A paint project designed to soften the edges and bring the forest a little closer to a Wildwood elementary school is now complete. Project organizers are looking to move to the next stage of the project this summer.
Discover-Imagine-Grow-Schoolyard (DIGS) committee gave the Powell River Board of Education a progress report when the board visited James Thomson Elementary School in May.
The forest mural at James Thomson is now complete and includes Heiltsuk First Nation artist Ivan Rosypskye’s yellow cedar carving of a spindle whorl.
“I’ve been working with the themes of softening the edges by bringing the forest in and weaving,” said Dill during their presentation. “Woven” is a central theme the committee is working with, reflecting the dynamics of the school where students learn three languages.
The mural incorporates images of old-growth fir and cedar, indigenous plants and local animals, she said.
It has given students an opportunity to see how painters and first nation carvers work.
Along the way Claudia Medina has been filming the process of the carving and the painting, said Dill. The documentary project will give future students at the school a chance to see how the project was completed.
“It’s been very much a process of not just the evolution of the art pieces, the carving and the painting, but also the interaction the children are having with the process which has been quite dynamic and exciting,” said Medina. “The aim is to create something that not only expresses how things were created but also how the students were responding to the process.”
It is expected that the documentary will be completed by the fall 2014.
The next phase of the project, to re-imagine the landscape around the school, is to install upright posts into the courtyard and have benches installed around them which will give students and parents a place to sit down and create some quieter space around the school. The committee received a $2,000 Evergreen grant to fund the purchase of greenery for the schoolyard.
