Holiday fun at Te Atamira
Te Atamira has curated a fun-filled arts and crafts programme for the kids during the summer school holidays. Kicking off on 19 December with the Christmas programme, it’ll continue in the New Year from 8 January. Art teacher Michelle Somers will host a range of multidisciplinary workshops, set to enhance and enthuse for age groups from 5-7 and 8-12 in either full-day or half-day sessions.
Led by Somers, one of the goals is to provide opportunities for young people, and to explore how Te Atamira can continue to provide new opportunities for those who come back. Somers was a high school art teacher in the UK, and has worked in the arts education field in Australia, too. She made the move to Queenstown and is passionate about the arts and everything that Te Atamira is delivering.
“We’re running a Christmas-specific programme on the 19th, 20th and the 23rd of December, where we’re going to explore a range of drawing and painting, some textiles and crafts, as well as print making,” Somers says. “Things pick up again then on the 8th of January, and it’s going to be our biggest programme of the year. It’s a programme that provides a real range of hands-on learning experiences in the arts.”
They will be running a variety of workshops that give tamariki the opportunity to explore a range of techniques to spark their creative side from clay sculpting to printmaking, puppetry, painting, performance art, and mosaics. There’ll also be the opportunity for the kids to dive deep into the exhibitions on display at Te Atamira.
“In terms of the performance, we’re going to be doing some improv drama classes. We have a creative music workshop transferring art to sound with Turn Up The Music’s Erica Hastie. We’ve got some really exciting dance classes as well where we’ll be providing intros to musical theatre jazz with Nina Hermanns from ProDance NZ. Really excitingly, we’ll be doing an intro to with Latin Soul Dance as well. A really exciting couple of weeks ahead – there’ll be a real buzz about the place.”
For the first time this year they’ll also be introducing a digital art drawing class. Feedback on past years’ holiday programme has always been positive and parents are appreciative of the efforts that Te Atamira is putting into creating an educational and creative environment. They aim to offer engaging classes that go beyond what will be taught in school.
“It’s definitely moved into a more educational realm, where children are getting the chance to learn about art forms and art styles in a very fun and open environment. I think we’re doing a great job of interweaving educational aspects in a fun and engaging way.”
Some examples of the workshops on offer include Wear Your Words – Badge Making, where children get inspired by the Use Your Words exhibition and make a statement with their creativity – they will explore typography and design to create bold mixed-media badges that express what matters to them. There’s also Clay Safari where children will sculpt a tiny elephant, Collaborative Canvas which explores teamwork to unleash creativity and bring a large-scale masterpiece to life, and Ocean Mosaic, where a colourful sea turtle will be crafted.
The Christmas programme will include painting different holiday-themed goodies including a toy train and a gnome, making a macrame Santa, handmade miniature stockings, textile Pohutukawa and an exploration of printmaking by making Christmas cards.
If you’re not a kid, there’s plenty coming up at Te Atamira for you too. They’re continuing the Saturday Arts Social, which is a multi-arts programme and morning tea designed for the 65+ community. It’s on each Saturday from 10.30, with the next one on the 14th where the Wasabi Choir will do a performance. There’s also a Washi Tape and Drawing Workshop with Veronica Herber – Lyrics and Lines artist – on 25 January, and a crochet workshop with Ani O’Neill on 1 and 2 February.
The workshops kick off on Thursday, 19 December, and are split into age groups of 5-7 and 8-12. You can choose between morning and afternoon workshops or book in for a whole day – it’s $32 for a half day or $64 for the full day. You can head to teatamira.nz to view the full programme, book in and find more information.
