A chorus of some 75 young voices exclaimed “Ooh!” “Aah!” and “Wow!” 15 times over last week, once for each of the paintings unveiled by the 5th level art students of the Alexander Galt Regional High School. The paintings were a gift to the Cookshire Elementary School, and they vividly depicted 15 different animals, from beavers to bears and beyond.
Tina Jacklin, principal at Cookshire Elementary, initiated the project. “We had some canvases around the school that needed some refurbishing,” she said. She asked Galt art teacher Sigal Hirshfeld if her art students might do something with them. “My eyes were big, big, because I love making art for other people,” Hirshfeld told the children.
“Art is meant to be seen, to be shared, to be celebrated and enjoyed – what better affirmation than brightening the days of young ones? I wanted my students to feel pride and get a true sense of worth,” she said later.
Together, the art students decided on the theme, and to use coloured tissue paper. The series of 24 x 36-inch works were a combination of collage and painting. Each one had its own individual character.
The 30 students worked in pairs for weeks, discussing and sketching their ideas, then developing them. At the gifting ceremony in the Cookshire Elementary gym, the art students displayed the canvases one by one and described the working process. The young Cookshire students were full of questions and comments, all complimentary. “Thank you!” said the Galt students, again and again.
“We’re going to display the paintings around our school,” said Jacklin. “Thank you!” chorused the Cookshire students.
“The buzz in the school afterward was contagious,” Jacklin said later. “This project surpassed all of my expectations and we are already in hopes of doing another project in the future.”