Artzone was established by Gillian Blaney Shorte in 2003 to offer a new level of visual arts education and training to young students. Gillian wanted to encourage students to use visual art as a means of self expression, problem solving and above all to have fun with Art.   Artzone’s aim is to bring the Visual Arts Curriculum to life through constant innovation with new and exciting portfolios.

Artzone is run by fully qualified Art Teachers, typically from the Faculty of Education, NCAD – all specialists in their own fields of art.  As professional art teachers we believe in art for art’s sake, but we appreciate the benefits of structured project based approach to design, creativity and finish. We see that art, design, craft and creativity have a very important role to play in childhood enjoyment and development, and that we take creative flair through to our adult lives as an asset in both business and leisure.

Today Artzone has established a very strong network of weekly classes throughout Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Meath working to a structured curriculum, with new and exciting activities every term. Our seasonal camps – Summer, Halloween, Christmas, Midterm and Easter – bring a great sense of fun to art and crafts, generously mixed with stories and games.

In 2009 Artzone launched our Primary School Art Enrichment Programme where Artzone work with a number of progressive Primary Schools demystifying the art curriculum, providing teacher training, mentoring, art teacher in residence projects and art fundays. Leveraging the most popular portfolio activities Artzone provide an ‘Art Party for Creative Kids Service’ for private birthday parties, school family days, corporate family days and public library, art centre and park events.

Artzone has survived the recession so far by focusing on our customers, maintaining a high quality while managing costs tightly to offer lower fees. In 2010 Artzone will expand our primary schools art enrichment programme, expand geographically; and explore franchise and partnership models to extend our reach beyond Leinster.