learn & create

School Programs

Exhibition Tours

Learn about contemporary Canadian art and artists through the Two Rivers Gallery exhibition tours. Our interactive tours encourage student participation, questioning and activities in the gallery spaces, as well as an art activity in the studio. Each program complements the BC Ministry of Education's current Fine Arts Curriculum.

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

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

Art Explorations

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

Join us for an hour and a half of art or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) exploration at the Gallery or at your school*.  Staff and Learning Engagement Volunteers will introduce concepts the students explore with hands-on activities geared to their grade level. *A few of the programs must occur at the Gallery, due to equipment requirements.

Each of the programs meets several of the core competencies and curriculum goals of BC’s new curriculum. Some of those goals and competencies are highlighted below. Click on the links to find out more:

Art Focus 

• Chalk Pastels
• Drawing
• Emotions through Art
• Felting K-3
• Felting 4 – 7
• Illustration
• Mandalas
• Printmaking K – 3
• Printmaking: Block printing
• Printmaking: Printing press
• Sculpture: Handbuilding techniques
• Sculpture: Working with armatures
• Watercolour

STEAM Focus 

• 3D Doodling
• 3D Print Workshop
• Architecture
• Coding and Kandinsky
• Coding and Miro
• Laser Cutter: Wood Critters
• Laser Cutter: Rubber Stamps
• Marble Runs
• Stop Motion Animation

To book your visit call the gallery 250-614-7800.

Prices & booking procedures

Please book your program at least two weeks in advance. 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 emailed to you within a week of booking.

Times: Mondays through Fridays (No Thursday morning tours, with the exception of June). Each program is 1 ½ hours in length (e.g. 10am – 11:30am).

Costs: Exhibition 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 on Exhibition Tours for classes with a School Membership (does not apply to Art Explorations).

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 written notice to cancel a School Program at no charge. Please email visitorservices@tworiversgallery.ca to cancel. A late cancellation fee of $30 will be charged to the school if insufficient notice is given.

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School Memberships

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

• 25% discount on all Two Rivers Gallery School Exhibition Tours (does not apply to Art Explorations)
• Two Rivers Gallery mailings and email newsletter

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

Frequent Visitors: Visit the Gallery with your class twice in the school year and receive your third TRG School Tour Program at no cost.

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Art-Focus Art Explorations

Chalk Pastels

Kindergarten - Grade 7: Explore the versatility of chalk pastels.  Learn the use of lines, shading and gradation to create the illusion of three dimensions. 

 BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Explore elements, processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, and techniques of the arts; Develop processes and technical skills in a variety of art forms to nurture motivation, development, and imagination (Arts Education 1). Demonstrate curiosity and a sense of wonder about the world (Science 1). 

 

Drawing

Kindergarten – Grade 7: Experiment with different drawing materials approaches. Take a line for a walk, leave behind the "I can't draw" mentality and learn to express yourself through drawing.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies:With support, I can show a sense of accomplishment and joy (Personal Awareness and Responsibility Level 1); Express feelings, ideas, and experiences in creative ways (Arts Education 4).

          

 

Emotions through Art 

Kindergarten - Grade 7: Create mixed media canvases that reflect feelings and emotions through line, colour and image.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Explore artistic expressions of themselves and community through creative processes; Express feelings, ideas, stories, observations, and experiences through the arts (Arts Education K). Identify and appreciate their personal attributes, skills, interests, and accomplishments; Share ideas, information, personal feelings, and knowledge with others (Career Education K). Explore artistic expressions of themselves and community through creative processes (Arts Education 1).

 

 

Felting K - 3

Kindergarten - Grade 3:  Learn to “paint with felt” using a wet-felting technique. Learn how water, wool and friction work together create felt from roving.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Explore elements, processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, and techniques of the arts (Arts Education 1); Observe objects and events in familiar contextsl; Ask questions about familiar objects and events (Science 1).

 

Felting 4 - 7

Grades 4 - 7:  Learn about felt and its uses. Create a felted sphere, using both wet felting and needle felting techniques.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Make observations in familiar or unfamiliar contexts (Science 6); Intentionally select, apply, combine, and arrange artistic elements, processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, techniques, and environments in art making (Art Education 6).

 

 

 

Illustration

Kindergarten - Grade 7: Illustrators have active imaginations to create characters with moods and feelings. Use pencil, pen, pencil crayons and watercolour paints to create creatures as unique as each individual.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Create artistic works … as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation; Adapt learned skills, understandings, and processes for use in new contexts and for different purposes (Arts Education 4).

 

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Mandalas

Kindergarten - Grade 7: What are mandalas, where can we find them and why do we make them?  Learn the answers to these questions, create cooperative mandalas from non-traditional art materials and design a metal-embossed mandala.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Explore relationships between identity, place, culture, society, and belonging through the arts (Arts Education 7); Make a product using known procedures or through modelling of others (Applied Design, Skills and Technology 2); Create artistic works collaboratively and as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play (Arts Education 4).

 

 

Printmaking K - 3

Kindergarten – Grade 3: Inspired by an imaginative story, explore three different printmaking methods to translate what lies in the imagination to the visible world.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies:Explore elements, processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, and techniques of the arts (Arts Education 1); Use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning (English Language Arts 1).

 

 

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Printmaking: Block Printing

Grades 4 – 7: Explore a vision of Canada by first drawing and then carving an idea into a rubber block that can be used to make multiple prints.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways (English Language Arts 7); Express feelings, ideas, and experiences through the arts; Develop and refine ideas, processes, and technical skills in a variety of art forms to improve the quality of artistic creations (Arts Education7).

 

Printmaking: Printing Press (Gallery-only activity) 

Kindergarten – Grade 7 Use a printing press to make two types of prints: a collograph and an image transfer.

 

Sculpture: Handbuilding techniques

Kindergarten – Grade 7: Work with an air-dry modelling compound to create three different projects, using hand-building clay techniques inspired by historical and contemporary artists.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Express feelings, ideas, and experiences in creative ways; Refine ideas, processes, and technical skills… (Arts Education 3). Use trial and error to make changes, solve problems, or incorporate new ideas from self or others; Use personal preferences to evaluate the success of their design solutions (Applied Design, Skills and Technology 3).

 

Sculpture: Working with Armatures

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

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Connect knowledge and skills from other areas of learning in planning, creating, … works for art; Create artistic works … as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play (Arts Education 5). Generate potential ideas and add to others’ ideas; Choose an idea to pursue (Applied Design, Skills and Technology 5).

 

 

 

Watercolour

Kindergarten - Grade 7: Learn a variety of watercolor techniques, then use them to create a painting of a wondrous place from the imagination.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways (English Language Arts 7); Intentionally select and apply materials, movements, technologies, environments, tools, and techniques by combining and arranging artistic elements, processes, and principles in art making (Arts Education 7); Develop processes and technical skills in a variety of art forms to nurture motivation, development, and imagination (Arts Education K).

 

 

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 STEAM focus Art Explorations

3D Doodling

Grades 1 – 7: 3D doodlers are pens that extrude heated plastic that cools quickly into a solid structure, allowing for free-form creation of 3D objects. Respond to a design challenge to create a building, rocket or creature.   

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Identify needs and opportunities for designing, through exploration; Make a product using known procedures or through modelling of others; Use trial and error to make changes, solve problems, or incorporate new ideas from self or others. (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies 2)

 

 

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3D Print Workshop (Gallery-only activity)

Grades 2 – 7: Learn how to navigate online CAD (Computer Assisted Design) software and 3D print models of your own design. Printed designs will be ready for pick-up the following week.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies:Demonstrate a willingness to learn new technologies as needed; Choose a design opportunity; Identify key features or user requirements; Construct a first version of the product (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies 4).

 

Architecture

Kindergarten - Grade 7: Learn about architecture, terminology and the art of building structures and then create an architectural model to take home.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Use developmentally appropriate … listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning (English Language Arts 1). Generate ideas from their experiences and interests; Make a product using known procedures or through modelling of others (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies 1).

 

Coding and Kandinsky: Line Drawn animation (Gallery-only activity)

Grades 3 - 7:   Using online software, students will learn about simple coding and the abstract artist Kandinsky while creating a shape- and sound-filled animation.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Explore elements, processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, and techniques of the arts; Develop processes and technical skills in a variety of art forms to refine artistic abilities (Arts Education 3). Use materials, tools, and technologies in a safe manner in both physical and digital environments;  Develop their skills and add new ones through play and collaborative work (Applied Design, Skills and Technology 3).

Coding and Miro: Line Drawing Animation (Gallery-only activity)

Grades 1 – 5:  Be inspired by the abstract art of Joan Miro while learning how to use familiar office software to create a simple animation.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies:Demonstrate a willingness to learn new technologies as needed (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies 5); Adapt learned skills, understandings, and processes for use in new contexts and for different purposes;  Examine relationships between the arts and the wider world (Art Education 5)

Laser Cutter: Wood Critters (Gallery-only activity)

Grades 2 – 7: Learn to draw with a continuous line to design a unique wooden puzzle creature, watch it being cut on the laser cutter, then place it in an environment which you have designed and built.

What is a laser cutter?  Laser cutters use a laser to engrave and cut a variety of material in a short amount of time.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Refine ideas, processes, and technical skills in a variety of art forms; Experience… and share creative works in a variety of ways (Arts Education 3); Make a product using known procedures or through modelling of others (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies 3).

 

Laser Cutter: Rubber Stamps (Gallery-only activity)

Grades 2 – 7: Learn about positive and negative space by designing a personal logo and transforming it into a rubber stamp on the laser cutter.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies:Identify needs and opportunities for designing, through exploration (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies 2); Interpret symbolism and how it can be used to express meaning through the arts (Arts Education 2).

 

 

Marble Runs

Kindergarten - Grade 7: Making marble runs introduces the basic concepts of prototyping and the process of building to test a concept or idea.  Work together in groups to build creative kinetic sculptures. 

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Develop a plan that identifies key stages and resources; Explore and test a variety of materials for effective use; Construct a first version of the product or a prototype, as appropriate, making changes to tools, materials, and procedures as needed; Make changes, troubleshoot, and test again (Applied Design Skills and Technology 6);  Create artistic works collaboratively, using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play (Arts Education 6).

 

Stop Motion Animation

Kindergarten - Grade 7:  Create stop motion animated videos using Plasticine, imagination, and stop motion software on tablets. Videos will be uploaded to YouTube by the following week.

BC Curriculum goals and competencies: Create artistic works collaboratively … using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play; Adapt learned skills, understandings, and processes for use in new contexts and for different purposes and audiences (Arts Education 6). Construct a first version of the product or a prototype, as appropriate, making changes to tools, materials, and procedures as needed (Applied Design, Skills and Technology 6).

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)

  

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