A full-scale labyrinth coiled its way around the Community School gym floor last week, guiding those who walked its path toward a greater state of mindfulness. The project, created in honour of Earth Day engaged the entire school last week.
The Earth Labyrinth, an interactive art installation, was also intended to help the students learn the skill of self regulation, and achieving inner calm and connection to the land. Part of the strategy behind the project was to create an experiential learning opportunity by extracting the clay from the island to create the art installation.
By integrating materials from earth, the project attempted to help create “a connection between the past and the present, humans and the land, and a new way of looking at how we are connected.”
The clay that the students used was part of their hand-on lessons about local history, geology and geography. Clay deposits were discovered on 68 acres of Bowen Island in the 1880s which went on to become the bricks in the buildings of downtown Vancouver
Last February , when the project began, local ceramic artist Susannah Montague began working with the students, helping them to embody their lessons in their art. They created over-turned bowl shapes made from clay into a kind of luminaria, decorated with representations of the things they love about their world, from stars to undersea creatures.
An interested Islander, upon hearing about the project helped to excavate the clay for the project. By hand, the students processed the clay to incorporate a small amount into their artwork.
After firing, the grey clay that originated off island, turned white and the dark blue-grey Bowen clay turned red. The artist showed the students how to enhance the natural colours of the clay with a clear glaze and second firing.
Early last week, as the project neared readiness for installation, theartists, students and volunteers sewed and hand painted a 2,500 square foot reusable canvas labyrinth base to place the ceramic artworks with more than 300 candles.
On April 20, 350 people came to walk the school labyrinth.
Gerald Morrisseau, multi-media First Nations artist assisted with the overall project
To add atmosphere, students and parent volunteer Shawn Cole, along with music teacher Cynthia Fairbank created a soundscape from recordings around Bowen Island. Sarah Haxby conceived of the project and was a driving force in bringing it from concept to completion with a huge team of co creators and supporters.
