My Story:

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I am Kathleen McGiveron and I am Ms Artastic.

I love art. I have always loved to create, ever since I could remember.

And although I LOVE to make art and it is my calling, there was a time in my childhood that I didn’t make art and I almost gave up on it forever.

Let me tell you my story.

Art is for everyone. We all have the power to be an artist (just like any passion, the more we practice, we slowly improve in incremental steps. But those incremental steps add up to a life-time of mountains that we climb).

But finding the means to get real art lessons wasn’t always readily available, affordable or inspirational.

So as a kid, I often went through periods of drawing or trying to make art with no real resources to help me progress. No real guidance. 

And often, it resulted in me forgetting about drawing and moving onto something else because I struggled to access a resource that would teach me how to make art at a level I was at, but also provided an opportunity to grow.

So, despite having a desire to draw and make art, I didn’t.

And my calling went unanswered.

I didn’t learn or progress. 

And I chose instead to do the things my mom DIDN’T exactly want me to do.

Watch Pokémon. Play Pokémon (anyone else still obsessed with Red & Blue? Kanto?) on my Gameboy Color. And the best… all things N64 (still obsessed with this too). While these classics are simple compared to tech today (but way awesome, let’s be honest), it was too much tech obsession for my parents. 

They wanted me to explore my passion. While other kids were on soccer teams, I had no interest. I just wanted to be creative!

One day my parents found a local place to take art lessons in (they always looked for new opportunities for me to explore this passion). I was SO excited. But from the very first day I went there… It was kind of boring.

We had to be quiet.

Sit.

And we had to follow a strict curriculum. 

Nothing of what we were learning was what I wanted to make. I wanted to paint and create art around my interests!

So what ended up happening?

I tried exploring at home, but getting started and taring at a blank page was too much. I quit my passion again. And for years I stopped making art. I wouldn’t use the paints my parents bought me because I had no one to show me how to use them and didn’t know WHAT to paint. For years, I made nothing.

Until High School. If you’re thinking right now “wow… that is a long time to not explore your passion”, you’re right.

It was painful.

It is hard to have a burning passion or a part of you that you want to let out, but have no idea how to unleash it or are too afraid to dive into it. 

Once I went to High School, for the first time I had art lessons that were engaging, that allowed me to express and explore imagery and concepts that interested me. Art Teachers there provided ample opportunity to be creative, learn technique and skill, but also let us BE OURSELVES.

From there, it ignited the spark that got me passionate about creating Ceramic Artworks, painting and creating bizarre and weird things without judgment. Freedom to express.

I applied for University and was accepted into Emily Carr University of Art and Design where I received my Bachelor of Visual Arts. And from there I obtained my Bachelor of Education and was a teacher for over 10 years. Since graduating ECU, I have been showing my own art professionally in Commercial and Public Art Galleries, showing as often as possible and constantly creating new artworks.

Now, I am Ms Artastic and I design Art Lessons for Kids & Art Resources and Educational Material for Teachers. It is my business that I developed out of all my passions and it started with one simple foundation: Visual Art.

But I spent a lot of years ignoring this passion.

Imagine what would have happened if I had started sooner? If I had followed my passion early on? Gained the confidence to create and learn how to use the art mediums? To create the things that I was actually interested in?

Most of the time, we give up when we feel like the mountain is TOO BIG to climb. We look up and think “wow… this is impossible”. And then we never begin. That is what happened to me as a kid. I looked at the canvas and thought “wow. I have no idea where to begin”. I don’t want my initial art journey to be the same for other kids. I don’t want them to have to wait to High School to be inspired. 

Or worse. An Adult. 

I don’t want them to miss out on years and opportunities to develop their Creative and Critical Thinking Skills, Fine Motor Skills, and personal identity.

Now that technology has developed into diverse, accessible tools that we can access on many devices, I now have the opportunity to change the path for younger creatives. I want to make art affordable and accessible so that kids can make art anytime, anywhere, from their lap, the floor, desk, or kitchen table. I want them to learn how to use the art mediums they most likely already have in extraordinary ways. 

So I created the Artastic Kids Online Streaming Art Lesson Platform. It is my online streaming Art Lesson platform where kids can access an unlimited number of Art Lessons, with new lessons added every month. Kids can choose from a library of art lessons in a range of topics, a range of styles, and a range of levels. And they can play them right at home, on their device, anytime, anywhere. They have the power to select the artwork that THEY want to make and create it from a full video art tutorial where I will show them ALL the steps to create.

And if it is dinner time or they need a break? Hit pause and come back and finish playing later, because Artastic Kids is just like any other streaming service: you pick the video, hit play, rewind, pause, leave and return as you please.

And unlike expensive art classes where you only get a certain number of expensive lessons where there is NO CHOICE of what your child can create, I will provide a large Art Lesson library and everyone in your household can create together for the same price, all using simple, affordable art mediums. At Artastic Kids, I believe art is for everyone. I believe ANYONE can be an artist, and this includes you, your child, your family.

So let’s make this your moment. Start your child’s transformation today and unleash creative thinking in your home. Because when you’re a Creative Thinker, there is no limit on what you can and will do in your life.

Let’s Make Some Art!