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7–11Group and individual classes for children · London, Ontario

Art classes for kids in London, Ontario, for ages 7 to 11

Elena Ant teaches drawing and painting to children aged 7 to 11, in groups of at most six or one to one, at her studio. Children in a group are of similar age, a few years apart, and each class lasts 45–60 minutes.

Ages 7–11: 45–60 minutes per class · groups of at most six
ClassOne classFive classes
Group class$30$125
Individual class$40$175

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Two girls holding up their paintings: planets and a rocket in pink, yellow and blue, and a sheet of fruit studies.
Two students with their paintings

What children learn

Children learn to draw the way artists do, starting from the first line

Beginners start with line and form: how to see the volume of a sphere or a cube, how the body of an animal is built, how light and shadow fall, and how tones grade from light to dark. Then come composition, mood and the theory of colour.

Each lesson adds something harder, so children learn the logic an artist follows from the first line to the finished picture.

Shading apples on toned paper · ages 7–11
A tonal study of a cylinder

Not only for future artists

What drawing lessons give a child who will never be an artist

Some parents bring their children so they are busy with something other than computer games, and so they learn art from an early age. What children take away is a skill and the habits that come with it: looking closely, judging their own work from a distance, and sticking with something hard. An OECD review of arts education concluded that these, not higher marks in other subjects, are the main reason to learn art (Winner et al., 2013 (opens in a new tab)).

Drawing can also lift a child’s mood. In experiments with children aged 6 to 12, a few minutes of drawing after a disappointment helped, most of all when they drew something else (Drake and Winner, 2013 (opens in a new tab)).

The benefits of art for kids: what research shows, and what it doesn’t

How a lesson runs

Every lesson runs in three stages, each harder than the last

  1. 1

    She demonstrates each stage at her own easel.

    A lesson runs in three stages, each about a third of the class and each harder than the last: a linear drawing first, then volume, then composition.

  2. 2

    She checks every student’s work after each stage.

    She corrects and points out errors, students fix them, and the next stage begins. In a group, each student still works at their own level.

  3. 3

    Students step back to judge their work.

    From a metre and a half to two metres away, students look at their own work. She comments on it, and always encourages.

When the class draws from a reference, Elena Ant offers three or four to choose from. The younger group loves to choose: they vote, the majority wins, and she promises the others a lesson on their choice.

“I love it when my students help choose what we draw.”

Elena Ant
Cottages with washing lines
Studies of a watermelon and an orange
The sea at sunset

Joining a group that has already started: individual classes first

A group has often been studying together for six months or more, and a newcomer would find it hard to keep up. So Elena Ant suggests starting with individual classes.

The child gets used to her as a teacher, understands the tasks, learns to concentrate, and loses the nervousness and self-criticism, so they work in a creative state.

Individual classes for ages 7–11: $40 a class, or $175 for five.

Encouragement, not criticism

Elena Ant never criticises a child’s drawing, and asks parents not to

Young artists are very sensitive to criticism, and every stage of their development matters. At the end of each lesson she comments on the work, and always praises and encourages.

Parents often ask how their child is progressing. Her advice is not to judge too early: some children cannot yet hold a pencil or a brush properly but already show feeling and understanding in what they draw. Skill is trained like a sport, through repetition.

“The hand obeys the artist. What matters most is reaching the point where the student understands the task and the hand carries it out.”

Elena Ant

Paintings by children in Elena Ant’s studio

Where classes are held, what to bring, and missed classes

Where
A dedicated studio at 31 Parkside Cres, London, Ontario.
Materials
Students bring their own: pencils, charcoal, gouache and oil paints, and a practice canvas or a stretched canvas for a final piece.
A missed class
With notice, a student can join the class live on Zoom from home. With at least a few days’ notice, a missed class is not charged; notice on the last day or the day before is charged, with the class offered on Zoom. Lessons are usually recorded, so a student who was ill can watch and repeat it at home.

Next steps: art classes for teens, ages 12 to 18, every price and how to enquire.

Testimonials for Elena Ant’s art classes in London, Ontario

Reviews on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Ask Elena Ant about a place in a class

Tell her which class you are interested in. Groups take at most six students.

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