It is not too often that the majority of the students in a school contribute to one single art project, but last week that is exactly what happened at Henderson Elementary School.
The proof is currently hanging in the school’s stairwell.
With lessons from visiting Victoria artist Claudia Lorenz on how to weave wool using a loom and sew material by hand, students in all grades worked to produce more than 25 multicoloured multi-patterned panels all sewn together into a one giant fibre art hanging.
“The idea [for the project] came out of what they were making,” said Lorenz. “We knew we’d be weaving and needle felting, but I had no idea how much we were going to produce.”
Lorenz said that she was impressed by how the students have taken to weaving after they started to come in during their lunch and recess breaks to use the loom.
She brought two looms with her and her spinning wheel for making raw wool into thread bags of dyed and non-dyed wool.
Students also learned the art of needle felting and proceeded to make their own stuffed animal toys.
Lorenz taught the grade seven students on Monday morning and helped them to understand the difference between knitted and weaved fabrics.
She focused on teaching the importance of fabric from the sheets the children sleep on and the towels they use to the clothes they wear.
Henderson teacher and art enthusiast Kim Knowlson applied for an ArtStarts grant last fall and was given funding to bring the Victoria artist to Powell River for a week. ArtStarts is a not-for-profit organization that brings professional artists into BC schools for performances, workshops, residencies and exhibitions.
Knowlson said that she has been impressed with how the grade seven students “stepped up” during the week and the tremendous help they were in teaching younger students.
“As they learned a skill, they taught a skill,” Knowlson said. “They were absolutely essential for getting through the week.”
The students even taught principal Scott Fisher how to use the loom, she added.
Knowlson, who usually works just two days a week, spent the whole week watching to see how the students were doing.
She added that in a rough, very unscientific poll she took, the girls generally liked the needle felting more while the boys liked the braiding.
“The hope was they could learn skills that would become part of their lifelong learning,” she said. “The students were able to learn hand sewing and now know they can sew.”
Students sewed cloth to make bags and learned why it is important to use two threads to sew on buttons, she said.
“Those are everyday skills that they’re going to keep up with,” she said. “It has been great to see the enthusiasm they have for continuing on the project.”
The grade seven students, particularly the boys, are busying making plans to convince the parent advisory council to buy a loom, a spinning wheel and a sheep or two to allow them to continue their school weaving, she added.
The school had a celebration ceremony to show off the weaving on Friday, May 2.
“It’s kind of nice that they’ve all had their fingers in it,” Knowlson said.
