Are you interested in the visual arts but just not sure how to get started? Or perhaps you're an experienced artist but you're looking to try your hand at a new style or medium?
Then the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts has something for you.
If you don't already have a copy, it's well worth picking up the Shadbolt Centre's fall Arts Guide, which is packed full of offerings for all ages.
Some of the programs have already started for the season, but there are a large number still offered in October and November, so check it out. I offer a few highlights of things that caught my interest:
* Life Drawing: This non-instructional series includes eight sessions that give artists the space and time to hone their life drawing skills with a live, undraped model. Students bring in their own drawing or painting supplies, but easels, drawing boards and clips are provided. Drop-ins are welcome, but you must call 604-291-6864 to reserve a spot. It runs Wednesdays from 7 to 10 p.m. starting Oct. 8, and the eight sessions cost $80.
* Art Exploration for Adults: This one's aimed at people new to visual art or those who have been away from it for awhile, and it runs for four Thursdays starting Oct. 9. Participants will get lessons in drawing, painting, collage and simple printmaking in a variety of media: charcoal, ink, watercolour and paint.
* Photography: The centre offers a number of different photography courses, including a one-session Beginning Photography class on Sunday, Nov. 2, and a Photography Personalized workshop also on Sunday, Nov. 2.
* Digital Media: If you've been wanting to learn more about iPhoto, iBooks, iMovie and the like, then you're in luck - the Shadbolt offers sessions in all of those and more. There's a two-session iBooks class starting Oct. 21, a one-session iPhoto for iPad coming up on Nov. 4 and a two-session iMovie for iPad course starting Nov. 18.
I could go on and on, but why not check it out for yourself? You can find a copy of the Arts Guide online at www.shadboltcentre.com.
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You can find out more about three of Burnaby's founding mothers at a special presentation this week.
A group of local organizations - the Burnaby Public Library, Burnaby Archives, Burnaby Village Museum, Heights Neighbourhood Association and Burnaby Historical Society - is hosting a Wednesday evening fall series on local history. Speakers include Burnaby Village Museum and Burnaby Archives staff, plus local historians and environmentalists.
First up is the Ladies of Deer Lake: the Women of Hart House and Fairacres, on Wednesday, Oct. 8 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the carousel activity room at Burnaby Village Museum.
Lynda Maeve Orr of the museum will give an illustrated talk about Grace Ceperley, Florence Hart and Alice Hart, who lived on the shores of Deer Lake in the early 1900s.
The series continues on Oct. 15 with South Burnaby on Film: Home Movies from the Metrotown Area, 1930s-1960s.
Lisa Codd of Burnaby Village Museum will introduce a series of films documenting the area, and archives staff will speak about film preservation and access.
That's at the Metrotown library branch.
Future talks in the series include Burnaby's Waterways: the Brunette River Watershed on Oct. 22; Edmonds Community History on Oct. 29; and Living on the Waterfront: Burnaby's Crabtown and Vancouver's Blenheim Flats on Nov. 5.
Check out www.bpl.bc.ca/events for details.
Send Lively City ideas to [email protected] or find her on Twitter, @juliemaclellan.
