June 2026 Newsletter

Mark your calendar!

• Join Wonder’neath AGM

  Tuesday June 23rd, 2026 @ 6:30 pm

  1. This meeting will be held both in person at 2482 Maynard St, Halifax and via Zoom.

  2. We really appreciate member attendance at the meeting so we can achieve quorum. Only Wonder’neath members in good standing can vote at this meeting. Only Wonder’neath members in good standing can vote at this meeting.

• Open Studio Hours, June - August 2026
  

  1. We are open every Friday and Saturday in June. Please note that we are still piloting senior hours on Fridays, June 12th and 19th.  On these Fridays, Open Studio is open to individuals aged 55+ from 2-3 pm, and then open to all ages at 3 pm. The studio will then be open to the general public from 3-4:30 and 5-7pm. On June 26, we will return to a 2 pm start for all. 

  2. During  July and August, we are running on summer hours, with Open Studio programming on Saturdays only from 2-4:30 and 5-7pm.

  3. We will be closed on Natal Day weekend Aug 1, 2026

• Sketch Wonder’neath Hours, June 2026

  1. Sketch will be open in June on Wednesdays 4:30-7:30, Friday afternoons 2-4:30

  2. Special Monthly coffee and sketch session is scheduled this coming Saturday June 13th,10am-12pm.

  3. Summer hours will be released in the coming weeks!

• Art Bikers

  We are awaiting funding details for Art Bikers programming this summer! Please stay tuned as we announce more information.

• How to stay updated with our programming? 

  1. Check our programming calendar on website homepage

  2. If you have social media, we regularly post on Wonder’neath’s Instagram and Facebook

  3. You can also follow Sketch Wonder’neath and Art Bikers on  their own Instagram and Facebook account.

  4. We are working towards a monthly newsletter model! Stay tuned for news and updates from us on a more regular basis.

  5. Feel free to share our newsletter with your friends and family. Printed copies of our newsletters will become available during public programming this month.

Artist Workshop Series

Our workshop series continues!

Blending artistic exploration and skill development, these paid adult workshops will offer a unique opportunity for artists and creative enthusiasts to acquire skills in specialized fields! Each session will allow you to take a deep dive into a unique artistic practice.

On June 21, Wonder’neath is presenting Wearable Electronics 2: Sensing, a day-long workshop by artist Catherine Euale, @slimy_futures!

Ready to take your wearables practice further? This full-day workshop builds on the foundations from Wearable Electronics 1 and expands into the world of soft sensors, textile-based tools for reading pressure, bend, and position, and makes them come to life through code.

Using sewable microcontrollers and an introduction to Arduino IDE, you'll learn how resistive materials can be shaped into custom sensors that respond to how your body moves, bends, and presses. We'll also look at how conventional sensors can be incorporated into soft and wearable applications, and explore the broader world of actuators: outputs that let your garment respond with light, movement, vibration or sound.

By the end of the day you'll have built and tested at least one functional soft sensor integrated with a microcontroller, and have the vocabulary and skills to keep experimenting on your own.

What we'll cover:

• Basic sensors and actuators

• How resistive materials work and how to build with them

• Pressure, bend, and tilt (position) sensors (recap from Wearables 1)

• Conventional sensors overview and how to incorporate into soft and wearable applications

• Intro to microcontrollers

• Basic Arduino IDE and repositories for open-source code

Who is this for: This workshop is designed for people who have completed Wearable Electronics 1, or who have equivalent hands-on experience with soft circuits, conductive thread, and basic e-textile construction. Some basic understanding of circuit diagrams is helpful. Comfortable sewing basic stitches. No coding experience required.

What to bring: A computer with the latest version of Arduino IDE. All other materials and tools will be provided.

Register by Saturday June 13th

📍 2482 Maynard St. Fully accessible!

⏰ June 21, 2026 10 am-5 pm

🎟 $185

👥 min. 7 and max. 12 participants

In an age of seemingly endless consumption – of resources, and of images – what can we learn from slow, tactile, and ecologically-minded approaches to photography? 

Wonder’neath is pleased to present Slow Photography Synthesis with visual artist natalie goulet @nataliemichelle.ca!

In this full day workshop, participants will obtain practical experience with cameraless processes, learn to make their own eco-friendly developer for film and paper negatives, and engage in critical discussion of ecological and ethical implications in photography. We will discuss the physical and chemical components and impacts of photography, how to integrate sustainable approaches, and how these ways of thinking and working can be echoed across disciplines.  

What you’ll learn: This workshop covers how to make vibrant, colourful images with traditional black and white photo paper through Lumen printing (photogenic drawing) and Phytography, which activates the internal chemistry of plants and common household ingredients to selectively develop areas of silver gelatin paper and film. 

Participants will then learn the basics of creating a B&W developer from plants, seaweeds, and food waste. We will discuss safe, effective, and regenerative ways of working with analogue photographic processes beyond the traditional darkroom.  

Who is this for: No science or photography background needed. This workshop is for anyone curious to learn alternative forms of image-making, informed by an intersectional ecofeminist research perspective. 

Content:

AM – Workshop: Lumen printing & Phytography Seminar: Sustainability and material consciousness in photographic practice (Photography, Ecology & Ethics) 

PM – Workshop: Introduction to low-toxicity developers & large format paper negatives  

All materials will be provided.  Natalie Goulet (she/they) is a Canadian visual artist, photographer, and educator. Her practice situates itself on the disciplinary fringes of photography and critically examines entangled material relationships in favour of remediative futures, fostering an empathic response to histories of harm and extraction. Natalie lives and makes in Kjiupuktuk / Halifax, on unceded Mi’kmaq territory.  

⏰ Day-long session, July 12th, 2026 10-5pm

🎟 $160

👥 min. 7 and max. 12 participants

📍 2482 Maynard St. Fully accessible!

By popular demand, we are pleased to re-offer Bioplastic Fantastic with Catherine Euale of @slimy_futures! This two-part workshop will take place on July 16th &23th, 5-9pm.

✨

What if your garments, packaging, or objects were made from seaweed? Halifax sits at the edge of the Atlantic, and the ocean is full of material possibilities we're only beginning to work with. In this hands-on two-part lab, we explore the slimy, tactile, surprisingly beautiful world of bioplastics and bio-based composites. We will experiment with casting, extruding and moulding objects from seaweed, eggshells, crab and oyster shells, dehydrated kitchen scraps, fibres and natural pigments.

Part 1: Alginate Foundations

We begin with sodium alginate, a polysaccharide derived from brown algae, learning the principles of hydrocolloid gelation. You'll cast flexible films and "bioyarns", experiment with calcium chloride baths, and play with dyes, fibres, and inclusions to develop your own material palette.

Part 2: Composites & Gellants

In our second session, we introduce additional gelling agents like chitin, agar, seracin, xanthan gum, and various fabrication techniques to create more complex composites and mould or extrude them into various shapes. We'll experiment with "bio-ceramics," stiff, lightweight composites made from food waste powders like eggshells, coffee grounds and oyster or mussel shells.

Who is this for: No science background is needed, just curiosity and a willingness to get your hands slimy.

Catherine is a Venezuelan-Canadian bio-artist, citizen scientist, and storyteller, dedicated to deepening our relationships with the more-than-human. Her practice blends biology, conceptual art, digital fabrication, and open-source citizen science to create immersive, research-based pieces that explore the boundaries of interspecies communication, bioethics, and speculative futures.

⏰ Two part-workshop, July 16th &23th, 2026, 5-9pm

🎟 $175.

👥 min. 7 and max. 12 participants

📍 2482 Maynard St. Fully accessible!

Wonder’neath in Collaboration

What does your family like to do for fun? Learn about the benefits of participating in leisure activities together and ways to get involved in your community. First half of the program will be education and supports from IWK staff and the second half of the program will include open studio art making provided by Wonder 'neath Art Society. No experience required!

Participants must register at communityhealthteams.ca or call 902-460-4560 ext. 5

*Wonder’neath does not handle registration for this workshop. Participants may stay for the regular Open Studio sessions that begin at 2 pm.

Sketch Wonder’neath is going on a trip with Renee Forrestall on Saturday, June 20th, from 9am-12pm!

We are thrilled to share that this event is now fully registered! Folks will meet at the East Dover Community Hall, located at 15 Learys Cove Road in East Dover, before embarking on an easy hike and sketching at Polly's Cove.

Rain date will be Saturday, July 4th. This event is organized by Melinda Spooner as part of the OFFSHOOTS ART PROJECT CERI ,eelgrass.ca.

Other happenings at 2482 Maynard

Last weekend to see lucie chan’s How to be… at the Blue Building Gallery! Visit the gallery this Friday, 12pm - 5pm and Saturday, 12pm - 5pm to see this incredible installation!

Organied by collaborators Laura Bucci and Katherine Diemert, Critique as Gifts is an ongoing research project exploring new ways of practicing critique. They are hosting three crit sessions this summer at Wonder’neath. A few spots remain available. A thoughtfully developed model, this is a wonderful resource for artists from all disciplines. Check out their Instagram account @critiqueasgift for updates. Their most recent newsletter with event details is here!