Orangeville Banner
Register User
Close

Z’Arts Studio set to open in Hockley Valley
Friday September 12 2008
By RICHARD VIVIAN Banner Staff Writer
 
It’s time to bring artistic expression into the modern area, suggests Laurie Smith. The Hockley Valley woman and former teacher is launching a new home-based arts studio with a contemporary thrust.
Z’Arts Studio will offer traditional fine arts classes, as well as digital arts and robotics.
“The area is very, very much into the fine arts,” Smith says, noting she hopes to expand the appreciation of digital arts. “You can do fine arts in a digital form.”
Robotics classes, she adds, will help people who are more technically inclined to develop and nurture their creative side.
“It would bring them into the arts and encourage them. Once they’re here, they might get interested in other things.”
The first round of classes begins Monday. Initially, the studio will be based out of Smith’s Fourth Line home, but she hopes to grow it to a more central location.
Smith’s made a considerable investment in the studio so far, with renovations to her home, computer equipment and robotics kits, as well as traditional arts supplies.
“Art and truth are synonymous in that they both reveal the heart of the creator,” Smith says. “I love teaching. The part of teaching I love the most is I like seeing people with a sense of accomplishment.”
Smith spent seven years as an arts teacher at an elementary school in Toronto, before she left the profession to raise her family. She subsequently ran her own graphic design and web business, and currently works as a graphic designer in the marketing department of an international firm.
A certified engineer technologist will assist Smith with the robotics class, while she’ll receive support from a resource worker at a local private school for the fine arts program.
Interest in the studio has been “awesome” so far.
“I got more than I anticipated,” Smith says of registered participants. “I still have a few spaces left... A few classes are full.”
For more information about the Z’Arts Studios and its programs, visit www.zartsstudio.com.