Local artist draws up classes for kids at new art academy

After being a Sault College art instructor for the past decade, Maureen Shelleau has switched gears and is launching her own business known as the Algoma Art Academy.

Located in The Art Hub at Spring at 504 Queen St. E., Shelleau will be teaching Academy art classes for children and those in their early teens beginning Saturday, Sept. 9.    

“I’ve always wanted to start my own school and I thought this might be a golden opportunity to do so. I just never had a venue to do it in,” Shelleau told SooToday.

When Shelleau was recently purchasing art supplies at Stone's Office Supply, store owner Marnie Stone — who is also co-gallerist of The Art Hub at Spring — encouraged her to both display her work and teach art classes at The Hub.

“I thought: ‘This is a perfect opportunity,’” Shelleau said.

“Over the summer I started designing this course for kids who are about 10 to 14. What I can do is I can start the kids off with fine art, get them to learn different techniques in paint, pastel, cartooning, realism, wildlife, scenery and embellish what their hopes and dreams are in art. I want them to experiment with different techniques and styles.”

Approximately 15 youngsters will be able to learn together in a space available at The Hub, Shelleau said.

Born and raised in the Sault, Shelleau brings a great deal of experience to the Algoma Art Academy.

She completed the former three-year Visual Arts program at Sault College in the early 1980s, studying under well-known local artists such as Ken Bradford and Ken MacDougall.

From there she went to Sheridan College in Oakville, where she studied classical 2D animation for another three years.

“I went into the animation industry and I worked on countless TV series but I wanted to keep up with the times. I went to see Toy Story and I thought ‘my goodness, I want to learn how to do that.’”

Shelleau returned to Sheridan College for another year and studied 3D animation.

After working out of town, she returned to Sault College in 2012 to be the postsecondary institution’s video game art program instructor.

While teaching Sault College students in person she also delivered the same program online for the Seven Generations Education Institute in Fort Frances.

The Algoma Art Academy is not Shelleau’s only current project.

“A young man came to do a seminar at Sheridan in 1992 and he just happened to be Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams, one of the guys who was extremely instrumental in creating computer generated imagery,” she recalled before fast forwarding to the present day.

“We got to be friends back then and lo and behold 30 years later we are now working on a book together about a character called Mark Makoons. Makoons is the Ojibway word for bear cub. He’s a little bear who wants to be an artist. While all the other bears are learning how to fish he actually becomes best friends with a fish.”

Shelleau is partly Indigenous and said the book will be published in English and Ojibway.

“That’s really exciting to be working with Steve because he’s now retired from the CGI industry and we’re going to be doing some illustrations together. He’s one of the foremost animators in the world. We’re going to work on the book first and then we’ll see what happens,” Shelleau said, adding the book may later be adapted for movies or television.

Algoma Art Academy classes will be held for children from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.       

There will also be classes held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays beginning next week.

Shelleau said she is also interested in teaching teens.

“There are students who are in their high school years and they want to pursue art so this could be a nice stepping stone. Because I’ve taught at college and I know their curriculum and I know what portfolio requirements they have, I can offer a portfolio development course because I was on the committee at Sheridan College to do portfolio reviews. I know what these colleges are looking for.”

As time goes by, there will also be classes for adults through events such as paint nights, Shelleau said.

She also anticipates being able to eventually offer digital and online courses.

There are indeed jobs in art for those interested in such a career path, Shelleau said.

“I know students who are now working in their own studios, they’re teaching or they’re working for game design companies.”

Shelleau has loved art since she was a child, beginning with drawings and paintings of horses as well as cartoons.

As a professional, she has painted portraits of animals for many customers.

“I grew up in the north on the shores of Lake Superior. Everything’s so beautiful. I took into consideration the different times of day, how the light hits the trees, horses standing in a field with the sun behind them, so I wanted to capture that beauty on canvas from an early age. I’ve painted a lot of famous race horses.”

She works in oil, acrylic, pastel, pencil and charcoal and ranks pastel as her favourite medium.

“It’s a dry medium and you can get the vibrance of oil painting without the mixing of the oil and the solvents. It’s a safe medium to use. The results are quick and there's no drying times,” she said.

As for her motivation to teach art to others?

“Anybody can look at a photograph, copy the photograph and make it look like a photograph, but instead I want to teach people how to go and look at their pet, for example, and look at the quirks and expressions, the personality and the nuances of that animal and express the love for that animal, or nature, in art.”

All materials for Algoma Art Academy classes are included with enrollment fees.

For information on fees or any other questions, Shelleau can be contacted by email.

“It’s been a lifelong dream for me to be an artist and a teacher. I’m looking forward to the Academy classes very much,” she said.

Shelleau added that she is grateful to Marnie Stone and Adrian Vilaca, The Art Hub at Spring co-gallerists, for providing her a space to work and teach.