$125, please register, for adults & teens 12+

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll design and craft up to three sterling silver stacking rings, perfect for everyday wear or layering. Guided by Bramble Lee Pryde and Ashleigh Moore, you’ll learn how to create unique textures, bend and forge metal, and solder your rings together.

This workshop is a fantastic introduction to metalworking techniques and a fun, creative experience for all skill levels. Bring a friend along and enjoy crafting your rings together—it’s the perfect way to spend time and create something meaningful!

Whether you’re looking to give something special as a gift or create something for yourself, you’ll leave with a custom set of rings that reflect your personal style.

Price includes all materials, instruction, and professional finishing.

Perfect for beginners or experienced creators alike. Classes are small to ensure hands-on instruction.

Free, please register by email karen@womenscentre.org

This class is presented by our neighbours, the Women’s Centre of Calgary. Join us for beginner poetry.  Everyone is welcome.  Learn some new skills and make some new friends.   Poetry is great for relaxation, reflection, and boosting creativity.  Registration is required.  karen@womenscentrecalgary.org

drop-in

Trunk Show & Sale featuring handmade jewelry from Shona Rae, Cherry Deacon, Barb Temple & Jennea Frischke, and maybe more!

drop-in

Trunk Show & Sale featuring jewelry from Shona Rae, Cherry Deacon, Barb Temple & Jennea Frischke, and maybe more!

FREE, drop-in

Come celebrate the opening of the Maker’s Dozen residency featuring the work of a 13 jewelry artists: Ashleigh Amber Moore, Barb Temple, Bramble Lee Pryde, Christine Pedersen, Cherry Deacon, Devon Clark, Jennea Frischke, Kari Woo, Melissa Pedersen, Melissa Victor, Sarah Whalen Lunn, Shona Rae, and Stephanie Elderfield.​

FREE, please rsvp to sandra@sparrowartspace.com

Join us for Sparrow Arts Society’s very first AGM & Art Party!

7:00-7:30 pm: AGM with food & drinks.

7:30-9:00 pm: Painting Party!

Unleash your creativity and contribute to a communal canvas at our upcoming AGM & painting party! With a variety of art supplies available, you can paint, draw, or doodle, and even take home a piece of the collective masterpiece! Don’t miss this opportunity to create, collaborate and connect with the Sparrow community!

AGM AGENDA: 1. Call to Order 2. Declaration of Quorum 3. Report from the President 4. Presentation of Financial Statements 5. Adjournment

FREE, please register, all ages and abilities

We're unpacking literature through visual art during this POETRY and ZINE MAKING workshop with artist Kate Beck.

What to bring: Bring what sparks your creativity!

For those who are rocking traditional:

• Paper

• Pens, pencils, erasers and a bold pop of colour

• Collage materials (magazine cut-outs, glue, scissors)

• Scissors

FREE, all ages and abilities, please register

Join us at the Sparrow Artspace for a free workshop on comic composition with local artist Zach Schuster. In this workshop, Zach will walk you through crafting a comics page and how to position your panels to flow with your story.

What to bring:

• Tools to draw your comics - whether that is physical or digital

FREE, All ages and abilities, please register

Why are some stories and communities underrepresented, and what are some strategies to address the challenges? In this workshop, Joan Tu shares how she came to write the first children's book about a character with a preservative allergy based on her experience of being misdiagnosed. Discuss the motivations, factors, and barriers involved in sharing underrepresented stories as well as how to overcome the obstacles. Learn how to deal with myths and misconceptions, choose the right medium or format, and write a recognizable and memorable story.

FREE, please register, all ages and abilities welcome

Zines are community-building tools! Join cartoonist Sam Hester and journalist Jeremy Klaszus of The Sprawl for a zinemaking workshop! Fold, write and draw your own zine, or use our Curious Calgary zine templates to create a story about Calgary. Plus, test out The Sprawl’s vintage printing press!

What to bring: Bring what sparks your creativity!

For those who are rocking traditional:

• Paper

• Pens, pencils, erasers and a bold pop of colour

• Collage materials (magazine cut-outs, glue, scissors)

• Scissors

FREE, please register

Come learn the steps necessary for prepping your comic pages for print! When self-publishing, yours may very well be the last pair of eyes to catch any errors before those books are printed and bound. See what to watch out for and what to keep in mind to ensure your finished product is as good as it can be. Taught by Kasmaya Jaxonne.

This workshop is open to all comic creators at all skill levels.

What to bring:

• A device with InDesign loaded onto it

• We recommend something to take notes with (digital or physical)

FREE, all ages and abilities, please register

Join us for our Sip & Sketch session. It's a relaxing creative night where you can chat with fellow comic creators and let the ideas flow in a casual and inspiring atmosphere. Bring an underway project, start something new, or sketch out a fun idea that hits you in the moment! While this event is designed for comic creators, this event is open to everyone, whether you are an experienced artist or a beginner! We’re here to have fun in a casual and creative environment.

FREE, please register, all ages and abilities

Join Rachelle Ymay Skilling aka ArtMom as she walks you through a comics workshop where you can create your caregiving stories.

What to bring:

• We recommend bringing paper and your favourite drawing tools

• Digital tools will be welcomed

Ticket by donation, please register, all ages and abilities

Take your adventure to the next level by bringing your characters to life! This workshop with animator and graphic novelist MLE. will show you the coolest and easiest ways to develop and draw your PC to awe your party members and impress your GM. This workshop is open to all artists at all skill levels.

Drop-in, Free, 16+

Closing event for the ex(POSE)d art exhibit by Alice Asphyxia & Cyan Eyed, includes live performances from one of the artists.

Teens and adults, any ability, PWYC ($10), drop-in

Needle felting group workshop - needle felt your own little worry doll, and let it take your worries away! Bring either your own materials or use provided materials for a small fee! Artist-in-resident Alice Asphyxia will guide you regardless of your skill level.

Free, please register by email karen@womenscentre.org

This class is presented by our neighbours, the Women’s Centre of Calgary. Join us for beginner poetry.  Everyone is welcome.  Learn some new skills and make some new friends.   Poetry is great for relaxation, reflection, and boosting creativity.  Registration is required.  karen@womenscentrecalgary.org

FREE, drop-in

Jane Finley and Colleen Doylend's artistic pursuits at Sparrow Artspace this August have been motivated by a shared attentiveness to beholding transformation. Through their abstract painting, photography and printmaking, they welcomed the community, friends and neighbours, to explore connection, understanding and artistic empowerment. They warmly welcome you to view the final results of this engaging monthlong meeting and collaboration. Join us Friday, August 30th from 11 am to 4 pm for our closing open house.

FREE, All ages and abilities, please register by email to colleenfd@gmail.com

Bring a piece of your art to a cozy group session at Sparrow Artspace. Explore the value of sharing your work with discussion about techniques, approaches, and next steps. Curious? Join us for an enlightening and non-intimidating time together as artists, with coffee, tea, and sweet treats. All artistic levels and ages are welcome.

FREE, drop-in

Jane Finley and Colleen Doylend’s artistic pursuits at Sparrow Artspace this August are motivated by a shared attentiveness to beholding transformation. Their creative processes are characterized by an exploratory approach in abstract painting and photography as they utilize art as a conduit for connection, understanding, and empowerment. Jane and Colleen warmly welcome friends and neighbours to “Making a Mark” opening exhibition, Saturday, August 3rd from 11 am through 4 pm at the beautiful Sparrow Artspace in the historic De Waal Block in Bridgeland, 36 4 Street NE, Calgary.

Free, registration required, adults, all abilities

On July 30th, Jess Richter will be leading a paper cutting workshop where participants will explore German paper cutting (scherenschnitte). German paper cutting, a folk art traditionally practiced by women, engages with the silhouette, symmetry, and nature to create harmonious narrative images. Jess will help students design and cut their own pieces, sharing her own contemporary process that takes inspiration from this folk tradition to create meaningful narrative images that explore familial mourning and ritual.

Free, Drop-in, All ages with parental guidance, All abilities

Join us on July 23rd from 5PM-9PM as artists and community members speak through an open mic about grief, loss, mourning and art. We hope that through sharing our vulnerabilities and acknowledging each other's humanity that we can connect and work towards healing together. In conjunction with this open mic night, the Death Bloom Collective will share the artwork they have created throughout their Sparrow Artspace Residency! There will also be snacks and refreshments! Discussing topics such as death and grief can be hard, that is why members of River West Therapy Collective will be joining us during our community night in order to provide extra support to participants, guests and collaborators.

this workshop is FULL - email graham.rocio@gmail.com to join the waitlist

FREE, 18+, all abilities, please register

A nourishing grief and art workshop anchored in communities of care, ancestral medicine, death positivity, sound baths and art. Led by Rocio Graham this workshop invites you to discover the gifts and power of grief through art. Perhaps you are grieving the loss of someone, loss of self or the loss of something dear to you. If you feel like you are grieving alone this free workshop is for you. No art experience necessary.

Prerequisite is to come with an openness of mind and commitment to maintain the radical inclusivity of this space. Rocio Graham is an multimedia artist, grief coach, death doula and creator of Santa Rosa Arts and Healing which hosts the Santa Muerte Death Residency. Through her work within the Santa Muerte Death Residency she mentors many artists focused on the creation of communities of care , death positivity, inclusive creative environments and anticolonial approaches to death and grief. @santa_rosa_arts_and_healing

FREE, click to register, 18+

On Thursday July 11th, Katie Wackett will be facilitating a discussion and screening based on the topic of death & the moving image, offering her own personal feminist lens with which to process grief on screen. Bringing together influences from film studies and filmmaking, Katie Wackett will lead participants through various examples from Hollywood Film Noir to experimental documentary work. Katie’s perspective expands on classical film theory to include and honor the viewer’s embodied experience of representations of death in movies. The discussion will include space for participants to share, positioning film as a tool for social healing and advocacy. Katie will also share about her upcoming film project, an experimental documentary about feminist perspectives on death, which will include collaboration and documentation filmed during the Death Bloom Collective x Sparrow Artspace residency throughout the month of July 2024.

Free, drop-in, mature audience, all abilities

Join us on July 7th from 1PM-4PM MST for an Altar Workshop, where community members are asked to bring objects, letters, pictures or symbols that represent whatever or whomever they may be mourning. Guests are welcome to come and go throughout the workshop from 1-4PM! Grief is a feeling experienced by all at some point or another, we hope that through acknowledging the humanity within grieving we can come together to create a beautiful diverse community altar that represents, memorializes and celebrates our lost loved ones, past selves, places, feelings and memories.

Free, drop-in

In the end, some possibilities are realized. We Envision the expansion of artworks created by us and by workshop participants, and present an exhibition in celebration of possibility realized. Stop in to say farewell!

+16 years, no artistic experience necessary, $45 - please register

Join artist Claudia Lorenz on a wonderful exploration of mixed media techniques & materials. We’ll experiment with paint applications, mark- making, hand-made stamps, & gelli prints. You’ll leave with a big bunch of new papers ready to use for your art projects.

PWYC $10-$50, Adults and children 6 years and up (accompanied by adult), please register to vernavogel@gmail.com

Engage with artist-in-residence Verna Vogel through this exploratory mask-making workshop. What is a mask? What can it do? It can be made of almost anything. It can conceal or to reveal different aspects of our identities. It can open our awareness of who we might be, and who we might become. A mask can be a joyful exploration of possibility. Verna prefers to work in the unknown, with curiosity and openness to discovery. During the "EnVision" residency, her aim is to explore a range of materials-based techniques for making masks. These will certainly include recycled cardboard, paper, plastics, and who knows what else! It is open to the imagination. Fitting templates will be provided for those who wish to wear their mask.

+16 years, no artistic experience necessary, $45 - please register

Join artist-in-residence Claudia Lorenz for an afternoon of collage making! Dive into the creative flow by layering paper, illustrations, and paint to craft a unique piece that reflects your personality. Choose between an 8x8" or 8x10" board for your masterpiece. All supplies and instruction will be provided.

Free, please register by email karen@womenscentre.org

This class is presented by our neighbours, the Women’s Centre of Calgary. Join us for beginner poetry.  Everyone is welcome.  Learn some new skills and make some new friends.   Poetry is great for relaxation, reflection, and boosting creativity.  Registration is required.  karen@womenscentrecalgary.org