Create and Move

Let’s create & move together! Join local visual artist Neda Mazhab Jafari in collaboration with local dancer Chrissy Baxter from Simcoe Contemporary Dancers as we embark on a creative journey to make art & dance! This series will find inspiration through the “Seeds to Sow” Public Art exhibition along the waterfront in collaboration with the City of Barrie.

The visual art component of “Create and Move” invites participants to explore their creativity through various mediums such as sculpture, drawing, and painting. Inspired by the “Seeds to Sow” Public Art exhibition, participants will create artworks that reflect themes of growth, transformation, and community. Just as in the dance component, where children explore movement through the concept of “Seeds to Sow,” the visual art activities will encourage them to express these ideas through their art. Participants will engage in projects that use natural and found materials, echoing the organic inspiration of the exhibition, and will work on collaborative pieces that foster a sense of connection and shared creativity. Through imagination and hands-on activities, each child’s unique artistic voice will be nurtured, mirroring the expressive journey of the dance exercises.

The dance component of “Create and Move” is designed to welcome children to creative and contemporary dance. Participants will engage in a variety of dance and movement exercises from choreographed phrases to guided improvisations all around the idea of “Seeds to Sow.” Our focus will be on exploring elements of dance such as space, time, energy, weight and dynamics and learning movement skills through imagination and stories, all with the goal of developing each child’s expressiveness through movement!

This program responds to the City of Barrie’s temporary public art exhibition, Seeds to Sow. The exhibition features six installations of site-specific artwork that will change Barrie’s landscape from September 27 to November 8. The artworks draw on local ecologies, history, and stories. The act of planting a seed is a powerful symbol of hope and potential. It connects us to ongoing cycles of seasonality, an inheritance from our past and an intention for the future.