For most people embarking on a family vacation, learning and the improvement of skill sets isn’t at the top of their itinerary’s to-do list, which is a shame, since the change in location and schedule coupled with the availability of new opportunities actually makes vacation an ideal time to undertake a new skill or brush up on one that’s been allowed to languish. For the former artist or the still-hoping-to-become an artist on vacation to Niagara, the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre provides a number of excellent and easy opportunities to satisfy your creative urges while on vacation.

The Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre

A non-profit organization, the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre works to engage the surrounding Niagara communities through educational outreach, programs, exhibitions, and events that either make or celebrate the visual arts. The organization offers year-round classes, workshops, and events that all showcase a wide variety of different media. Located on the banks of the beautiful Niagara River, the Arts Centre is housed in a stunning Victorian building that was built in 1891, and until 1983, housed the pumps and filtration tanks that supplied water to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Today, the building has been renovated to serve the needs of the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre.

Programs

There are a number of classes, workshops, and drop-ins that take place throughout the calendar year, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to fit one or two into your family’s vacation schedule for one of you, some of you, or even all of you. While this list is by no means exhaustive, here are some of the upcoming opportunities you’ll have to further your artistic ambitions at the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre:

• Family Drop-In. Two more opportunities are available for the family who wants to share in a family-friendly art studio experience. Dress to get messy if you need to and spend a couple hours painting, sculpting, or drawing in the Arts Centre’s studio. The two remaining family drop-in’s take place July 26 and August 30 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. A suggested donation of $2 per participant is recommended.
• Abstract Impressions. For fans of Rothko, Newman, and Still, this abstract expressionist workshop for adults of all levels (although a basic understanding of some color theory would greatly benefit an attendee) occurs over two evenings a week apart, and includes a study of the artists’ work as well as instruction in their techniques and philosophies. Classes will be held Tuesday, July 21 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Tuesday, July 28 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The workshop fee is $80.
• Full-Day or Half-Day Summer Art Camps for Kids, 5 – 12. Do you have a budding artist in your midst? Sign him up for art camp when you visit Niagara. Attendees will learn how to use art tools and supplies to make different works of art. The full-day camp, which runs July 20 through the 24, costs $190, and the half-day camp, which runs July 13 through the 17, costs $95.

Get creative with your vacation this summer by taking an art class or two at the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre.