Skip to main content

2025 / 2026

VanGo

Creative Art = Motivation + Discipline + Co-Operation = Self Esteem

All 2025/2026 VanGo programs are offered in both virtual and in-person formats!

Students who are regularly engaged in the arts become greater thinkers and learners. MacLaren VanGo programs offer unique opportunities for students to meet and work with professional visual artists in the classroom and at the Gallery. Students participate in meaningful cross-curricular activities that encourage creativity, skills development, and visual literacy, nurturing their appreciation of visual art. VanGo artists are highly qualified, experienced art instructors dedicated to inspiring creativity in all children.

VanGo meets the requirements of the Ontario Arts Curriculum and offers links to the Geography, Science and Social Studies Curriculum. All programs include a teacher information package with booking confirmation.

VanGo is one of many arts education programs offered by the Education Department of the MacLaren Art Centre, the regional public art gallery serving Barrie, the County of Simcoe and the surrounding area.

How to Book

MacLaren VanGo programs can be booked by telephone or email Monday through Friday throughout the academic year. VanGo Gallery and in-person school programs are available based on Public Health guidelines. When booking please let us know what program you are interested in, planned date and time, class size, and anything that will better help us serve your class. The MacLaren Art Centre requires that VanGo artists work with only one class at a time in both a virtual or in-person setting.

Note: Program fees are based on a maximum of 30 students per class and include materials – additional materials can be included for an additional fee. VanGo materials kits will be prepared and packaged according to safety standards and will be available for pickup one week in advance.

For more information on rescheduling, cancellations and payments, please contact our Education Officer at 705-720-1044 ext. 234 or vango@maclarenart.com.

Download VanGo Brochure
Download VanGo Booklet
VanGo is generously sponsored by:

Primary

For Primary students, VanGo artists encourage the joy of creative expression through stimulating art materials and techniques, reinforcing their understanding of the visual elements and principles of design. We invite teachers to advise VanGo artists when a program can be connected to an area of study or a class activity.

Grades JK-2

NEW! Luminous Landscapes

Inspired by Canadian Artist Ernest Conyers Barker

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

In this acrylic painting program, students will be inspired by the bright waters of Georgian Bay to create an abstract masterpiece. Using masking tape, they will represent the pattern seen in the setting sun over the water. The focus is on colour theory, fine motor skills and the application of organic and geometric shapes.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Geography

Grades JK-2

Colour Creators

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

This watercolour program engages students in the exploration of primary and secondary colours, while delighting them with interactive components. Three artworks are created by overlapping transparent colour, water-soluble crayon drawing and watercolour painting techniques. Students learn to recognize warm and cool colours and discover how colour can be used to express emotion.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts

Grades JK-2

In the Making

Inspired by Canadian Petroglyphs

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

In this program, VanGo artists will present the importance of art as an early form of storytelling, by making connections to Canadian petroglyphs and sharing their own personal art and relationship to the community. Students will create a two-dimensional drawing, and a three-dimensional form by building an expressive clay vessel and carving a pattern on its surface.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Social Studies

Grades 1-3

Waterscapes

Inspired by French Artist Claude Monet

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

Students will be inspired by the Impressionist style of Claude Monet. Using acrylic paint and collage on an 11 x 14-inch canvas board, students create vibrant waterscapes through primary and tint colour mixing. The concepts of colour theory, space and texture are explored with emphasis on gestural painting techniques.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts

Grades 1-3

Cityscape

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

Working with a variety of printmaking techniques, students in this Softoleum printing program develop a basic understanding of city architecture and visual elements. Shape, line and texture are created using stamps, ink and rollers. The story is all about building a modern urban community.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Social Studies

Grades 1-3

Mixed Beasts

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

Students will have fun sculpting with clay, creating amazing hybrid creatures, and illustrating their natural environments. They will explore basic clay techniques and tools, developing fine motor skills and creative thinking. The focus is on using geometric solids and form as elements of art.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Geography, Science

Grades 2-3

Starry Night

Inspired by Vincent van Gogh

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

Students will be spellbound when they try a centuries-old printing technique: paper marbling! The principles of design are discovered as students create two masterpieces using mixed media. Starry Night reinforces an understanding of warm and cool colours, silhouette, and visual representation of depth. The focus is on expressive colour, rhythmic line, and the correct use of scissors.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts

Junior

Our Junior VanGo programs provide students with an opportunity for a graduated understanding of the principles of design through the creative manipulation of colour, line, texture, shape and pattern. Introducing curriculum-based content and contemporary issues (context) encourages young people to understand the social significance of works of art, both past and present.

Grades 4-6

NEW! InPrint

Inspired by Canadian Artist David Bolduc

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

In this mixed-media printmaking program, students will create a monotype print using water soluble markers and collaged cut-out shapes. With a focus on positive form, colour theory and symbols, they will create a vibrant artwork inspired by the animals of our region.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Geography

Grades 4-6
NEW! Fantastic Forests
Inspired by Canadian Artist Emily Carr

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

Students will create a painting on an 11 x 14 canvas board inspired by the Canadian rural landscape. Using paint and paper collage, they will explore various painting techniques to depict an expressive forest scene. The focus is on composition, visual texture, scale and depth.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Geography

Grades 4-6

On Your Mark!

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

On your mark, get set… draw! In this program, students will explore mark-making by using a variety of contemporary drawing tools and techniques to create a unique composition. Drawing their name as a foundation for expressing different line qualities, students will create an abstract composition with a focus on visual balance, composition, and the principles of design.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts

Grades 4-6

Galaxy Quest

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

In this watercolour painting program, students will try their hand using traditional watercolour painting techniques and explore optical colour-mixing, visual texture and transparency as they create an out-of-this-world artwork representing space, the planets and more!

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Science

Grades 4-6

Gargoyles and Grotesques

Inspired by Medieval Ornamental Design

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

Students will learn more about the decorative ornament of the medieval period. This program encourages creative thinking, challenging students to move from two-dimensional drawings and reference materials to creating three-dimensional forms using natural clay. The focus is on form and medieval symbolism.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, History

Grades 4-6

Mythic Masks

Class Length: 240 min.

Cost: $670

Discover the varied purposes and meaning behind the mask. Students create a magical mask inspired by their favourite mythology. During the first day, they will create papier-mâché masks over a pre-formed mould. On the second visit, these masks are painted with acrylic paints. The focus is on form and painting techniques. Teachers can request curriculum connections to the Social Studies (Egypt, Rome, Greece) or Literature curriculum.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Social Studies, Literature

Intermediate

Our Intermediate VanGo Programs provide students with an opportunity for a graduated understanding of the principles of design through the creative manipulation of colour, line, texture, shape and pattern. Introducing curriculum-based content and contemporary issues (context) encourages young people to understand the social significance of works of art, both past and present.

Grades 7-8

NEW! Pop Goes The World

Inspired by Pop Art

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

In this program, students will learn how to create an artwork with three colour layers. They will be guided to conceptualize a design, using a triad colour scheme, and then stamp colour with the templates they create. The focus is on composition, symbols, pattern and colour theory to create a tiled image that pops!

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts

Grades 7-8

The Clean Shape

Inspired by Indigenous-Québecoise Artist Rita Letendre

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

In this program, students will be inspired by the abstract paintings of Indigenous-Québecoise artist Rita Letendre. Students will explore the style of hard-edge abstraction on canvas board using masking tape as a tool to paint clean shapes, lines and overlapping edges. The focus is on colour theory, layering, texture, and transparency, as well as geometric and spatial reasoning.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Math

Grades 7-8

Light on the Land

Inspired by Canadian Artist Lucius O’Brien

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

With an introduction to the historic, regional paintings by Lucius O’Brien, young artists will create monochrome landscapes. Using artist-quality watercolour paints, brushes and wax resist on watercolour paper, students learn about colour gradation, monochromatic scale, painting techniques, positive and negative space, texture, and transparency.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Geography

Grades 7-8

EcoScape

Class Length: 120 min.

Cost: $335

Students will learn to create a series of unique prints based on a creative representation of micro-organisms in an ecosystem. Students design an image and carve it into soft linoleum. The impressions are inked and pressed to create a two-colour reduction print. The focus is on visual elements, principles of design, cooperative effort and printmaking as an art form.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Science

Book VanGo Online Now

Complete the form below and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Teacher Name(Required)
Teacher Email Address(Required)
Administrator Name
Administrator Email Address
Are there any Education Assistants present in the classroom?
Is your class located in a portable?
Do you have access to a drying rack to place artworks to dry?
This field is hidden when viewing the form
Preference for In-Person or Virtual?(Required)
Enter a number
Enter a number
What time would you like your program to start?(Required)
:
What is your School's start time?(Required)
:
Green Highlighted Dates have availability. Click on a date to view available times.

October 2025

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

October 23, 2025

October 24, 2025

October 27, 2025

October 28, 2025

October 29, 2025

October 30, 2025

October 31, 2025