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Right before the lockdown hit we had been in conversation with Lindsey Hollingsworth and the events/workplace experience team at Atlassian about creating art experiences and workshops for employees in Austin. Then the S- hit the fan. But the team at Atlassian seemingly read our mind and was already thinking about what how we could reach out to employees (and their families) navigating an isolated new reality and keep their spirits high, creative juices flowing and engaged with others outside of normal work tasks. Gonzo Viz was challenged with moving to a virtual platform with employees having limited access to art supplies and create something engaging and inspiring for people of ALL creative skill levels.

So week by week we worked on creating new and and compelling courses, all of which could be done with what most people had lying around the house. We started with basic observational drawing exercises, fun and quick (1-5minutes) which attendees could take away and integrate into their daily lives.

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We then adapted our Ready, Set, Animate! DIY animation workshop to the small screen and developed various creative activities based upon themes like Drawing Droids (May the 4th) and Earth Day cause cards using all recycled materials. We worked to turn the pandemic on its head by creating Home Office Superheros, taking everyday objects around the house and anthropomorphizing them, giving them a cool name, powers, a backstory and finally sketching it out.

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We were having a lot of fun and having some great interactions, and then we stepped it up and created a more consistent 4-week drawing course, Drawing From and For Life. We started with some of the basic observational drawing exercises, had a whole session of figure drawing with a live model, learned some technical drawing methods and tricks such as image transfer, gridding and perspective drawing. We even had a bonus session for those looking to learn some iPad drawing tricks where Ami gave a Procreate overview and showed some of his approached to art creation on the tablet.

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We strongly believe that having a creative outlet like drawing, animating, mix media arts, helps improves ones quality of life, so we hope by creating a low barrier to entry practice of creation will help people integrate it into their daily routine, regardless of their background and skill level. We also aim to help people improve their visual communication skills, helping them express concepts visually, helping with their professional development.

We have been really excited about our ongoing partnership with Atlassian and we are looking forward to seeing what else we can do to bring art and creativity into the days of employees and their families in the future!

If you are interested in creative, art-based workshops for your team or group we offer anything from quick 30-minute sessions to multi-week ongoing courses. We have a robust curriculum and can also create custom workshops to fit your needs. Workshops are appropriate for all artistic skill levels and backgrounds (including none). Give us a shout at ami@gonzoviz.com to discuss!

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