Kindergarten to Grade 3 students at Trudeau Elementary worked outdoors on a place-based art project at George Park, located two blocks from the school. The students explored the park with their senses and experienced the many sounds, smells, feelings, and sights within that space. The students noted the sounds of puddles and birds, the smell of trees, and the placement of rocks before sharing those experiences through storytelling, drawing, and making. Choosing one experience to work with for our final installation, the students made paper-mache art that tells a story of each of their experiences. Throughout their time making, some projects merged together and a few students ended up collaborating on shared experiences.
As part of the final class, students brought their objects of place back to George Park, and we held a temporary outdoor installation. The students placed their art contextually in the park and visited each of their classmate’s works, reflecting on their unique experiences and collective experiences within that space. Spending time in George Park and deeply sensing the environment brought to light an intrinsic interconnectedness in shared space.
The students placed their art “to give space to grow”, “to protect from the wind”, “to be seen from far away by animals” while thinking about the dynamic experiences within the space of George Park. Offering their presence with people, animals and plants created an understanding of community at George Park and a shared feeling of belonging within that place.
STUDENTS QUOTES
“We share this park with leaves, slides, swings, rolling hills, trees, grass, seeds, nests, shoes, worms, bark, strangers, and wind.” -Kindergarten student
“We share our emotions with others and we share this land.” -Kindergarten student
Our project process involves a collaborative installation piece intended to create a sense of hope and interconnectedness that reminds us of the importance of all our relationships. The art provocations provided multiple opportunities for students and teachers to explore identities: where we are in this moment, how we relate to ourselves, and the interconnections between ourselves and all the relationships in our lives. Storytelling, textiles and fibres focus these explorations.
In practicing Mayan oral traditions via personal stories, I provoked collaborators to trace their histories, emphasizing human rights, social justice and community building. Linking traditional Mayan textiles and fibre arts in the implementation furthers the dialogue of strengthening connections: multiple threads are needed to create a vibrant weaving just as many people are needed to create a vibrant and diverse social fabric.
Individual works possess imprinted stories and intimate meanings brought by each participant, embedding their identity into the artworks. Each piece contributes to the whole in a unique way; the works transform and strengthen each other when connected to one another, reminding us of the connections that we all share.
This explorative work acknowledges the complex social threads that link every one of us. Student stories are imprinted within the works, generating a new space for reflection. Acting as frames of hope, love, trust and resilience, the interlocking pieces respond to personal and collective longings for connection during a time where the quality of our shared space with one another is significantly reduced and reimagined.
The sustaining purpose of this project was to connect students with the opportunity that art provides us with: the opportunity to maintain openhearted communication and to honour student voices and experiences.
STUDENTS QUOTES
“When I was working on my [weaving] I felt like I was weaving my roots of my family.”
“For me, a community is family, friends, teachers, relatives and nature. Mother Nature is part of our community or ecosystem. We have to make our community stronger and better. We are all part of community”
“My weaving means family, animals, life and nature. It also means “worlds”. The colours I chose are magenta and white. To me, the white means spirit as in those that have passed on in life, that includes animals and nature. Magenta means magical. And red means love”