Schambach Art Studio

Case studies

What organisations set out to do, and what they created

Projects across the full range, from a 45 minute session and an evening reception to strategic planning and year long legacy work. Each one shows the goal, the format and what the organisation kept.

45 minutes · 80 leaders · 2026

Amazon DEN3: one artwork from 80 leaders

Goal
Bring a large leadership group together on Mental Health Day, inside an existing agenda.
Format
A 45 minute collective session. Each leader painted one piece of the site mascot.
Outcome
The pieces were assembled into one collective artwork before anyone left the room: every leader visibly part of the whole.

It shows that a short session can work at scale, and that a large group can create something together in under an hour.

A leader introducing the session to a full room
Gather The session opens Amazon DEN3, Colorado, 2026
A training room full of leaders at tables
Gather 80 leaders, one session Amazon DEN3, Colorado, 2026
Hands painting a leaf shaped piece
Create Each leader paints one piece Amazon DEN3, Colorado, 2026
Two leaders holding the pieces they painted
Create Pieces ready to join Amazon DEN3, Colorado, 2026
The assembled mascot artwork
Assemble Assembled before anyone left Amazon DEN3, Colorado, 2026
The mascot artwork displayed on a blue wall
Share On display at the site Amazon DEN3, Colorado, 2026

Evening reception · 60 of 100 guests · Toronto, 2017

Georgian Partners: the future of AI, in one triptych

Goal
Give guests at the firm’s annual general meeting a way to explore the future of artificial intelligence together, during drinks and conversation.
Format
A drop-in collage activation. Guests answered prompts by choosing images and building small collages. The collages were passed around with new prompts and questions, so each one gathered several people’s ideas.
Outcome
About 60 of the 100 guests took part. Their collages were set into three wooden panels, forming one triptych about where AI was heading.

It shows how an activation fits a cocktail-hour format: people join for a few minutes between conversations, and the artwork keeps growing.

Guests in business attire gathered around a long collage table at an evening event
Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
Collage materials laid out on a long table
Prepare Materials and prompts ready Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
The reception room set with tables and panels
Prepare The room before guests arrive Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
Guests choosing word and image cut-outs
Create Answering prompts with images Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
Guests making collages at a coffee table
Create Small groups at work Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
Collages mounted on prompt cards
Create Collages passed on with new questions Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
Hexagon panels with the first collages set in
Assemble The panels fill through the evening Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
The finished three panel triptych
Install The finished triptych Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017
The triptych hanging in the boardroom
Share Hanging in the Georgian Partners boardroom Georgian Partners AGM, Toronto, 2017

Online · Four sessions over four months · 2026

Art Dialogues: Subterranean Creativities, University of Victoria

Goal
Open new conversation across disciplines in an international groundwater research community.
Format
Four online arts-based sessions over four months, with participants from the physical sciences, social sciences, arts, education and policy.
Outcome
A cross-disciplinary group exploring its shared subject through image, metaphor and collective making, entirely online.

It shows the work running fully virtually, with a global group, over a series.

Participants in an online Art Dialogues session on video call
Art Dialogues: Subterranean Creativities, University of Victoria, online, 2026

Multi-session · 2019 to 2020 · London, Ontario

Brescia University College: a centennial mural

Goal
Mark one hundred years with a work told by the people who lived it.
Format
Interviews with founders, an advisory group, training for emerging facilitators, and engagement sessions with students, faculty and the board of directors.
Outcome
A permanent 16 by 24 foot centennial mural, acrylic on crezon, installed in the university.
The completed Brescia centennial mural
Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
Interviewing founding members
Listen Interviewing the founders Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
Board members seated in a circle
Listen Working with the board of directors Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
Designing the mural at a table
Design Designing together Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
A sketch drawn from community stories
Design A sketch from community stories Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
Emerging facilitators in training
Train Training emerging facilitators Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
People painting the canvas in the atrium
Create Painting in the atrium Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
Participants painting a panel together
Create Painting the panels Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
Two people painting side by side on the floor
Create Side by side on the canvas Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
Participants painting a section of the mural
Create Every generation takes part Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
A detail of the finished mural
Install Professional finish Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020
The mural installed on the university wall
Share Unveiled at the university Brescia Centennial Portraiture, London, Ontario, 2019 to 2020

Multi-session · 2023 · Chatham, Ontario

Ursuline College Chatham: Heritage Alive

Goal
Carry the founding sisters’ stories and values to today’s students.
Format
An advisory committee of teachers and former principals shaped the themes over two creative sessions and reviewed the sketches. The sisters were interviewed one on one. Students then listened to the recordings and turned each story into an image.
Outcome
Four panels: two on the past, one on the present and one on the future, installed at the school. Students connected directly with the founders’ voices.
Noreen Allossery-Walsh
Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023
Bringing dreams to life takes dedication and we felt ourselves in highly qualified hands to achieve our goals.Noreen Allossery-Walsh, Ursuline Sisters of Chatham
A participant drawing one of the stories
Drawing a story Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023
Sisters and staff writing at a table
Listen Gathering the stories Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023
Sticky notes mapping themes on a whiteboard
Listen The advisory committee maps the themes Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023
Conceptualizing the panels
Design Shaping the four panels Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023
A participant drawing a story
Design Drawing a story Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023
Students and staff drawing at tables
Create Students turn stories into images Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023
A participant painting at a cafeteria table
Create Painting the images Ursuline Heritage Alive, Chatham, Ontario, 2023

13 weeks · 2020 · London, Ontario

Connected in Chaos: 13 organisations, one public artwork

Goal
Help a city process the 2020 lockdowns together, across organisations.
Format
Thirteen partner organisations, thirteen themed panels, thirteen weeks, with 80 community contributors. Co-led with Alejandro Zuluaga.
Outcome
A public artwork at the Richmond Street underpass, funded through the City of London’s Neighbourhood Decision Making programme by public vote.
Community contributors painting a panel together
Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
Participants moving together in a workshop
Listen Movement and play to open each station Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
A sheet of expressive marks
Design Mark making Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
A participant’s portrait drawing
Design A participant’s drawing Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
A collage of protest imagery
Design Collage from one partner station Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
Contributors painting at the underpass wall
Create Painting together Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
Young men installing a panel on the wall
Install Installing the panels Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
One of the thirteen finished panels
Install One of thirteen themed panels Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
A contributor standing beside her panel
Share A contributor with her panel Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020
People gathered for the unveiling in the underpass
Share The unveiling Connected in Chaos, London, Ontario, 2020

Strategic planning murals

When an organisation plans its future in paint

Three nonprofits used a co-created painting at the heart of their strategic planning: to hear their communities, to see where they were heading, and to give the board something real to plan from.

The finished Sanctuary painting
The finished artwork Re-Imagining Sanctuary Services, Sanctuary London, 2022

Nonprofit · London, Ontario · 2022

Sanctuary London: the community shapes the plan

As part of its strategic planning, Sanctuary invited the community it serves to say how the organisation could improve. People painted together indoors and out, sharing feedback in words and images, and their ideas came together in one large painting.

Participants writing feedback on a banner
Listen Feedback in words Re-Imagining Sanctuary Services, Sanctuary London, 2022
People painting a canvas outdoors
Create Painting outdoors Re-Imagining Sanctuary Services, Sanctuary London, 2022
A father and toddler painting together
Create Every generation takes part Re-Imagining Sanctuary Services, Sanctuary London, 2022
People painting a large canvas on tables
Create The community paints together Re-Imagining Sanctuary Services, Sanctuary London, 2022
People admiring the finished painting
Share The unveiling Re-Imagining Sanctuary Services, Sanctuary London, 2022
The circular Our Journey painting
The finished artwork Our Journey, Rainbow Refugee, Vancouver, 2022

Nonprofit · Vancouver · 2022

Rainbow Refugee: a strategic plan in paint

This Vancouver nonprofit used participatory painting for its strategic planning. The group mapped where the organisation has come from and where it is heading, sketched the journey, then painted it together into one circular artwork.

A group planning around a table
Listen Planning together Our Journey, Rainbow Refugee, Vancouver, 2022
A hand sketching a river
Design Sketching the journey Our Journey, Rainbow Refugee, Vancouver, 2022
A room painting panels
Create Painting the journey Our Journey, Rainbow Refugee, Vancouver, 2022
A participant absorbed in painting
Create Every voice in the painting Our Journey, Rainbow Refugee, Vancouver, 2022
The One Body painting with two large eyes
The finished artwork One Body, Mission Services of London, 2017

Nonprofit · London, Ontario · 2017

Mission Services of London: One Body

People served by Mission Services, many facing addiction and homelessness, created visual stories about their lives. The board then studied those stories together and used them as the starting point for the organisation’s strategic planning.

Participants painting on the floor
Create Creating the visual stories One Body, Mission Services of London, 2017
People reviewing the finished painting
Share The board reviews the stories One Body, Mission Services of London, 2017
The painting presented to an audience
Share Presented to the community One Body, Mission Services of London, 2017

More partners

Across sectors

A participant painting at Participation House
We Are All One, Participation House, London, Ontario, 2019

Community care · 2019

Participation House

We Are All One: a community building project where every participant had a way to take part.

The Queer Joy collective artwork
Queer Joy, Mount Royal University

University

Mount Royal University

Queer Joy: an affinity group build across campuses.

Read our five star reviews on Google

Michelle Baldwin
Heart 2 Heart, London, Ontario, 2018
The community love, mindful hosting and deep engagement that I witnessed in how Melanie approaches social art projects was inspiring and illustrated connection through creativity.Michelle Baldwin, Senior Advisor, Community Foundations of Canada

References in your sector are available on request.

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