Giving back through art

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

Students at Sacred Heart Elementary School took part in the first annual Children’s National Art Project for Canadian elementary schools. The project was introduced as an opportunity to introduce young children to the concept of giving back and social responsibility. It is organized through the Starlight Children’s Foundation. 

“What they did is, we actually got a large package and it included the water colour paper and the new pencil crayons that they have out,” said teacher Sarah Watson of the Crayola supplies sent to them. 

 The kids would draw the picture and then they would take a paintbrush with water on it to run over the picture, which would make it look like a painting. The kids experimented with different techniques to get an idea of what would work best once the water was brushed over the design.

“The theme was courage and hope. So they had to draw pictures that were meaningful to them that symbolized courage and hope of some sort,” said Watson. 

“It was kind of neat and they absolutely loved it. They got to keep the supplies after as well.” 

She said some of the students created their artwork to represent religion or family, anything that meant courage and hope to them. Watson heard about the project from another teacher. The other teacher forwarded the information and got an email back saying they were still looking for more classes to be involved, so Watson decided to apply. There were students from Watson’s class, some from Grade 4 and some from each of the grade 6 classes. There are 200 schools participating and each school gets to submit nine paintings, and then one from those nine is picked to go onto the next level. 

“We talked as a class about hope and courage and each student had to explain their picture and what it meant to them. From there, as a class we each picked a few of our favourites,” said Watson. 

Watson took those favourites to other teachers, and without saying who had created it, asked the other teachers to pick which pictures best depicted hope and courage. At the beginning of April people will have an opportunity to bid on the different artworks displayed. 

“I believe it’s April 1 they are going online to bid. The bids minimum is $25 and 50 per cent go to the Starlight foundation and 50 per cent go back to the school,” said Watson. 

For more than 20 years the Starlight Children’s Foundation has been there to help improve quality of life for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and life-altering injuries. Through inpatient, outpatient and online resources, Starlight works hard to support seriously ill children and their families. They are there from diagnosis, through the entire course of medical treatment and beyond. Whether it’s a trip, toys or going to a sporting event, Starlight’s mission is to bring fun, joy and giggles right where they are needed the most. To place a bid and help support Sacred Heart Elementary and the Starlight Children’s Foundation, go to www.starlightartproject.org from April 1 to 15.