Workshops
Festival organizers are excited to offer six workshops for the 2022 festival. Each workshop will be presented by a local artisan or artist well-known for their craft and teaching skills.
The workshops will be presented in a tent on the grounds of Wyatt Heritage Properties, corner of Granville and Prince Streets.
Participants must pre-register and pay for the workshops by emailing wyatt.programs@city.summerside.pe.ca or by calling 902-432-1298. It will be first come, first served. The workshop registration fee covers materials needed in the workshop.
From the Ground Up: Basics of Landscape Painting
Instructor: Sheila Forsyth
Wyatt Heritage Properties
Monday, July 19th, 5 pm to 8 pm
Cost: $30.00 per participant (includes a canvas and paint). Up to 12 participants, ages 18 and up
Getting started with painting or wanting to review the basics of composition, colour mixing, how to simplify the detail of a landscape (find the forest in the trees), as well as tips on sketching, getting your image on canvas and the wielding of brushes, then this session is for you.
Bring your own scene (photograph) of a landscape.
To register please email wyatt.programs@city.summerside.pe.ca
or call 902-432-1298.
Instructor Biography
Sheila Forsyth is a mostly self-taught artist who works in oil, mixed media, silk-dye art, and linocut printing. She is also an avid plein air painter. “Working in the moment in the awe of nature teaches artists so much about focus, finding the key components of a scene, and expressing in light and colour.” She hopes to pass on some of that knowledge to participants.
Mi'kmaq Basket Weaving Workshop
Instructor: Noella Moore
Wyatt Heritage Properties
Monday, July 18th, 1 pm to 4 pm
Cost: $40.00 per participant to cover supplies – open to 10 participants ages 15 and over
Join Mi’kmaq artisan and artist, Noella Moore in the making of a traditional biscuit basket. As she instructs Ms. Moore will tell the cultural history of Mi’kmaq basket weaving, an art lost to her for many years and fortunately reclaimed.
To register please email wyatt.programs@city.summerside.pe.ca
or call 902-432-1298.
Instructor Biography
Noella Moore is a multi-media artist that can’t remember a time in life where her creative side was not making itself known. Her creativity first came out as a small child through her drawings. By the age of sixteen she had created her first oil painting. The Mi’kmaq artist recovered a part of her lost heritage in 2003 when she attended a basket weaving workshop offered by Mi’kmaq Elders. When her hands made contact with the wood and she began to bend and weave in the creative process of basket weaving it felt entirely natural and healing. Her very first basket was a difficult fancy comb basket requiring a high level of skill. She was no struggling beginner. Her hands contained the knowledge.
Moore continued to learn from the Elders and now teaches basket weaving. Moore says about teaching, “It feels so good to see people creating because of the skills I have taught them. I want to keep the knowledge going.”
Rug Hooking- Get Hooked!
Workshop with Linda Marchbank
Wyatt Heritage Properties
Tuesday July 19th, 1 pm to 4 pm
Cost: $50.00 per participant to cover supplies – open to 10 participants, ages 15 and over
Join Linda for an opportunity to try the art of rug hooking. This is a chance to connect with the past and discover the creative possibilities this craft offers. It is a class for beginners to explore and practice the fundamentals of rug hooking through a project designed to allow learning of basic techniques. All materials and equipment needed will be included in a kit available in class. Linda will conduct of a tour of the summer rug hooking exhibit.
To register, please email wyatt.programs@city.summerside.pe.ca
or call 902-432-1298.
Instructor Biography
Linda Marchbank is a McGown certified rug hooking teacher who has taught rug hooking for over seventeen years locally, provincially and interprovincially. Her work has been recognized through peoples’ choice selections, McGown shows, rug shows and exhibitions. She has been a past recipient of the Premier's Craft Award, Best Maritime Mat recognition, and honoured with a City of Summerside Heritage Award for her teaching.
Little Buddy - Big Buddy Artist Watercolour PEI Landscape Class
Instructor: Maurice Bernard
Wyatt Heritage Properties
Tuesday, July 19,
5 pm to 6 pm //
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Cost: $15.00 per Little Buddy - Big Buddy pair.
Maximum 10 pairs.
This is a workshop designed for a youth and an adult companion to discover the budding artist within. Maurice will teach participants how to create an Island landscape in watercolour. The one hour class is about having fun while creating.
To register please email wyatt.programs@city.summerside.pe.ca or call 902-432-1298
Instructor Biography
A professional artist since 1982, Maurice Bernard is also a popular art teacher and sandcastle creator. His art captures the beauty and grace of Prince Edward Island, the innocence of children and the warmth of families. Over the years he has held various exhibitions, and his art work is treasured in homes and businesses across the continent.
Knitting for the Beginner
Instructor Janet Vieth Forbes
Wyatt Heritage Properties
Wednesday, July 20, 1 pm to 4 pm
Cost: $15.00 - open to participants ages 12 and over.
Maximum of 10 participants.
This workshop is for the person wanting to learn the basics of the old world craft of knitting, which has resurged in popularity. Participants will learn the basics of knitting and create a dish cloth.
To register please email wyatt.programs@city.summerside.pe.ca or call 902-432-1298
Instructor Biography
Janet first learned to knit as a young girl, but did not get serious about it until her early twenties when expecting her first child. That was forty-seven years ago. In the late 70's, she acquired a knitting machine, creating works that are still being used today. Over the years, she has knit various 'trendy' knitting styles including lopi sweaters, fishermen knit, baby 'sets', and layettes, and all types of knit clothing and accessories.
In 2017, Janet started the Knitting for Mission Group at the Anglican Parish in Summerside. The group meets twice weekly at St Mary's Church Hall. Items knit are donated to the local schools, manors, and hospitals.
More recently, her love of natural fibres and learning more difficult techniques have kept her passion for knitting alive. Online knitting classes, "Knit Alongs" that offer instructional tutorials, and national and international podcasts and tutorials all help to master new techniques, learn about new fibres and provide an opportunity to try different breeds of wool yarns.
Creative Writing: Cultivating Conflict in Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction
Instructor Rick Sparkes
Wyatt Heritage Properties
Wednesday, July 20, 5 pm to 8 pm
Cost: $20.00 - open to participants ages 15 and over.
Maximum of 10 participants.
This workshop aims to provide participants with a toolbox of practical strategies that will assist them in writing a wide range of both fiction and creative non-fiction. With a focus on developing conflict (the heart of any good story), participants will have the opportunity to explore the stories of their own lives and the potential these stories have to connect us to a greater understanding of ourselves and, therein, the world around us. Participants are encouraged to bring a notebook, pens, pencils, or laptop, as well as a piece of writing they find particularly inspiring.
To register please email wyatt.programs@city.summerside.pe.ca or call 902-432-1298
Rick Sparkes is an award-winning writer, musician, and teacher based in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. He has received a number of Island Literary Awards for his work as a poet, fiction writer, and creative non-fiction writer. His work has been published in a number of Canadian journals and periodicals, and in 2004, he was shortlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize. In April 2022, Sparkes was selected to write and present an original poem to Summerside City Council as part of national poetry month on the theme of intimacy. As a songwriter, Sparkes was nominated for the SOCAN Songwriter of the Year at the 2020 Music PEI Awards, and in 2022, his album “Pleasure in the Pathless Woods” won the Music PEI Award for Group Recording of the Year and was nominated for a 2022 East Coast Music Award for Group Recording of the Year. He lives in Summerside with his partner Ruth Ann and his two children where he teaches English and Creative Writing at Three Oaks Senior High School.