Laura Watmough has taught many, many
students the painting techniques of the old masters through Hidden
Talent, her Campbell Business Park art school.
Her classroom is about to expand electronically into the living rooms of thousands of Albertans.
Watmough
spent a day last week with a CTV2 film crew shooting several one-minute
connectors, educational commercials that run between longer programs.
There are several categories of connectors, according to former St.
Albertan Dean Hooke, the writer-producer in charge of the project.
“We
do a whole bunch of different styles of connectors. We do career
connectors, campus connectors, learning connectors, which is what
Laura’s doing,” Hooke said.
Watmough
was approached to offer the art lessons after the provincial cable-only
educational channel started inquiring about people who could offer
brief tutorials about painting. The channel used to be known as Access
before it was bought out by the national network. Much of its original
purpose, however, remains the same.
“They
have a mandate to do educational segments. They approached the Alberta
Society of Artists, who approached me,” she said. “They asked if I would
be willing to do that. Because I teach on an ongoing basis, I said
sure. Teaching is what I do.”
Watmough
wrote her own scripts, which were then vetted by well-known
arts-focused elementary teacher Andrea Daly. Watmough hosted Hooke and
cameraman Bruce Wiggins from the network. They filmed the segments on
various aspects of learning to paint, including temperatures of light,
negative space, creating depth and seeing in black and white.
“For
every one of the five segments I had props or examples and I had to
demonstrate some of the different concepts through art. The whole thing
was to try and have a broad audience for this, so not just elementary
school and not just retirees but to give a general education to as many
people as we could.”
She was impressed by the production team’s smooth work ethic.
“They
ran like a well-oiled machine and they included me as part of their
team. It is amazing how many times you have to say the same thing over
and over again.”
All of this should be old hat since it wasn’t her first time on television.
“I
think I had one little segment way, way back,” she said, referring to a
newscast that interviewed some local painters who had moved their
studio space into Grandin Park Plaza.
“That was exciting back then but this was pretty intense,” Watmough said.
“The setup was quite elaborate. They had lots of equipment there. It was terrifying!”
Watmough’s
connectors will likely start being broadcast in the first few weeks of
the new year, Hooke said. They will also be available for viewing online
at
http://connectedtoeducation.ca/connectors.
“It’s
wonderful to get art out to the community and just show them that
anyone can be an artist. It’s all about learning to see through an
artist’s eyes,” Watmough said, ending with what she called her tagline.
“Learning to see like an artist is the first step to becoming an artist. Start your artistic journey today.”
