Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 workshops to check out at CREATE! Eastside Arts Festival
From flamenco dance to zine-making, there are hands-on sessions for people of all artistic levels
Make New Friends: A Puppet-Building Workshop!
Eastside Arts Society presents CREATE! Eastside Arts Festival from July 22 to 28 at various venues
THE CREATE! Eastside Arts Festival is all about helping people channel their inner artist. Several workshops are on offer that allow participants to get hands-on with all kinds of artistic styles, techniques, and materials. Here’s a glimpse at five immersive sessions taking place during the fest’s fourth year.
Make New Friends: A Puppet-Building Workshop!
July 24 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at Off The Rail Brewing and July 27 from 12:30 pm to 2 pm at Strathcona Park
Participants get to construct their very own rod puppets from scratch using mostly reclaimed household materials in this workshop, where weirdness is encouraged. The new beings will have heads made out of newspaper and masking tape, faces applied with acrylic paint, and bodies made of fabric, with rods attached to their head and hands.
Running the workshop is Liz Oakley, a multidisciplinary artist who’s originally from New York City and who is currently working on their master’s of fine arts in interdisciplinary arts at SFU.
Introduction to Flamenco Dance—All Abilities.
Introduction to Flamenco Dance—All Abilities
July 27 from 12:30 pm to 2 pm at Strathcona Park
Colombian-born, Vancouver-based flamenco artist Jhoely Triana leads this interactive workshop, which will cover the fundamentals of the dance form, including basic steps, upper body gestures, rhythmic hand clapping, and more. Participants will also get in on jaleo—feisty words of encouragement like “olé!” that are called out to the performers.
Triana studied at the Goh Ballet Academy, has a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in contemporary dance from Simon Fraser University, and trained at Al Mozaico Flamenco and Rosario Flamenco.
Doodles & Zine Making Workshop.
Doodles & Zine Making Workshop
July 23 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at Off The Rail Brewing and July 27 from 12:30 pm to 2 pm at Strathcona Park
Attendees will create their own zine, ranging in size from eight to 16 pages. Different doodling techniques will be shared in this workshop geared to people of all skill levels.
Leading the session is Kaodraws (Angel), a Vancouver-based Taiwanese-born multidisciplinary illustrator, designer, and surreal dreamscape artist.
BIPOC Expressive Art Workshop.
BIPOC Expressive Art Workshop
July 27 from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm at Strathcona Park
This workshops invites Black, Indigenous, and people of colour to explore their identities and unique stories through painting, writing, music, and drama in this healing, empowering, inclusive workshop. No previous experience in art is necessary.
Heading the session is Adeline Poufong, a queer interdisciplinary artist of mixed-race heritage working in several mediums, including paint, ceramics, textiles, video, writing, poetry and sculpture.
Bookmark Making with Invasive Plants.
Bookmark Making with Invasive Plants
July 26 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at Strange Fellows Brewing and July 27 from 12:30 pm to 2 pm at Strathcona Park
Eco-artist Joshua Ralph leads this hands-on workshop, in which people will turn regionally invasive plants into one-of-a-kind bookmarks made using a base of recycled paper. Participants will learn papermaking techniques while gleaning information about the significance of local plants like English ivy, red deadnettle, reed canary grass, tansy, and more.
Ralph is the founder of the Invasive Art Initiative, which hosts environmental discussions and public workshops on uses for invasive plant species from across southwestern B.C. 
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