Art Hives HQ

The Art Hives Headquarters, based at Concordia University in Tiohti:áke (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) holds at its heart the vision of inclusive creative third-spaces in every neighbourhood across the globe. This approach is the result of three decades of research and experimentation by researcher Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos, art therapist,  and associate professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University. 

This living lab acts as a dynamic epicenter where consulting, education, research, co-development and social innovation activities bolster the growth and sustainability of Art Hives worldwide, and the pollination of Public Practice Art Therapy, a term coined by Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos.

The Art Hives HQ is funded by Concordia University and previously has been funded by the Rossy Foundation, the J.A. De Sève Foundation, and the McConnell Foundation.
 

Where to find us

The Art Hives HQ
Concordia University

2155 Guy, ER-101
Montreal, QC
Canada H3G 2W1

What we do

The Art Hive HQ offers training and consulting (mostly free and sometimes at a social rate) in groups and individually, in order to spread its open-source model of community art studios that are free, non-directed, and open to all.

This website is a directory of the various projects that are part of the Art Hives Network around the world, with the aim to contribute to their visibility and accessibility to the public, and to facilitate making contact and initiating collaboration between Art Hive practitioners.

Contact us to book a session, in person or via videoconference

Art Hives Community of Practice

The community of practice is an opportunity for Art Hives practitioners everywhere to come together and exchange feedback with their peers about their experiences, questions, concerns and dreams. These meetings are held every two weeks, on Fridays 10am-12pm ET (Montreal), online on the Zoom Platform.

Find out about upcoming meet-ups

The Art Hives Institute

The Art Hives Institute is a 4-day experiential intensive teaching the theory, methods and materials to create inclusive public home places which bring multiple opportunities for community building and healing through art making, dialogue and skillsharing into neighbourhoods.

The course is offered by Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos, Creative Arts Therapies professor at Concordia University and Rachel Chainey, Art Hives Network Coordinator, art therapist and social entrepreneur, in collaboration with diverse Art Hives practitioners. It is designed for professionals already working in an Art Hive setting or serious about getting started with that type of third space. While covering the theoretical underpinnings and practical aspects, it will also provide plenty of time for group discussion, skill-sharing, site visits and hands-on community art studio sessions.

No prerequisite courses are needed. Previous experience in a community art studio is preferable.

After these 4 days, participants take away:

  • A new network of passionate colleagues and the many skills, ideas, tools and art making we will have shared together.
  • An overview of different art hives models (legal structures, organizational models) and ways to get them off the ground and sustain them.
  • A deepened understanding of the values and philosophical and historical inspirations of Art Hives and of the impact of these arts-based third spaces on individuals and communities.

Want us to come teach the Art Hives method in your community? Contact us!

The "Community Art Studio: Methods and Materials" credit course at Concordia University

CATS 631 / ARTE 398

Instructor: Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos
 Department: Creative Arts Therapies Please contact the department for registration

This experiential course is taught by associate professor, Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos (Creative Arts Therapies) in a welcoming community setting, La Ruche d'Art St-Henri, an arts-based third space fostering social inclusion and community building.The course, offered annually since 2011, attracts students across the university, including creative arts therapies, art education, studio arts, theater, music, philosophy, urban planning and anthropology.The course is cross-listed in order to welcome both graduate and undergraduate students, as well as community members who join the cohort as independent scholars.

Hands-on learning and art making are integral to every aspect of this course. In addition to connecting with community members within the studio in the post-industrial neighbourhood, students are also required to complete 15 hours of service learning within other grassroots or institutional settings that are part of the Art Hives Network.These urban art hives which share the strength-based, free and open access inherent to all Art Hives, they are also quite diverse: from social housing, to city parks, co-ops, seniors' residences, libraries, community missions, womens’ centres, schools and museums. In every setting, students practice the non-interventionist methods at the core of the Art Hives model of public practice art therapy: witnessing, arts-based humble inquiry, informal and horizontal skill sharing through ''Each-One-Teach-One'', as well as building studio relationships within each ''public
homeplace'' (Belenky, 1996), as they learn about the ''ethics of discomfort'' (Foucault in Rabinow, 1994).

Firmly rooted in the Psychologies of Liberation (Watkins & Shulman, 2008), public practice art therapy as developed at Concordia University invites all students to begin to examine their own social location as it relates to privilege, power, and the oppressive forces of colonialism and gentrification at play in their communities.Throughout the course, students undertake important steps of a journey, deepening their understanding of these concepts and their personal relationship to them, through art making and the reflective practice of field notes.The course culminates with a public presentation of the students' final projects, attended by community members, academic partners, and funders.

The 2017 cohort was invited to reflect on the implications of colonialism by participating in the Art Hive's Community Listening Circles based on the book ''Unsettling the Settler Within'' (Regan, 2010) as well as in the Blanket Exercise (https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/).The class then created artwork on the theme ''Reconcile'' and shared their personal stories around reconciliation during a public presentation as well as in the format of blog articles shared on the Art Hives website.

Art Hives Internship Awards For Creative Art Therapies Students

The Art Hives Internship Awards are graciously funded by the J.A. De Sève Foundation. Creative Arts Therapies students at Concordia University are invited to propose an internship and/or research project idea that responds to the needs and interests of an Art Hive, located in a neighbourhood or institution anywhere in Quebec.These learning opportunities will allow students to develop hands-on skills relevant to their career path and apply their academic learning through public practice arts engagement, while building connections and making a measurable impact at the grassroots level. On-site supervision is provided by a Registered Art Therapist for Art Hives Internships, as needed.

Team

  • Janis Timm-Bottos

    Associate Professor, Art Therapy, Creative Arts Therapies Provost Fellow for Community Engagement, Fine Arts

    Janis Timm-Bottos is passionate about co-creating small, accessible spaces for free community art making in order to increase understanding of ourselves, strengthen our relationships across divides, and build meaningful community life. A former pediatric physical therapist, Janis is an art therapist and associate professor with the Department of Creative Arts Therapies in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University.

    Over the past twenty years she has collaboratively initiated and run six community art studios (aka art hives): ArtStreet with Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless; OFFCenter Community Arts Project, a free standing non profit; Kitchen Table Arts, located in a thrift store in Nelson, British Columbia; Montreal’s La Ruche d’Art: Community Studio and Science Shop; and Studio d’Art St Sulpice located in a large social housing neighborhood. Janis is the Director of the Art Hives Initiative and Network. 

  • Rachel Chainey

    Rachel Chainey MA, ATPQ is a mother, art therapist, social entrepreneur, educator, and multi-tasking artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, QC. She obtained her MA in Creative Art Therapies from Concordia University (2018), prior to which she has collected an eclectic undergraduate and experiential background in the intersecting fields of Cultural Animation, Social Entrepreneurship, Studio Arts, Psychology, Graphic Design and Communications. This ever-expanding creative toolbox is put to use through her Public Practice Art Therapy work as the Art Hives HQ and Network Coordinator (since 2014). Rachel serves as the Vice- President of the Quebec Art Therapists’ Association (since 2020), was the Conference Chair for the Canadian Art Therapy Association in 2018, and is a part-time faculty member at the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Art Therapies Institute (since 2022). She is passionate about people’s stories and creativity, and specifically interested in developing ways in which we can live and work with more mutual care, creating sustainable futures for all living beings.

  • Carmen Oprea

    Carmen is an art therapist holding a master's in Art Therapy and a master's in Fine Arts, followed by post-graduate training in sandplay therapy. 

    She is an art facilitator and supervisor with Concordia Art Hives and she is implicated in promoting accessible art and sandplay therapy in the communities. 

    Her professional trajectory also includes offering art therapy to seniors from various day centres and residences, to First Nations and Inuit children and teenagers, and a clientele of various ages and diverse problems in her private practice. 

    She facilitates self-esteem and self-identity groups in the governmental sector and in communities. She uses art and sandplay therapy as alternative ways to communicate and promote well-being and insight when words cannot describe the depth of one’s experience. 

  • Melissa Sokoloff

    Melissa is a registered art therapist with the Canadian Art Therapy Association and a supervisor for the Art Hive Network. She facilitates Art Therapy Public Practice round tables at Concordia Art Hives, where people are invited to use their creativity to express their challenges and successes in the studio space.

    She also facilitates the Network's Community of Practice to help facilitators develop, promote, and sustain their community-based arts practices.  

    With a PhD in Applied Human Sciences, a master’s degree in Art Therapy and a bachelor's degree in Health Sciences, she has developed a holistic vision that integrates the historical and psychosocial determinants of health through accessible, equitable and inclusive creative workshops.

    For the past 15 years, she has worked as an art therapist with adults with mental health problems and has collaborated with Inuit and First Nations in urban and community settings. Through her private practice, she has witnessed how art can express the depth of experience and foster creative solutions for people of different ages, genders, cultures and for various issues.

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