Teaching

Portfolio Preparation

Since 2009, I have been offering private instruction to students in grades 6-8 who would like help preparing their art portfolios requirements for their applications to the Art Program at Canterbury High School. Note – interested students should contact me as early as possible to allow time to optimally complete this process (i.e., ideally up to two years ahead of the application deadline).

I also coach High School students who are preparing their art portfolios for college and university. Please feel free to contact me at ness@vanessauschy.ca.

Teaching Private/Group Classes

I have created a variety of studio and seminar-style classes for artists of various levels; from beginners to more advanced and experienced students. I offer private art lessons for individuals & groups that are tailored to their particular area of interest (e.g. improving drawing skills, working with colour, abstract painting techniques).

Creative Coaching

This service is geared toward “creative types” who have a project in mind, but may be feeling somewhat lost as to how to start, sustain, or finish it. Whether the project is a gift for someone, or a deadline for an exhibition, working on a single art work, or a series of creative endeavours, I will provide individualized exercises and critiques that will take you through your work from inception to the end result.

These coaching services are also offered to artists who are struggling to devote themselves to an artistic practice; daily, weekly etc. I will give you a program that is manageable and that keeps you on track to achieve your artistic goals!

2016-2017 Artist in Residence Canterbury High School, Ottawa

In preparation for the I, Canada Exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte Ontario in 2017, I sought the help of young talented student artists from the visual art department at Canterbury High School. For the exhibition I proposed 17 hand sewn patch work blankets; 17 blankets to commemorate Canada’s 150th birthday in the year 2017. I quickly realised what a monumental feat this was for a single artist- me. The song and soul of the project was geared towards inclusion and community participation so I opened up the heart of it and solicited the help of these very talented and enthousiastic participants at Canterbury. My “studio” was a makeshift space in the art library. I moved between the studio, where students would drop in to help me sew and the classroom where I would introduce them to the concept of the I, Canada Project. Their involvement consisted of making a hand sewn fabric patch that could be adhered to other patches that would eventually “grow” into a blanket sized piece. For more information on the I, Canada Project please see the I, Canada gallery.

Mentorship

The first student I prepped for Canterbury High School, in 2009, is about to enter her final year of her Undergraduate degree in Architecture. Under my supervision, she, along with several other “graduates” have become my assistants in helping me work with new students. Mentoring is rewarding and productive work. Hiring my former students allows me to help finance their art, give them experience teaching and offers me more time and space to produce my own work.

Workshops

Personal Patchwork

Hand-sewn Patchwork Blanket
and/or Personal Patchwork Wall Hanging
and/or Fabric Collage

2 Day Workshop
$275
Supplies not provided

In this 2-day workshop we will learn about some of the history of Patchwork; early Patchworks quilts (traditional fiendship quilts ) to later styles (crazy quilts), those of more contemporary genre (Tracey Emin’s Blanket Art) and the wall hangings of 1st Nations artists such as Marion Tu’uklook.

We will explore how fabric collage, composition, stitchery, embroidery and knitting can be used to create a variety textile pieces (blankets, wall hanging, fabric collages). We will also look at how text can be added to imagery and the effects of using different types of fabrics and textures to communicate visual meaning.

We will move from beginning to end stages of creation focusing on the differences between theme based and materials or image based artmaking and how one can borrow from all of these approaches to make beautiful and memorable art works.

Supply lists will be accessible 1 month before the workshop starts.

Piecemeals

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

2 Day Workshop
$275
Supplies not provided

Piecemeals are doll-like creatures. They are hand-sewn and knitted, bits and pieces brought together from a range of fabrics (vintage, thrifted, wool, cotton, felt, and canvas, blends). The yarn used to knit their clothes and bodies could be knotted together bits of scraps of wool from yarny friends and knitters that have been rolled into a recycled ball of yarn. Some could be adorned with found objects such as roadside scrap metal. This act of re-use, of sewing and knitting fragments of material and yarn for repurposed art is a healing task. The hunt for materials, the collecting, the saving and then the re-creating with these items gives one the feeling of mending broken bits; taking parts that have been broken off or overused or misused and re-working them into new creations satisfies a deep seated and very human need for growth and transformation. By breathing life into these discarded elements, we start anew and open up the possibility for 2nd chances. And It is through these creative acts that we also instil change in ourselves.

These special beings are the keeper of secrets, they are story-tellers, friends, guides. They house sewn messages, wishes, hopes and dreams on knitted bits held in their soft bodies. Some may be tattooed with words and images adorning their soft plushy bodies. They are reminders, talismans, beacons, whispering to us, “ this is who you are…. remember … remember…”. They can be humorous too, thoughtful, smart, goofy , loving. They are the one who gets us, who holds our shit together,. They may reminds us of who we are and/or were and/or want to be.

In this workshop we will explore the creative process inherent to the making of these beings; choosing materials, thread, yarn and concepts that best express who and what your Piecemeal is. We will start with some creative drawing and simple writing exercise that will help us hone in on how best to build this version of the Self.

Supply lists will be accessible 1 month before the workshop starts.

Creating Your Life, Living Your Art

Helping you connect the dots

2 Day Workshop
$150
Supplies not provided

This workshop explores the connection between art and life; the symbiotic relationship between being and making. We will work through a variety of exercises that encourage thinking outside the box, loosening up, playing. We will draw, collage, write, work to music, and close with a round-table chat about tactics one can use to manifest more flow and happiness into one’s life and work.

Supply lists will be accessible 1 month before the workshop starts.

It takes a village to build a …. (insert desired sculptural form here; Canoe, Nest, etc…)

1 to 2 week workshop
Price TBD
Supplies provided

Using wire, tape, yarn, fabric, sewing, knitting, twisting, winding and weaving we will build a collective textile sculpture. Groups will work and problem solve together to create a free standing life sized sculpture and showcase their end results in a gallery type setting.

The Many Faces We Wear

2 Day Workshop
$275
Supplies not provided

This is a group based mask making workshop. Participants make a series of their own plaster gauze masks. They are asked to donate one to the group collective. Each participant’s donation gets smashed. Everyone’s bits are piled together and each participant is asked to reconstruct a face/mask based on the mish-mashed parts of everyone else’s face/mask. We are all intricately connected.