Thanks to funding from Art Starts, theBICS Action Group (Community School Association and Parent Advisory Council,) and a generous donation from Opus Art Supplies, the Virtues Made Visible project brings three artists-in-residence to the Bowen Island Community School this spring. Every student enrolled from Kindergarten to Grade 3 will have the opportunity to creatively infuse social responsibility virtues into various art forms and transform concepts into tangible art objects through a hands-on creative process.
The artists are working collaboratively with teachers and classroom parent volunteers to provide hands-on, creative, thoughtful, educational and memorable experiences that deepens the understanding of the virtues project, activate thinking about concepts of social responsibility, and create tangible art works for students to take home as lasting mementos.
Local artists Andrea Klann, Saffron Gurney and GeraldMorrisseau responded to the call to community artists to submit Virtues Made Visible art project ideas for teachers to select from. Division 7 is participating in creating a fabric mural with AndreaKlann that will explore the virtue of unity as well as looking at the eco-system around us and exploring the idea of place, creativity, purposefulness, sharing and integrity. As part of her introduction to the class, Andrea brought examples of her paintings and talked to students about creative process, mapping, and ideas around community identity.
Weaving explores the virtues of purposefulness, patience and creativity. GeraldMorrisseau is sharing the basics of weaving techniques, including the denim weave pattern that is still used to create most jeans. This project will include curriculum connections to understanding fractions, patterns and design elements, as well as investigating textile history and First Nations textile materials. After exploring the virtue of patience, each of the students in the two divisions participating in this project will take home a pre-framed weaving that is ready to hang on the wall.
Six divisions signed up to learn about the virtues of tolerance, curiosity, creativity and friendliness through the story of "The Sunflower Man." This is a non-fiction story written for children. In the story van Gogh and a little boy both experience intolerance and bullying by the townspeople of a small village in France. Students discuss how they would re-write this story to include notions of tolerance, curiosity, creativity and friendliness; learn about the art of van Gogh, and explore acrylic painting techniques with Saffron Gurney who dressed up and took on the role of Vincent van Gogh to inspirestudents. With special thanks to Opus Art Supplies that donated canvas, 125 students will take home their personal sunflower paintings as mementos of this project.
Watch for photos and displays in the upper foyerand hallways atBICS showcasing and sharing the artworks and the ideas behind the Virtues Made Visible project.
