Something for the kids

It looks like we're only getting one day of holiday for International Labour Day this year (unlike the two or three days we had last year or the year before, and the full 'golden week' we used to enjoy prior to that) - next Monday, May 3rd. However, for those with young children, filling an extra day of 'weekend' with diverting activities can be a bit of a challenge.

Canadian artist and photographer Karen Patterson - one of my oldest friends here in the Jing - set up a fun art class for kids a year or so ago, which she has called Beijing Color Studio (website currently "under construction" - check back in a month or two). She's now able to run these classes in the much bigger studio space she's been fitting out over the past few months in Caochangdi (she threw a rather awesome christening party for the place last Friday); it's a tad remote for those of us who live in the city centre, but very convenient for Shunyi, and fairly easy to find, being immediately adjacent to the Fifth Ringroad about a mile or so east from the Dashanzi junction.

Karen's offering two special half-day classes next Monday (to be led by her lovely and talented assistant, Nina Griffee): 8-and-unders in the morning, 8-12s in the afternoon. I think it's 475rmb for either session, with discounts available for more than one child or if you book before the end of the week (places limited, so hurry).

E-mail Karen, if interested.




Update: Karen was forced to give up this business - and the studio she ran it from - at the end of 2010, partly as a result of all of the hassle and anguish she'd had to go through over the extended detention of her artist husband, Wu Yuren.


She had been hoping to find someone to carry on the brand/concept, but that seems not to have materialised.