Local students were recently asked to consider what it means to live in Saugeen Shores and to create a painting about their thoughts.
The exercise was part of a grant from the Community Foundation of Grey Bruce with Southampton Arts providing several classrooms from Grade 3 through to high school with supplies that included the paints, canvases and brushes.
For those teachers who came on board with the project, their students, including Saugeen First Nation, created works of art in their classrooms.
The completed works of art were then framed and displayed in three venues – Police Services headquarters where there was a reception on May 13th, Port Elgin Public Library and Southampton Arts Centre, and which all will later be included in a final exhibition at the Southampton Arts Centre.
Most of the paintings had a theme of Lake Huron, the beaches and Chantry Island Lighthouse. At the Police headquarters, the 80 pieces were uniquely displayed with a hanging system of the paintings that have been framed using embroidery hoops. “The system is unique and effective when it comes to displaying a large number of pieces,” said Karin Friis of Southampton Arts Centre.
“My inspiration was the main reason people come to Southampton,” says Catalan, “the Beach!”
“My inspiration was Chantry Island Lighthouse,” said Laman.
Members of the community, and the artists, were invited to receptions exhibiting the works at each of the three venues with the intention of creating a video to document the process from the classrooms’ creative activity to the completed installations. The video will be available to schools and will also be shown at Southampton Arts Centre along with a final exhibition of all art works.
