After nearly eight years away from teaching, Kamloops artist Karla Pierce is returning to the classroom, a little changed, but with the same passion for art and teaching that she has been so well known for.

Pierce stepped away from teaching around 2018 after years of working with young artists, including running an after-school art program at Aberdeen Elementary. During that time, she was dealing with health challenges and some major personal changes in life. She also developed sensitivities to the acrylics and oil paints, which had been her long-time mediums. Between those and the COVID pandemic, what started as a much-needed break became a much longer sabbatical from teaching. But a sabbatical with purpose, it turned out.

Pierce didn’t stop creating. She continued showing and selling her work at the Kamloops Farmers’ Market. She also began exploring watercolour, leaving behind the acrylics and oils and giving herself time to learn an entirely different medium.

“As an artist, it takes time to recharge and get your brain working at a level and your heart working at a level where you can connect and share information,” Pierce said.

Over those years, watercolour became much more than a substitute for the materials Pierce could no longer comfortably use. She developed a style that bears little resemblance to the delicate washes many people picture when they think of traditional watercolour. Her work combines watercolour paints with white gouache, pencils, sticks and other water-based materials, building layer upon layer of pigment until the colours become rich, vibrant and sometimes almost opaque. Unsurprising, of course, as her art has always broken boundaries in all the best ways.

And her art certainly does get well-deserved attention. Pierce says people regularly stop at her Farmers’ Market booth, commenting that the intensity of the colour isn’t what they expect from watercolour. And after eight years of experimenting, learning and developing her own approach to the medium, she decided it was time to get back into the other art that she loves — teaching.

Her return to running classes comes through a collaboration with Kamloops Art Party and their owner Carly Schmidt. The two became friends years ago while working as instructors for paint-night events, and Pierce watched over the years as Schmidt took her idea for a creative studio from dream to reality.

“Reconnecting with her creative energy is great,” Pierce said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Pierce will begin offering Thursday morning watercolour classes at Kamloops Art Party on Sept. 24. Classes are open to adults at all experience levels, including those who have never picked up a paintbrush, with special pricing available for seniors and people with disabilities.

Students will start by learning about the tools they already have. Pierce plans to teach colour mixing and theory, brushes, paper, and how to get the most out of paints that may have been sitting unopened since someone gave them as a gift. From there, she may lead students through a paint-along to build confidence, but ultimately the goal is for each person to begin creating works of their own, without worrying too much about what art is ‘supposed’ to look like.

Pierce went on to describe how trees can be purple. A student can spend the day painting nothing but shades of yellow. Mistakes can be lifted, painted over, incorporated into something else, or, if all else fails, the paper can simply become something new.

“It’s just paint. It’s just paper,” she said. “There is no right or wrong way to approach making a piece of art.”

That freedom to experiment is at the heart of what Pierce wants to bring back to the classroom. The goal isn’t simply to teach people how to make a watercolour painting, but to help them be more comfortable playing with colour, trust their own creativity, and see what happens when they stop worrying too much about getting it right.

Registration will be available online through Pierce’s website at www.karlapearcegallery.ca, or people can talk to her, see her work, and register in person at the Kamloops Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.