Art Studio Juniors (9-11)

Our approach

Somewhere around nine or ten, a lot of kids stop drawing. What usually happens is comparison: they look at their horse, then at the horse in their head, and quietly put the pencil down.

That's the moment we're here for. We teach real skills, so their hands can do what they already imagine, and we do it without grades or marks.

Every student works from something that interests them. They can bring their own idea or take an assignment from the teacher. Ksenia doesn't dictate; she helps, and "I can't do this" turns into "look what I made".

We learn by trying again. A quick sketch, a bit of feedback, a better second version. Children work out for themselves that feedback is what makes the next drawing land.

What we'll learn

We build the fundamentals without making it feel like school:

• proportion, tone and simple perspective, using basic forms like the cube, cylinder and sphere
• colour theory and mixing
• composition, light and balance
• drawing from observation and from imagination

We work with markers, coloured pencils, pastels, watercolour and acrylics, so everyone finds the material that suits them.

Our studio walls always have artwork on them, chosen so students have something real to look at and copy from. Some of it is classical, some contemporary.

About the teacher

Ksenia has been teaching for more than ten years, with students of every age, and she is a working artist herself.

She trained at an art school, then studied Fashion Design at college and university. What stayed with her from those years wasn't the fashion. It was her painting and drawing teachers.

She works mainly in oil painting, sketching and graphic drawing, and takes part in plein air residencies and exhibitions in the Netherlands and Russia.

In class she is warm and well organised. She teaches the academic fundamentals properly, but the lessons are playful, and the point is that each student ends up with a voice of their own.

Ksenia holds a Certificate of Conduct (VOG) issued for working with minors in an educational setting. She teaches in Dutch, English and Russian.

Community and atmosphere

Groups are small, up to ten students, so nobody gets lost in the back row.

We learn how to give feedback and how to take it. Students look at each other's work and talk about it, which is usually where the best ideas come from.

Children make things they care about when nobody is pressuring them, so we keep the pressure out.

At the end of the school season we hold a student exhibition in the studio. Everyone picks a piece they're proud of, and we hang it properly.

Who this course is for

Children aged 9 to 11 who love drawing and want to get better at it.

Ages are a guide rather than a rule. If your child is close to the boundary, write to us and we'll tell you which group fits.

Lessons and dates

Block 1 runs on 16, 23, 30 September and 7 October. That's what you're signing up for below.

After that, lessons continue in blocks of four. Block 2 is 21, 28 October and 4, 11 November; Block 3 is 18, 25 November and 2, 9 December. You decide about each one separately, and we'll ask you before it starts.

We follow the Noord-Holland school holidays and public holidays, so there are no lessons on those days.

A missed lesson can't be moved to another date or made up in the other group.

Materials

Materials are included. Later on we may suggest one or two personal items, like a sketchbook your child keeps and takes home. We'll always say what it is and roughly what it costs before you buy anything, and it stays optional.

Payment

If it turns out not to suit your child, tell us after the first or second lesson and we refund the lessons left in the block at €24 each.

After that there's still nothing to commit to. You pay for the next block if your child wants to keep going. Once you start a second block, that block is paid in full.

Later in the season we'll add a monthly subscription for parents who'd rather not think about it each time. It will be optional, and we'll ask you before anything changes.