snapshots from the studio

At Queen Alexandra, Christine and Maggie engaged the whole school in a shadow theatre adaption of a Haida story gifted to Christine. Finding your Way Home is a story of Little One, a two spirit indigenous child that wanders away from their elders and gets lost in the forest at night encountering butterflies, salmon, bunnies and nocturnal forest creatures along the way.  Students brought the story to life using small and life-sized puppets, props and scenery created from cut paper, cardboard, sharpies and colored acetates mounted on old overhead projectors.  

Christine taught the students elements of North West Coast form line design which students incorporated into their puppets. Maggie worked with students to integrate backdrops and scenery and to transform the space of the gym into a giant cedar forest. 

"It was really fun to work on the projector and make cool effects with them. " - Intermediate student

"I felt calm when the butterflies danced.  I felt proud that we did the puppet show ourselves." - Rosemary

"I feel like an artist in the art studio." - Navy

At the Art and Discovery Studio in Florence Nightingale Elementary, Nellie Gossen invited Grade 5, 6 and 7 students to upcycle a piece of used clothing for their future selves.  Introducing fashion artists such as Buzigahill, Lucy Ortega and Nellie’s own practice which intersect with issues such as fast fashion, branding, and waste.  Students were asked to consider how clothing might reflect their own values and were given permission to burst open existing conventions about what is fashionable or beautiful, while still considering the functionality of their piece. 

Students embraced the possibilities of dismantling and re-imagining their chosen article,  Incorporating a variety of sewing techniques and aspect of the fashion design process students worked individually and collaboratively to transform their original garment through novel  re-attachment, and adding  different colored and textured fabrics and embellishments.  

This year, in the Art and Discovery Studio Nightingale students have been using art making as a way of tending to and reflecting on the losses we experience in our lives.  All of us carry loss, no matter how young; whether from physical injuries or lost belongings with special memories; broken relationships or friends or relations that have moved away; the death of a loved one, or homes and countries of origin. In addition to this, students are growing up with the collective burden of living in a broken world and an increasingly uncertain future; including loss of species diversity, climate precarity, global instability, systemic discrimination and the growing understanding of genocide towards indigenous people in Canada. 

When we make space for loss; take time to be present to the losses in our lives, we affirm the truth of our own experience and the love that is integral to who we are.  We come to understand that loss is an experience we all share, and through our sharing, we not only lighten the weight of what we carry, we are able to extend compassion and attention to others, in ways that make space for deeper and more authentic relationships.   

Mixed media, assemblage, weaving and paper mache

In November and December, upper Intermediate Students created a vessel, or special container, to represent a loss that they carry within their hearts.  The materials, forms and embellishments chosen by students held symbolic meaning in relation to this loss. During the winter season, when there is so much expectation to be happy, losses can feel especially heavy and isolating.  Acknowledging the pain of loss is important, because it is also the expression of enduring love.  Students shared their vessels with each other, in a special ceremony at the end of the residency and displayed them in the Art and Discovery studio.  This gave students in other classes a chance to see and respond in words and drawings to the vessel they connected with and share their own stories of loss.  

Students shared that through the making process, they were able to express themselves, the losses they had experienced and their feelings;  that it provided a place to let their emotions out and to remember; to express regret for mistakes and to keep memories safe. 

Students shared that making the vessels allowed them to appreciate what they do have and to be grateful.

Stepping into the studio at Tecumseh Elementary, one is immersed in a cascade of botanical prints and drawings decorating every wall of the room. There are intricate drawing of native plant species washed with plant-based “living” inks  that will change their tone over time.  These beautiful drawing were meticulously copied, to scale,  from herbarium sheets of native plant specimens that Julie had collected, pressed and compiled especially for the project.  

Alongside the botanical drawing are  striking negative silhouettes of different leaves in blue cyanotyps prints; photographic coated paper developed by the sun . A further collection of  prints combine embossed relief prints of Western Red Cedar, Yellow Cedar, and Douglas Fir leaves and cedar overlayed with  chin colle's of the colonial buildings that now stand where the abundant forests once did.  The contrast of positive and negative silhouettes are quite striking and a visual metaphor for our logging history and practices. 

Over the residency, students  learned the difference between indigenous, introduced and invasive plant species and how botanical illustrations contribute to  scientific knowledge. Students also learned to identify plants using the  5 aspects of the plant (the branching pattern, the flower, the leaves, the stem and the fruit).  

These plant forms are echoed in the whimsical floral motifs inspired by Art Deco design and the imagination of the students. These were carved into scratchboards, creating an  elegant  contrast of shimmering engraved lines against the deep black coating.