The Bog Series, Featuring works by Kathleen Vaughan, Arts & Culture Centre - Assen, Netherlands, November 11 to December 13, 2004

Something For Everyone, group exhibition with works by Moira Clark, XEXE Gallery, 624 Richmond St. West, Toronto, November 20 to December 18, 2004

This past October, artist/instructors from the Avenue Road Arts School exhibited work at the Toronto International Art Fair at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Eighty three galleries from thirteen countries around the world participated in this year's event. Participating ARAS instructors included Sadko Hadzihasanovic, Klaas Hart, Daniel Hughes and Eric Louis.

Opa's Poetry, by Klaas Hart, exhibited with Loch Gallery at Art Fair 2004, oil on panel, 23" x 32" For more info, visit: www.klaashart.com

The National Post recently ran a story about a five year-old girl in upstate New York whose paintings were selling for $5,000 each. Whenever the Arts School takes a booth at large tradeshows, people invariably offer to purchase children's work.

People who walk through our school and look at the children's art often shake their heads in amazement at the quality of what they see. They cannot believe that young children have produced such accomplished work. They don't realize that children who are trained to see more of what's in front of them, are more likely to create remarkable works of art.

Good art teachers encourage their students to see the quality of the lines, the shading, the colour values – to carefully observe every little detail. In learning to draw, both children and adults equip themselves to "think differently" by noticing more about what they have in front of them.

This is the very skill set we all need when it comes time to make good use of the resources we actually do have at hand. We can make the best creative use of what we have if we are able to notice everything about it.

We should never underestimate the abilities of children – nor our own abilities. And we should never underestimate the pragmatic value of the lessons we learn in the process of creating our own works of art.

Lola Rasminsky, Founder & Director

The Avenue Road Arts School faculty and staff regularly meet to discuss the state of the school and to explore ways we can all make it better. Usually they are pretty "meeting-like" occasions. For the fall session, we decided to shake things up a bit and have a Beyond the Box™ experience instead. Beyond the Box™ is a corporate training program that teaches executives to think "differently." (Visit www.beyondthebox.ca)

We spent part of the evening doing improv exercises that taught us to build positively on each others' ideas. Loosening up through humourous workouts also helped us get to know each other better. There was much laughter and many surprises as we learned remarkable things about our colleagues.

Can you guess who these people are?*

1. I went to hairdressing school before going to university.
2. I worked in a women's drop-in centre for seven years before going full-time into clay.
3. I would like to write a Pulitzer prize winning novel.
4. I am currently painting a portrait of the former Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
5. I have a rat, a guinea pig and two cats.
6. I am participating in a biennial show organized by the Albright Knox Museum in Buffalo.
7. I am an avid rock climber.
8. I trained as a jockey.
9. I used to be a breakdancer.
10. I started a PhD in Economics.

It is always easier to work together efficiently and positively when we feel warmly towards one another. Many valuable ideas came out of our brainstorming session that evening ­ several that we will put into action. The evening was so constructive that we hope, as much as we can, to make the Beyond the Box™ experience a part of our future meetings.

*See the answers here.