Sharjah Girl Guides (SGG) organised a series of workshops with an aim to develop the skills and abilities of the brownies and the guides in art, innovation and creativity during the months of January and February.The first program that took place was titled “Art in action”, which was a series of two workshops. The first workshop delivered was “Art on Canvas” which sought to develop the Girl Guides’ imagination, artistic skills, and team work abilities. The second workshop under “Art in Action” was called “Once Upon a Time”, aimed to develop the Girl Guides’ story telling abilities as well as their imagination and writing skills. Shaikha Alshamsi, Assistant Manager at Sharjah Girl Guides said, “We seek to nurture and develop the skills of our girls in the emirate and through these workshops, which they all very much enjoyed, we are able to do that. Creative, cognitive and teamwork skills are all enhanced through the workshops.”
Shaikha Alshamsi added, “For the art workshop each girl was given a 50 by 50 canvas with an outline which they freely painted on using different techniques. Once all the canvases were completed by the girls the canvases were combined and placed together to create a drawing of Sharjah monuments to stunning effect. In the second workshop in January the girls were taught how to write a story based on a specific item that they built to create a 3D wooden object.”Also on January 30th the SGG organized a pottery workshop called “Pottery Patterns”. During the workshop the origins of clay and pottery were discussed, as was the history of pottery, clay types and preparation. The practical part of the workshop took in a pottery and ceramics demonstration with the Girl Guides trying their hand at throwing, molding and glazing their own piece of pottery.Shaikha Alshamsi said, “The girls were very engaged with the process and and enjoyed the workshop. They were shown how to make a pinch pot for themselves which they were able to take home.”On February 6th there was a workshop titled, Innovate and Create that aimed to teach the girls the approach of creative and innovative thinking and how to implement it in real life situations.
The activation of artist Aya Haidar’s instruction, titled Migration, is part of the do it [in Arabic] exhibition that invited artists to submit art instructions that are then made into artworks to become part of an exhibition. This program is a collaboration with Sharjah Art Foundation.Shaikha Alshamsi said, “In this activation the girls learned how to fold herons, migratory birds using shipping documents following the instructions of the artist carrying out the artists nstructions to shed light on the migration and the communication between the people.”The guiding movement was first established in Sharjah in 1973 after which it spread to all seven Emirates, giving rise to the Girl Guides Association of the United Arab Emirates in 1979. Under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs the SGG aims to inspire and nurture future generations to become progressive global citizens by providing a platform for girls to develop to their fullest potential.