learn & create

school programs

exhibition tours

To book a Tour or Art Exploration, click here.

We have created our exhibition tours to encourage students to slow down and make connections with the art in the Gallery and participate in studio activities that they may not get a chance to do at home or school. Each program complements the BC Ministry of Education's current Fine Arts Curriculum.

School tour programs are approximately one hour and 30 minutes in length and are geared to each age group. Two Rivers Gallery school tour programs promote critical thinking skills and provide opportunities for self-expression.

Exhibitions change every ten or twelve weeks so your class could visit the Gallery three or four times each year and expose your students to a huge variety of artists and art.

Each program involves an interactive tour of each exhibition. We keep the group moving, thinking, answering questions and doing things in the Galleries. Each program ends with a hands-on studio program in the Atrium inspired by the exhibitions. Students get the opportunity to express themselves and exercise their creative side!

school memberships

Join this special Two Rivers Gallery membership category and your school will receive:

• 25% discount on all Two Rivers Gallery School Tour Programs
• Two Rivers Gallery mailings
• Package of Gallery catalogues with new memberships

School Membership is $75 for a full year from date of purchase.   

special programs

Frequent Flyers: Visit the Gallery with your class twice in the school year and receive your third TRG School Tour Program at no cost. This promotion includes classes that belong to a school holding a School Membership!

prices & booking procedures

Please book your tour at least two weeks in advance by using our online booking system here. Tour spaces fill up in May and June, so please book early for end of the year trips.

Let us know your name, the school, school fax and phone number, your email, grade level and number of students attending. Provide a preferred date and be ready with an alternate date. A confirmation will be faxed or emailed to you within a week of booking.

Times: Mondays through Fridays (No Thursday morning tours, with the exception of June)

Costs: Guided Tours: $4.00/student and Art Explorations:$7.00/student.Fees cover the costs of tour, materials and staff. School will be charged for a minimum of 15 students. 25% discount for classes with a School Membership.

Payment: The gallery will invoice your school once you have completed your program based on the number of children  in attendance.

Cancellation Policy: We require one week's notice to cancel a School Tour Program at no charge. Please call 250.614.7800 to cancel. A late cancellation fee of $30 will be charged to the school if sufficient notice is not given.

calendar of programs

Spend half an hour in each of the exhibitions with our docents, learning about the artists and their art, then head upstairs to our studio space to create your own work of art.

Visit our listings of current and upcoming exhibitions to assist with planning your classroom visits to the Gallery.

art explorations at your school or at the gallery

Let the gallery come to YOUR classroom for an hour and a half or come and visit us to create your art!

Join us for an hour and a half of artistic exploration at the Gallery or at your school.  We can bring the studio to your classroom, rather than the other way around, eliminating the need for scheduling buses and collecting permission slips. Staff and Docents will introduce a concept which the students then explore with hands-on activities geared to their grade level.

These programs have been used already in many of our regional schools and have met with great success. Students come away from our sessions with a heightened appreciation for art and some wonderful pieces to put on display at home and at school.

Choose from one or more of the following programs:

• Architecture
• A Classroom of Makers
• Drawing
• Emotions through Art
• Fun with Felt
• Pastels
• Printing and Imagination
• Sculpt it Up
• Stop Motion Animation
• The Wonderful World of Watercolours
• The World of Mandalas

For prices and booking procedures, click here.

To book your visit, click here.

For a downloadable brochure, click here.

programs

Architecture

• Kindergarten – Grade 3: The focus of this lesson is to introduce the students to architecture and the art of building structures. Through interactive exercises and hands-on application, students will utilize their imagination and learning to create their own architectural models to take home with them.
  
  
  
  
• Grades 4 – 7: The focus of this lesson is on designing and building small scale architectural structures. Students will learn about different building styles and then will use what they have learned and their imaginations to design and create buildings in two and three dimensions. 

A Classroom of Makers 

• Kindergarten to Grade 3:  Experiment, Play, Build

Being able to experiment and learn from our failures is integral to developing problem solving skills.  Students will work with a new building material to complete a challenge.

• Grades 4 - 7:  Imagine, Make, Learn, Re-do

Two modules introduce the concept of prototyping, the process of building to test a concept or idea.  It is recommended to have your class participate in both modules to allow students to fully explore the idea of prototyping as it relates to Making.

o    Module 1:  The Marshmallow Challenge. Students will be challenged to build a structure that supports the weight of a marshmallow.  Sounds easy?  This challenge has tested the imagination of CEO’s around the world, while providing kindergarteners with an activity they can really excel at.  How will your students approach the challenge?

o    Module 2:  Marble Runs. Prototyping will come in handy here as students work together to build creative kinetic sculptures.

Drawing

• Kindergarten – Grade 7: This lesson is intended to have children and their teacher open their minds to art and creativity. The grade-appropriate book and the activities which follow will encourage teachers and students to leave behind the "I can't draw" mentality and learn to express themselves through drawing. Discover how enjoyable making marks and experimenting with art can be.

Emotions through Art  

Enhance your students’ social and emotional learning through art. 

• Kindergarten to Grade 3: Through two modules, which build one upon the other, we’ll explore personal feelings and emotions as well as our connections to our communities (family, school, neighborhood, etc) through the examination and creation of art.  

o    Module 1:  A Sense of Self. Students create individual pieces that reflect their feelings and emotions, using line, colour and image.  They will share their creations, fostering empathy and self awareness as they do so.

o    Module 2:  A Sense of Belonging. Students create individual pieces that become part of a collaborative work that examines pride in themselves and their role in the classroom, school and wider community.  Through the process of collaboration, students will learn to rely on each other and work as part of a team.

Fun with Felt

• Kindergarten - Grade 3:  Students will "paint with felt" using a wet-felting technique.  In the process of creating their two-dimensional felted art, they will also learn how soapy water, sheep's wool, and  friction work together to create felt.

• Grade 4 - 7:  Students will learn about felt and its uses and subsequently create a felted sphere, using both wet felting and needle felting techniques.

Pastels

• Kindergarten - Grade 3: The focus of this lesson is to explore the versatility of chalk pastels.  Students will explore the use of line to express feelings and learn how to create the illusion of three dimensions.  As a final project, students will create a drawing of the Northern Lights.

• Grades 4 - 7: The focus of this lesson is to explore the versatility of chalk pastels.  Students learn how to create the illusion of three dimensions and end the lesson by drawing a landscape in the style of a Canadian artist, putting themselves into the landscape.

Printing & Imagination

• Kindergarten – Grade 4: The focus of this lesson is on using one's imagination while making art. Students will read a story which looks at the use of imagination. They will then follow this up with activities that allow them to explore three different printing methods to translate what lies in their imaginations to the visible world.

• Grades 5 – 7: The object of this lesson is to have students explore their visions of Canada through two methods of printing. Students begin by listening to poetry and viewing images from Canadian authors and artists. They will then use their imaginations to transcribe their own concepts of Canada into works of art.

Sculpt it Up

• Grade 4 - 7:  Explore the body in motion and share your discoveries via sculpture.  Students will practice poses to determine how their bodies maintain balance, and then create dynamically posed plaster and wire sculptures for display.

Stop Motion Animation

• Kindergarten - Grade 7:  Students will create stop motion animated videos using plasticine and their imagination. This activity works for all grades, from kindergarten on up. Take a look at what other students have created: 

Videos from the 2017 Regional Outreach Program

The Flying Flower Pot by a MakerClub participant (still scene below)

The Wonderful World of Watercolours

• Kindergarten - Grade 3: Students will explore the theme of gardens through the use of watercolour paints and watersoluble pastels.  They will experiment with various watercolour techniques, then create a painted garden, using the knowledge they gained through their experiments.
• Grades 4 - 7: Students will be introduced to a variety of watercolour techniques, which they will then use to create a painting of a wondrous place from their imaginations.

The World of Mandalas

• Kindergarten - Grade 7:This lesson introduces students to mandalas, what they are and why we make them.  Students will learn to recognize mandalas in nature and art, and will create cooperative mandalas from non-traditional art materials as well as their own personal mandalas to take home with them.