Oh yes… its business time. We’re back with a million kazillion skillshare and workshop ideas, all neatly packaged into one little summer. Workshops are on Saturdays at 2pm. Please RSVP if you can and cancel in advance if you must – otherwise, show up and take a chance

TO RSVP – EMAIL MTLSKILLSHARE@GMAIL.COM WITH YOUR NAME + PHONE NUMBER AND SAY WHICH WORKSHOP+DATE YOU ARE ATTENDING.

Saturday, August 28th, 2pm – GRAFFITI AND STENCILING

DESCRIPTION: Ok, so you saw an article about banksy, and instantly wanted to make your own stencil, right?But how are you going to go about it? Well here we go; I’m going to try to explain everything you need to know about stencilling, from start to finish. Motives: Some people stencil to convey a political, social, or religious message, some stencil because it looks pretty, and others do it simply to beat the system. Before you begin looking for an image, you must understand your own motives. Are you trying to put forward a message? Are you trying to make people smile? Are you trying to shock? Etc. Once you are sure of what you want, you must focus every aspect of your stencilling on it, be it colour schemes, location, subject matter, or text; everything must suit your motives. Why? Because a shocking anti war slogan doesn’t look good in baby blue with a stencil of a chicken.
BIO: About Ache1 – Stencil graffiti has always been a huge part of my life. Although I stopped painting illegally last year, I learnt a lot in the years that I did paint the streets. After solidifying my position in the online stencil graffiti community I decided to write an article on stencilling for beginners
REGISTRATION: Please RSVP at mtlskillshare@gmail.com and cancel asap if you can’t make it.  Please bring some cash to help us cover the expenses.

Already Happened:

Saturday the 17th, 2pm – MAKE YOUR OWN CONTACT MIC

DESCRIPTION: Wanna make your own contact mic? In this workshop, you’ll solder and build your own contact microphone, a small flat disc of a microphone that responds to vibrations, and is easy to make and use. We’ll check out some artists that use contact mics in their sound art and performance work, discuss the basic mechanics of microphones and electronics, and experiment with live sound once our mics are soldered up. No experience necessary. If you have access to a soldering iron, please bring it. There will be soldering irons provided if you don’t have one.
BIO: Kandis Friesen is an interdisciplinary artist and musician based in Montreal, Quebec. Working predominantly with sound, video, animation, drawing, electronics, and installation, her practice examines notions of translation, memory, migration, and the body. Having completed a college degree in Audio Recording and working in the field of sound, she is now completing her degree in Intermedia Arts at Concordia.

Saturday the 24th, 2pm – NOISE WITH TOYS (Circuit Bending)

DESCRIPTION: Turn children’s toys into instruments for sound art and NOIZZZE a la circuit bending! We will playfully go step by step in dissecting toys, figuring out the range of their sounds, and soldering (i.e. fusing together) connections on their circuit boards, to create (and maybe record!) whacky noise jams. You will also learn how to make an output jack to amp the crap out of it!! Noise for everyone!! Bring a battery operate toy if you wish. We can not guarantee it will ever return to it’s original
and less-interesting form.
BIO: Meagan Wohlberg loves noise and circuit bending because there is no way you can really go wrong. It is totally fun and participatory and everyone should do it. She wishes everything in life was like that because, except for brain surgery and space missions, most things could be.

Saturday, July 31st, 2pm – PHOTOSHOP TIPS AND TRICKS

DESCRIPTION: Learn basics and advanced techniques of photoshop, tips and tricks for manipulating images and text. This session will be perfect for screen printers and non-screen printers alike. Learn how to make good selections, modify colors, dispose text and more… Pascal will answer any questions that you may have on Photoshop. Bring your laptop with Photoshop on it if you can.
BIO: TBA – Presented by our own Sidetracks volunteer, Pascal.
REGISTRATION: Spaces limited! We’re gonna try our best to bring as many computers as necessary, so please RSVP at mtlskillshare@gmail.com if you can and cancel asap if you can’t make it. We ask for $5-$10 sliding scale.

In honour of Pervers/cité:
Saturday, August 7th, 2pm- STREET SELF-DEFENCE & COUNTER-ATTACK – with Em(ber)

DESCRIPTION: An interactive workshop for women, queer and trans folks, exploring strategies for self-defence against gender-based and homophobic violence on the street. You are encouraged to bring ideas, information and experience to share.
BIO: From a young femme boy in a bad neighbourhood to life on the road, from big bad bouncer to transgenderqueer bulldagger, Ember has been defending herself and her loved ones since 1982.
REGISTRATION: Please RSVP at mtlskillshare@gmail.com and cancel asap if you can’t make it. FREE. Feel free to bring snacks to share. All shapes, sizes, abilities and skill levels welcome.