NEW PROGRAM | ARTFORM: LOOK AGAIN
Term 4, 2026
Wednesdays - 14 October to 16 December
For children ages 8yrs to high school
3:00 PM to 4:30 PM
$350 (inc GST) total for 10 x 90-minute sessions
Contemporary artmaking for young artists.
Artform is a 10-week program for young artists ready to look beyond the expected and explore the many ways an artwork can take form.
Working across drawing, painting, printmaking, collage and mixed media, artists will encounter contemporary subjects, bold imagery and diverse approaches to making. We’ll explore ideas drawn from Pop Art, contemporary portraiture, abstraction, visual culture and the work of practising artists, alongside strong foundations in drawing, composition, colour and technique.
Rather than reproducing an artist’s work, we’ll look at how artists think — how they crop, layer, repeat, simplify, disrupt, reframe and transform what they see — before using those ideas to create something new.
Each artist will receive their own sketchbook for preliminary drawings, studies, composition planning and material tests before developing resolved works on paper, board and canvas.
There is an emphasis on artmanship: learning to handle materials with skill and intention, making considered artistic choices and developing the confidence to approach familiar subjects in unfamiliar ways.
Structured and guided, but with increasing room for individual interpretation, Artform is for young artists interested not only in how to make art, but in discovering what else art can be.
THE PLAN
Week 1 | Make It Yours
Meet your journal and make it your own. We'll personalise covers, create opening pages and begin exploring colour, imagery and individual style.
Week 2 | Paint + Mark
Painted backgrounds, washes, pattern, drawing and expressive mark-making across multiple pages.
Week 3 | Cut + Collage
Tear, cut, arrange and layer papers and imagery while exploring composition, colour, scale and unexpected combinations.
Week 4 | Pockets + Secrets
Inspired by junk journalling, we'll introduce envelopes, pockets, flaps, tags and hidden elements within the journal.
Week 5 | Found + Collected
Tickets, maps, labels, packaging, book pages, postcards and other ephemera become material for creating layered journal pages.
Week 6 | Mixed Media
Bring techniques together with paint, drawing, collage, ink, oil pastel and other materials, working back into pages already begun.
Week 7 | Photos + Memories
Explore creative scrapbooking and visual storytelling using photographs, imagery, captions and collected fragments.
Week 8 | Paper + Thread
Introduce fabric, fibres, thread and simple stitched details to add tactile elements and another dimension to the journal.
Week 9 | Words + Type
Handwriting, lettering, found words, typography and text become part of the artwork — from small details to bold compositional elements.
Week 10 | Final Layers
Bring everything together. Artists choose from the techniques explored throughout the term to develop their journals freely, revisit unfinished pages and add final layers and details.
The weekly program is a guide only and may evolve throughout the term as we follow ideas, materials and the creative direction of the group.
All materials and tools are provided, including each artist's own mixed-media journal to keep.
Early Access Now Open. Limited Spots.
THE PLAN
THE EVERYDAY ICON
We begin with Pop Art and the imagery of everyday life. Artists will transform an ordinary object through scale, cropping, bold colour and composition, exploring how something familiar can become the subject of an artwork.
INTERRUPTED PORTRAIT
Beginning with strong foundations in observational drawing, artists will develop a contemporary portrait using charcoal and graphite before introducing selective colour, pattern, collage and painted interventions. Realism becomes the starting point — not necessarily the destination.
REFRAMED
A contemporary approach to collage. Artists will crop, enlarge, juxtapose and reposition found imagery to create entirely new contexts and unexpected relationships, integrating drawing and paint to bring the final composition together.
LINE IN MOTION
What can a line do beyond describing an object? Through expressive drawing, artists will investigate movement, rhythm, direction, density and space, looking at contemporary approaches to abstraction and discovering how line itself can become the subject.
SURFACE
Moving beyond the smooth white canvas, artists will build, scrape, score and alter their painting surfaces before working back into them with acrylic and drawing media. Texture becomes an intentional part of the artwork rather than simply an added effect.
MULTIPLES
An introduction to contemporary printmaking through repetition and variation. Artists will create an original image or motif, then repeat, rotate, overlap, crop and disrupt it to explore how a single image can become something entirely different.
MAKE THE FAMILIAR UNFAMILIAR
The final Artform project brings everything together. Artists will choose a familiar subject and develop an original artwork using the ideas, techniques and processes encountered throughout the program. Beginning in the sketchbook, they will plan, test, make decisions and develop their work through to a resolved finish.
Please note: The plan is intended as a guide and may evolve throughout the term. Projects and timing may be adjusted to respond to the creative pace, interests and progress of the participanting artists.
PLEASE READ IMPORTANT TERMS & CONDITIONS, POLICIES, AND PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES PRIOR TO ENROLMENT
By enrolling in a paintbox program, you acknowledge these guidelines and help us create a beautiful, respectful studio environment for everyone.
