Unleash your inner artist, fuel your inspiration with new skills and energy, travel to Manitoulin Island, a truly magical and beautiful destination for a wide variety of art workshops that will challenge, stimulate and inspire. Perivale Gallery's workshop instructors are professional artists, leaders in the field, who have extraordinary skill and a passion to introduce and share their knowledge of new materials and methods and, with encouragement and supportive collaboration, invite you to develop your abilities and enjoy a transformative creative experience.

Our 3 day workshops run from 9:30 – 3:30 and are held at the Spring Bay Community Centre 92 Hwy 542 in Spring Bay, right in the centre of Manitoulin Island. This year, some workshops are on weekends and some run during the week. To register, first email your intention to reserve a spot to ensure availability & then send an e-transfer to Perivale Gallery, perivalegallery@gmail.com or a cheque to Perivale Gallery, Box 58, Spring Bay, ON, P0P 2B0 .

Explore the use of acrylics, oils or pastel/coloured pencils as the medium to use for a project that you bring with you, or work with the instructor to develop one with provided references that may spark ideas.  Learn the approaches for your medium to achieve your project and the colour theory that applies.  Experiment to develop your own approach to achieving your goals. All levels welcome.

An excitingly irresistible wax resist workshop! You will be invited to expose the negative space and to reveal the white, black or gold gesso underneath your wax crayons and acrylic ink application. Let loose and explore without boundaries! All levels welcome.

Tom Thomson & the Group of Seven are iconic because of their unique view of the Canadian landscape. Learn simple but vital fundamental tools for our painting tool-box; tools like editing and simplifying compositions for strong painting statements. Understand colour & value so we can paint with passion. See shapes not things to help develop our own unique creative voices. These guys painted outdoors - so with weather permitting, our last day will be outdoors to test our newfound skills. You will leave with a few finished pieces that will make you proud.  Oils or acrylics.  All levels welcome.

Learn new techniques using an assortment of fabric, fibre, papers, paint and ink to create and embellish your landscape, built from your interpretation of your photograph, or, if you are a free spirit, this class can be used to discover and explore the artist within. Be prepared to break the rules and colour outside the lines. This is an opportunity to learn an assortment of creative methods to move your art to the next level and share expertise and ideas with fellow artists. All levels welcome.

 Not every painting has to be a sunny, happy thing of beauty. In this workshop you will be painting according to a certain mood or feeling. Happy, angry, peaceful, melancholy, nostalgic are just some of those emotions that you will bring to the canvas. How you portray those feelings will be apparent in the subject matter, the colour palette used and how the paint is applied.  Oil or acrylic most suitable. All levels welcome.

Working from photographs of old buildings (heritage, vintage, or just familiar in our landscape), we will look beyond the surface, imagine the activities and history that took place within those walls, and coax the building’s particular personality into our watercolour painting to live once more. We will learn basic as well as advanced watercolour techniques, an easy approach to perspective, how to make textures such as those in old wood, shingles,  grasses, and more. But most of all, you will have fun in a relaxed atmosphere, exploring how our buildings are not just wood and stone, but old souls. All levels welcome.

Painting outdoors is one of the most important and fun skills a painter can have in their toolbox. Like camping, painting outdoors presents painters with a unique set of challenges and, with the right preparation, the rewards are immeasurable. With weather permitting, we will visit several painting locations on the island. We will learn about light and how it works in outdoor painting. We will learn about simplifying our composition, blocking in our image. We will learn about the importance of colour and values. We will learn about the tools, tricks, shortcuts & preparations to make the outdoor experience better, yet exciting. In the event of inclement weather we will still be able to paint in studio with lots of photo references. All levels welcome.

Discover the magic! Explore your creativity, using watercolour and gouache as your medium on Yupo. Establish texture with rubber stamps and other mark making tools, then wipe away areas, achieving high value and a theme of your painting. All levels welcome.

Foraged Fibres Make Pretty Papers

Create beautiful handmade paper from the local landscapes of Manitoulin Island. Learn the art of making paper using natural fibres, grasses, and flowers that we harvest together, as well as other natural and recycled materials we collect. In this workshop we will explore the paper making process from start to finish to create beautiful and one of a kind handmade papers that you can continue to make at home. All levels welcome.

Perivale Gallery named Northern Ontario Tourism Innovator of the Year at NOTS annual summit

Once again, in 2022, Perivale Gallery received the Travelers' Choice designation from TripAdvisor which is awarded to the best activities around the world, according to travellers who have done them—and loved every minute.

We are very proud to announce that Perivale Gallery's very talented contemporary artist, Cathy Boyd is featured in the Winter 2017 edition of Arabella Magazine - Canadian Art, Architecture & Design.

We are very proud to announce that Perivale Gallery's very talented contemporary artist, Jay Favot is featured in the Spring/Summer 2017 edition of Arabella Magazine - Canadian Art, Architecture & Design, "Energy and Vigour" celebrates Jay's approach to his art. "When I am in my studio I feel a calmness and tranquility. I am single-minded in trying to get all the elements of a painting just right." He certainly knows how to do that!

We are very proud to announce that Perivale Gallery's very talented contemporary artist, Lisa Free is featured in the Summer Harvest 2016 edition of Arabella Magazine - Canadian Art, Architecture & Design, "It's All about the Light" celebrates Lisa's journey and evolution as an outstanding artist. "Paint what gets you excited!" Lisa certainly does that with gusto!

We are so proud to announce that Perivale Gallery's outstanding stained glass artist, Hadyn Butler is featured in the current edition of Arabella Magazine - Canadian Art, Architecture & Design, Canada's foremost art magazine. This excellent article, "Hadyn Butler, Artist to Collect: enLIGHTened Portraits", written by Sudburian Hugh Kruzel, celebrates the unique talent and kaleidoscopic playfulness of the work of Hadyn Butler. Plan a visit to us to view Hadyn's magic!

We are so proud to announce that Manitoulin and Perivale Gallery artist, Ivan Wheale is featured in the current edition of Arabella magazine.  Arabella Magazine - Canadian Art, Architecture & Design, Canada's foremost art magazine, is featuring an article, "Artist to Collect", celebrating Perivale Gallery 's prolific Manitoulin artist, Ivan Wheale. Given Ivan Wheale's iconic status in the North as an award winning landscape painter, this excellent article, written by Sudburian Hugh Kruzel, is certain to generate a lot of interest beyond the obviously artistic, and extend perhaps, to an increased touristic interest in our magical and inspiring Manitoulin and Georgian Bay vistas.
Arabella magazine will be available in bookstores across Canada and beyond, beginning this weekend.