Creative workshops from home
Enjoy some family fun time with these creative workshops proposed by our museum mediators!
Chouette, un hibou !
4-handed workshop | Ages 2 to 5
15-20 min.
Have your family join the Museum’s mediators and their special guest Chouchou to create a clay sculpture of Jean Paul Riopelle’s favourite animal.
Nature in Mixed Media
Themed workshop | Ages 6 to 12
15-20 min
The MMFA’s mediators invite you to join them during March break to learn all about printing, stencilling and painting techniques so that you can create a mixed-media work in the style of Jean Paul Riopelle.
String figure art
As an avid hunter and fisherman, artist Jean-Paul Riopelle went on a discovery of our country’s northern territories and the members of its communities, with whom he made friends. He took an interest in the Inuit practice of string games, a family pastime that involves creating figures with string wrapped around one’s finger and hands. Called ayrauseq, these figures can represent animals or everyday objects such as seals, whales, caribou or harpoons. These string games inspired Riopelle, who transposed the motifs into paintings like the one seen here called : Serge et Gaugin jouant à la ficelle. (Serge and Gaugin Playing String Games.)

Jean Paul Riopelle, Montreal 1923 – L’Isle-aux-Grues 2002, Serge et Gauguin jouant à la ficelle (triptych), 1971, acrylic on lithographs mounted on paper, 289 x 355 cm. Private collection © Estate of Jean Paul Riopelle / SOCAN (2021). Photo: Kent Pell
Are you familiar with string games? What shapes do you see in the string that the Inuit woman is holding in this sculpture by Noah Arpatuq Echalook?
And what games do you play with your family?

Noah Arpatuq Echalook (born in 1946), Woman Playing a String Game, 1987, dark green stone, ivory, hide, 26 x 39 x 24 cm. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased in 1991. © Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec. Photo NGC
In Between
Draw inspiration from Manuel Mathieu's vibrant, colourful abstract works to create a two-part painting using a variety of materials.
The goal is to express yourself freely by using the materials of your choice in the quantities you want.
Double Bubble Fun
Four-handed workshops | Ages 2 to 5
15-20 min.
Join our Museum mediators and special guest Chouchou to create festive family decorations that celebrate what makes us unique and what brings us together.
Jean-Michel Othoniel, The Peony Knot, 2015, mirrored blown glass, stainless steel. MMFA, purchase, Ginette Trépanier Bequest, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' Volunteer Association Fund, generously made possible by Galerie Perrotin © Jean-Michel Othoniel / SOCAN 2020
Let Your Creativity Bubble Up
Themed workshop | Ages 6 to 12
20-25 min.
Did you know that there’s no one like you? What makes you different? What are your likes and dislikes? What dreams do you have that belong just to you? The Museum’s mediators invite you to join them during the holidays to learn collage, abstract printing, and watercolour techniques to create decorations as unique as you are.
Printing engravings

Félix Vallotton, Mont-Blanc, 1892, gravure sur bois, tiré à 30 exemplaires. Collection particulière
The artists in Paul Signac’s circle during the Post-Impressionist era in Paris were searching for freedom and independence. They also wanted to make art accessible to all. To this end, some turned to printmaking and experimented with various techniques such as lithography, linocutting, woodcutting and etching. Have you ever tried any printing techniques? Is there a picture you would like to draw a single time and give to several people? The face of a loved one, a holiday memory, your favourite animal?
Paper art
This activity is a tribute to Claude Lafortune, who touched the hearts of an entire generation with his legendary creations.
Gather together a cardboard box, paper, scissors and glue, and create your own paper art together!
Still life
Kate Walker, museum mediator at the MMFA, shares a creative workshop for the whole family.
The first-ever museums were composed of treasures that had been gathered over the years by explorers, scientists and collectors. These objects, at times rare and peculiar but always intriguing, were exhibited in cabinets of curiosities.
In among these displays, it was not uncommon to find paintings called still lifes that immortalized a collection’s most handsome items – much like the Jacques Linard work that was today’s inspiration.
Create your own still life at home by gathering some of your everyday objects you want to draw! You will see these subjects in a new light and discover their many hidden secrets…
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