left behind many research materials, films and books about his style. The workshop will continue next spring with the work of the French painter Claude Monet. Kids will also be absorbing a bit of art history during these sessions.
Croy has been designing and instructing children's art workshops on the Coast for 12 years after receiving a formal education in Studio Arts at Capilano College. She has recently had her work featured in the Invitational Show at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre and at a summer show for the Malaspina Printmakers on Granville Island.
Most of us have seen her commercial art without knowing she had created it. If you have ever admired the menu boards or decorated signboards at the Gibsons liquor store, the Pierrot Coffee Nook or Claytons deli counter, then you have seen another sideline of Croy's artistic life, chalkboard art.
For more information about the printmaking classes, the pastiche painting classes or other courses taught by Croy for home-schooled children, phone Parks and Recreation at 604-885-6801 or see www.scrd.bc.ca.
