The Fikra House Research Creation Workshop is an immersive learning experience where emerging artists will explore possible ways to the never-ending challenge of how to start an art project. Our answer is through research skills, introspection, and each other. 

This workshop will employ a circular learning pedagogy to offer instruction and guidance for the logistical and intangible skills required for research creation and eventual art-making. This will be facilitated by artistic activities and experiential learning to enhance the peer-to-peer structure, empowering our consciousness-raising as a group and giving us all a chance to learn with each other. Participants will be guided through different pedagogies and skills to imbue into their practice and eventually practice them through a group activity of collage making. They will also be given journaling prompts and resources to promote self-reflection, intuition building, and independent working, leaving the session.

Ola Idris is a passionate facilitator, researcher, and curator who combines curiosity, creativity, and theory to create impact. She has developed multi-generational learning programs with institutions like the U of Waterloo, RPFF and led the TRAD Magazine Fellowship. She has explored Blackness in Academia, Afrofuturism, civil mass movements, and community psychology. Centering care and community in her work, she is a lifelong student of life aiming to reignite imagination of a better world with boundless possibility.

Ayat Salih is a Sudanese visual artist, filmmaker, and researcher with a Bachelor’s degree in Media Production from TMU. She is well-versed in arts-based research methods that center immigrant narratives, decolonial education, queer placemaking and feminist media. Her visual art meditates on Sudanese womanhood and Black queerness. Operating from a place of humanity, she works to document processes that are hidden and capture fleeting moments, hoping to uncover and reveal new perspectives.

Paper Rain: Exploring Digital Cutting for Installation Art is a hands-on workshop that introduces participants to digital cutting technology (Cricut and Cameo) as a creative tool for interdisciplinary and installation-based art.

Using a low barrier, process-driven approach, the workshop guides participants through contour drawing, scanning, and importing images into digital cutting software to produce intricate cut-paper forms. Together, we will cut multiple sheets of recycled paper into raindrop shapes and assemble them with a sewing machine to create a suspended paper-rain installation. This workshop bridges traditional and digital methods, making digital fabrication accessible to artists who want to expand their practice into new media.

All materials - including a scanner, computer, digital cutter, recycled paper, and sewing machine - are provided. This makes the session an inclusive opportunity for both beginners and experienced artists to engage with technology in a tactile, hands-on way while developing new creative skills.

The workshop is led by Mackenzie Browning, a Hamilton-based Canadian artist whose practice explores the intersections of printmaking, book arts, and sculpture. Known for meticulous craftsmanship and a bold aesthetic, his work often pushes technical boundaries, transforming two-dimensional prints into architectural, three-dimensional forms. Drawing from lived experiences in Southern Ontario, Colorado, New Jersey, and Saskatchewan, Mackenzie’s work reflects a deep connection to urban, suburban, and natural landscapes.

For the month of September there will be no Soft Skills or drop-in sessions in the Media Collab. We are working towards offering a series of themed drop-in nights and expand the Soft Skills program towards collaborative skill sharing sessions starting in October. Stayed tuned for updates on a Touch Designer meet-up!

In the meantime if you are interested in using any of our equipment please reach out to: collaboratory@forestcitygallery.com and we'll do our best to accommodate your request.

Join us for the Opening Reception & Artist Talk for Maritime Minute on Thursday, September 4th from 5-7pm.

In Maritime Minute, west coast artist Les Ramsay presents a series of abstract paintings, sculpture, and needlepoint works that meditate on coastal landscapes, fleeting time, and the quiet urgency of environmental change. Drawing from the language of maritime imagery—tidal shifts, passing storms, forgotten harbours—the exhibition offers a fragmented, atmospheric glimpse into a world both familiar and dissolving. Through layered textures and intuitive forms, the artist captures the strange stillness of moments suspended between beauty and erosion, presence and disappearance.

We hope to see you there!