Novembe 2025 Newsletter

Mark in your calendar!

• Rug Hooking at Open Studio

  December 5th and 6th, 2-4:30 pm and 5-7 pm

• 2482 Maynard Open House Sunday

  December 7th, 3-6pm

• Sketch Wonder’neath sessions:

  Wednesdays, October 22nd - December 17th 2025 4-7pm

  Fridays, October 24th - December 19th, 2025 2-4:30

• Office closure

  December 24th, 2025- January 5th, 2026

We can’t wait to welcome visitors to 2482 Maynard for our annual Holiday Open House on Sunday, December 7th, 3-6 pm!

Come view the Blue Building Gallery’s new exhibition, help us officially launch the Sketch Wonder’neath library, connect with artists, vendors and enjoy some hot apple cider in our accessible space! 

Artists will be opening their studios to share their current and upcoming work! Ceramics, textiles and other creations will be available for purchase, and visitors may even be able to view and try on some of the Lemonade Stand’s Brag Wear collection pieces from the New York Fashion Week show.  

Wonder’neath Board members will be on site to chat about our work, membership, volunteer opportunities, and hawk some Wonder’neath merch and kits! 

Come grab a warm drink, enjoy holiday treats, and celebrate with us!

What are we up to? 

Open Studio 

We are excited to share a special weekend of Open Studio featuring rug hooking on December 5th and 6th, with much thanks to renowned textile artist Deanne Fitzpatrick. Participants will be invited to explore this cozy art form with materials and tools supplied by Deanne’s rug hooking studio. Wonder’neath facilitators will be activating this activity, co-discovering and learning alongside participants! We are grateful to Dianne for making this opportunity possible. Take a moment to explore Deanne's studio website and learn more about her practice.

In the coming weeks, you will also find an array of different featured projects as we head towards the winter break, including linocut cards and our now annual Waldorf Star Lantern project. As always, regular weekly art stations will also be here to explore to your heart's content. 

Open Studio will continue every Friday and Saturday from 2-4:30 PM and 5-7 PM, until December 19 and 20th, and will return on Friday, January 9th and 10th. 

Sketch Wonder’neath 

This Fall has been the Season of the Sketchbooks! 

We were delighted to share a selection of our sketchbooks and draw collaboratively with the public during Nocturne 2025 at Alderney Landing! Thanks to the volunteers, board members and staff who shared the project with such joy!

After getting the library shelves built (thanks Woods(wo)man Woodworking!), the books labelled and on the shelves (thanks Olive Graham and our many volunteers!) and a fun project logo (thanks Sonia Chow!), we have been thrilled to start welcoming folks to our Sketch Wonder’neath sessions. These free, public sessions offer visitors access to our captivating, crowd-sourced collection of sketchbooks and provide a community drawing space with loads of drawing supplies for participants of all ages and experience levels to explore their unique drawing practice and creative play. Everyone is invited to contribute to the collection as we continue to make marks and share stories through this living archive. 

Sketch Wonder’neath sessions are currently scheduled for Wednesdays from October 22nd to December 17th, 2025, from 4-7 PM, and Fridays from October 24th to December 19th, 2025, from 2-4:30 PM during Open Studio. 

We will soon be announcing a series of Artists in Residence through the Sketch Project. Artists from a variety of disciplines will  have time and space to explore the collection and reflect back on their experience through public presentations (thanks Halifax and Canada Council!) We are also looking forward to sharing the project soon with several classes for our neighbouring Joe Howe Elementary School and additional pop-ups. 

We will have an official opening of the Sketchbook Library during the 2482 Maynard Open House.  Please stop by and let us know what times work best for you as we schedule our hours for the new year. 

Year-end Campaign 

As the end of the year approaches, we invite Wonder’neath supporters to consider making or gifting a donation to help ensure that our public programming, such as Open Studio, continues to thrive through the winter months. Our programming is only possible through a variety of funding sources, including support from individual donations. Over the month of December, we will be reaching out to friends and supporters, as well as participating in Giving Tuesday, and cooking up some kits and merch, with every contribution supporting the well-being of our community through accessible art programming. 

Additionally, if you are looking for a great local holiday gift idea, check out the Community Collage Calendar at Cahier Statonary and Life Goods Shop at 2698 Agricola Street.- 10% of the profits will be donated to Wonder’neath. Thanks, Cahier!

And thank you to everyone who has contributed throughout the year with their time, material drop-offs, and monetary contributions. 

Wonder’neath is a charitable arts organization and can provide a tax receipt for donations.

Space Rentals and Workshops

If your group or organization is looking for an accessible space to host a meeting or creative program, please check out our bookings page, https://www.wonderneath.com/bookings, for rental information and our facility calendar. Feel free to reach out to general@wonderneath.com with any questions. Our community studio is flexible and supports a variety of programming, and every  booking helps us sustain  increasing facility operating costs. 

Artist-facilitated workshops are available and can be requested through the website bookings link above.  Uniquely designed to meet the creative needs of your group, the budget includes artist facilitation, preparation, rental of studio space, administration, and materials. We pay fair wages for artist preparation, facilitation and clean-up and try to accommodate budgets within our capacity.

Stay tuned for additional artist workshops for adults this winter. 

Nocturne NOISEMAKERS 2025

For the fourth year, we were thrilled to partner with Nocturne and ISANS to host the NOISEMAKERS supporting newcomer artists in our shared studio! Mentored by Meng Gao, the artists presented their work at the Roger Center Screens as part of this year’s festival. It was amazing to work alongside this vibrant organization and to support the emerging artists! Congratulations to the Noisemakers for their project, Landed to Take off, on the screens at Roger’s Square!

Advocating for the Arts in Halifax

The Turret Art Space is seeking community support with the city to ensure the development of this historic downtown artspace moves ahead.  Send a letter today to urge investment in the Turret Arts Space: 

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/fund-the-turret-arts-space?source=direct_link&