Lorna Bennett

Workshops

Students view printed art samples, storyboards and framed originals. I then lead a short discussion on illustration and the fabulous question: What is Art? We also discuss why doing school assignments is so important and why college and university are so fun; goal setting, etc. This is followed by a short question period about art, illustration, animation, etc. The rest of the session is interactive drawing: step-by-step line art that even Grade One students can all accomplish successfully, yet still very interesting to avid sketchers. All drawings are done as a group, one step at a time, but are made up of various unrelated fun things, like food and odd objects. Hesitant or even terrified non-artists always feel they can now draw, every time. We then play the wildly creative and highly interactive "Alphabet Game" at the end: it is worth the wait. I have 4 master copies of activity sheets for the school/library to copy for students. I prefer each session to be at least one hour or more in length. Students need to be same age or close in age.

Special Equipment:

Tall, firm backed easel (flip chart style, approx 6' high) with unlined white paper. Students need white paper, firm surface to draw on, pencils and erasers. A table for printed samples.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Biography

Lorna Bennett was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and took an early interest in the arts through music, dance and drawing. She attended Grant MacEwan Community College and the University of Alberta in the Arts/Fine Arts programs. After working for many years as a designer/illustrator for the Alberta Forest Service and Environmental Protection, she left to pursue a focused career in the publishing industry through children's picture books and novel covers. A number of Lorna's books have been nominated or short-listed for major book awards. Lorna has had numerous solo exhibitions around Alberta of her original oil paintings. She created the digital animation art for much of the Provincial Museum's Wild Alberta interactive multimedia.

Lorna currently devotes most of her time to artwork for picture and educational books, greeting cards, novel covers, murals, technical illustration, multimedia, and animation. Lorna tours with the Young Alberta Book Society's Taleblazers Festival every October, as well as giving interactive illustrator presentations in schools and libraries year-round. Lorna is also a staff Visual Artist on the Wards at the U of A Hospital.

Some of Lorna¹s favorite things are: mountain biking in all seasons, skiing, hiking, horseback riding, playing and listening to music, literature, photography, painting, cooking, travel, and Edmonton's annual Heritage Days Festival.