Art school opens in Riwaka for little Picassos

August 2nd, 2012

A creative and exciting artspace for children opens in Riwaka this month, the first art class for children in the area outside of schools.

Artist Johnna Alborn has been living and working in Shanghai, China for the past 10 years. During her time there she established a primary art department for a large international school, and was responsible for developing the art curriculum, and teaching 500 primary aged students.

She returned to New Zealand with her family 18 months ago, and it is her passion for art and love of teaching that has motivated her to establish Little Picasso's Art School in her home township.

She says Little Picasso's aims to encourage and develop creativity in every child, to value their ideas whilst providing the opportunity for them to have fun and experiment with a range of quality art materials.

Art concepts to be explored include drawing, painting, print making, collage, construction, pottery, sculpture, mixed media and textiles.

"I aim to encourage and develop creativity in every child, to value their ideas whilst providing the opportunity for them to have fun and experiment with a range of quality art materials," Johnna says.

"During their art lessons they will have experience with a variety of different 'real' art materials. What is most important is that these lessons are hands-on, fun and that the children get messy and experiment with clay, paints, ink, glue, crayons, pastels, pencils, markers and paper.

"The children will be taught to create art - manipulate and handle materials, and to gain expertise in those materials so they can express themselves freely.

"I love teaching and I love Art – so what better way to spend my time than create my own Art school where kids can come and have fun, learn and create masterpieces! Hence Little Picasso’s was born."

The Term 3 classes will run for six consecutive weeks from 20 August - 26 September. The Early Childhood class (3 - 5 years) will be on Mondays and Wednesday mornings from 10.30am to 11.15am, and cost $60.00 for the term.

For school age children, the juniors class (5 - 8 years) will be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3.30pm to 4.30pm, and the seniors (9 to 12+ years) will be from 4.30pm to 5.30pm, both costing $70 for the term.

They will be held at St Barnabas Church Hall, Main Road, Riwaka (opposite the Monkey Wizard Brewery). For further information and to register, contact Johnna at or or email

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