VAB to be at 3rd annual Street Festival

Visual Arts Brampton will the 2009 Communities in Bloom Street Festival. It will be held on Thursday, July 23rd from 6 - 9:30 pm in Garden Square at the Rose Theatre.

When the event started in 2007, VAB artists worked on a portrait of Jessica Miller, Miss Independent Florists of Brampton 2007, the eventual Miss Brampton 2008. VAB also hosted Brampton Arts Council mascot Millie, and a colouring table. Last year, Marian Simpson and Maria Dlubak painted from woodcarver John McCartney, while Debra Ali worked on a floral painting.

This year, Visual Arts Brampton will have some adult and teen members working on a portrait. We may also have other activities, for the public to participate in. If you'd like to participate, email us ahead of time, as we have limited space.

VAB in Santa's Arrival Parade; photos posted

Previously, we mentioned that Visual Arts Brampton would be in the Santa's Arrival Parade at Shoppers World. The parade went quite well, and there seemed to be more people in attendance this year than either of the past two years.

VAB's entry featured some of our youth students in costume, including some students in costumes made from painted cardboard boxes.

Much to our surprise, we just found out today that we are one of the Holiday Spirit Award winners, meaning the group has received mall gift certificates, that we'll use to buy supplies for the studio. Our appreciation goes to Shoppers World for inviting us back to the parade, and for this generous recognition of our efforts.

The parade was Sunday, November 16, at 11 am. As promised, two live reindeer did lead Santa's sleigh around the mall. Pictures of his ground-bound steeds, Blizzard and Snow, are among the images in our Picasa photo album.

VAB to be in Shoppers World parade

Visual Arts Brampton is going to participate in the Shoppers World Santa Parade again this year. The parade marches Sunday, November 16, at 11 am. It starts in Winners Court, goes counterclockwise around the mall, ending back at Winners Court.

This Saturday, Nick will be asking for volunteer parade marchers from each class. Kids participating will be asked to wear a Christmas or fairy tale costume, 0r one of the cartoony box costumes currently being made. Millie will also be at the parade.

Two live reindeer, Blizzard and Snow, will lead Santa's sled through the mall, following numerous community groups.

Check out photos of past years of the parade.

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Four students from the VAB classes have volunteered to march in the parade, in costume. We're looking for extra help, so if you're a high school student looking to get volunteer hours, contact us by e-mail or Facebook, we need people to:

• march in costumes, or
  
• serve as escorts to make sure those in costumes march safely.
  

Last day for flower art show is Monday

Every year since 2002, Visual Arts Brampton has presented a display of floral art at the City Hall Atrium gallery space. This year's Floral Images of Flower City is coming to an end on Monday afternoon, so if you want to catch the creativity on display, you have until 4:40 pm to do so.

As with recent years, the exhibit was widely viewed by visitors to the Brampton Horticultural Society's flower competition, the day of the Flower City Parade, opening of the Farmers' Market, and Inzola pancake breakfast for the arts.

(Visual Arts Brampton brought Millie, the Brampton Arts Council mascot, to the Peel Heritage Complex's garage sale, to greet visitors.)

Laughlines event moved to April 19

April 19th at Shoppers World, Visual Arts Brampton celebrates 10 years of Laughlines, an annual exhibition of cartoon and humourous art. Every year of the exhibit, we've featured Steve Nease, whose editorial and political cartoons appear in papers province-wide.

• Draw your own comic strip, to take home, or leave it for display at Fridge Front Gallery.
• Colour a picture of Pud and his family.
  
• Meet Pud himself, courtesy of City Parent magazine.
• Meet the Brampton Arts Council mascot, Millie the Artbug.

Millie meets Dora

This weekend, Visual Arts Brampton participated in the Recreation and Leisure Show. We gave kids Valentine's Day colouring cards, printed for us by the Shoppers World location of Staples. The display walls featured reproduced images of member works, and we had numerous inquiries.

The highlight of the day for most kids in the mall was meeting Dora the Explorer. Brampton Arts Council mascot and frequent Visual Arts Brampton event guest Millie Artbug met her at the end of the day, on her Centre Court stage. Thankfully, the lineup was only to Laura Secord at the time Millie got in line; for at least two of the three hours of the appearance, it stretched half the length of the mall, literally.

(Dora was to take photos with 300 kids minimum; considering many met her in batches, and she stayed on stage most of the day, it's more likely she met 600-800, at least.)

Rec and Leisure Show on February 2, at Shoppers World

February 2 is the annual Recreation & Leisure Show at Shoppers World. VAB will be there, with demonstrations of some sort, and a colouring table/meet and greet with Millie, the Arts Council mascot.

The show always features activities, March Break programs, and summer camps. Dora the Explorer is doing a meet and greet in Centre Court from 12 noon until 3 pm, and will pose for photos with at least 400 people.

New photo uploads

Santa Claus Parade
View as individual images
View as a slideshow
View on a map
View in Google Earth

2007 Youth Achievement Awards
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View as a slideshow

Meet Millie the Artbug at Sunday indoor parade

This press release was on NorthPeel.com (the Brampton Guardian website)

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Meet Millie the Artbug at Sunday indoor parade


November 16 - This weekend, kids of all ages can come to the Christmas Parade at Shoppers World Brampton, to meet Millie the Artbug, Visual Arts Brampton's mascot.

The event heralds the arrival of Santa Claus, who will be appearing regularly in the mall until Christmas.

Millie, along with hundreds of other marchers, will be parading around Shoppers World mall on Sunday, November 18, starting at 11:00 am. During the parade, Millie's helpers will be handing out free Santa door hangers and Cinnabon coupons, courtesy of the mall.

Millie will be hanging around the Winners Court near customer service before the event, waving around during the parade, and meeting children around the mall after the circuit. Millie was originally the City of Brampton millennium mascot in 2000; she has glowing fibre-optic hair.

Angelina Ballerina will also be meeting children, who will be visiting the mall in the Staples Court, near the Habitat for Humanity Dream Playhouses.

For more information on Visual Arts Brampton, visit http://www.visualartsbrampton.com, or phone 905-453-9142.

Visual Arts Brampton is the community's longest serving non-profit art group, founded in 1986. The group offers programming for adults, six days a week, and youth on Saturdays at its 2000 square foot studio, various workshops, and three art exhibition areas in Shoppers World mall.

Canadian art @ Carabram

For the first time in over a decade Carabram had a Canadian Pavilion! Among the highlights of the space was an art display by local creative talents. Among those on display were Visual Arts Brampton members Conrad Mieschke, Keith Moreau, and Mary Noble. Leah-Anne Goyeau, who was a VAB member last year, also presented her art, as did Colin McClean, who was with the group during the years we had Animation Exploration (Animex).

Many thanks go out to Leah-Anne for her efforts in organizing the art room, which was enjoyed by hundreds and hundreds throughout the weekend. One couple even spent 15-20 minutes studying the pieces on display.

Millie the Art Bug also showed up to hang with everyone, courtesy of Visual Arts Brampton and the Brampton Arts Council. Here she's posing with two singers from Marion Abbott's Performing Arts School.

Millie to attend Rec & Leisure Show

Adding onto the last post about the Shoppers World Recreation and Leisure Show, we've confirmed that Millie, the Brampton Arts Council mascot will be attending, to help attract attention to the Visual Arts Brampton booth. Previously, she had attended the Shoppers World Santa Claus parade.

VAB now on Flickr

This is the address of VAB's new Flickr account. (see way down)

flickr.com/
photos/
55759550@N00/

Any event we hold or attend, we'll try and post photos to there. First off is pics from the 2006 Shoppers World Christmas Parade; we brought the Brampton Arts Council's Millie to the event.

To the left is a photo collage of that event, as seen on The Brampton News. Two articles about the event were published on the site...

Santa comes to Shoppers World Brampton

Photostory: Mall parade held to mark Santa's arrival