Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 17/99) - Teachers Betty Wilcox and Maureen Tonge have been designing and realizing the visual arts program at Sir John Franklin high school since 1994

The program -- one of three programs under the aegis of Fine Arts -- spans grades 9 to 12

In the first year, essential elements and principles of design are explored in two- to three-day projects, explains Tonge.

"We give them a visual language," she says.

Things such as line, shape, form, space, colour and value are studied. Through small projects, the learned theories are explored.

"It's interesting to see how different students interpret the same project," says Tonge.

In the first two years of the visual arts program, students are graded based on the effort they put into their work. Later, in the senior years, those who continue will be graded on the quality of their work.

"It gets more intense as they go on," says Wilcox.

Increasingly, theory will become a focus. And finally, theory must translate visually.

Art history, from the middle ages to the 20th century, is explored because the academic portion of the program is vital, says Wilcox.

From project to project, the students hone their skills. They learn the subtleties of the visual world that many of us take for granted; that many of us could not reproduce to save our lives.

"The program has come a long way," says Wilcox.

"It becomes more successful as we go on. Every year we have several people (graduating students) going into fine arts."

Diane Essery, in Grade 12, is one such student. Her teachers speak of her prowess in visual expression. Essery's art skills have made her proud and she's applied at a post-secondary institution to pursue her art.

"I think I wanted to be a lawyer," she says, adding that everyone in her family has "some kind of thing, guitar, basketball. I started drawing."

Wilcox notes that the success of the program is mainly due to the school's administration and the school board.

"We have an administration and a board that supports arts in general," she says.

On Sundays, Wilcox meets with a group of especially dedicated young artists. Part of the arts program, these 17 young people are participating in a new trial program called Roots and Wings. They're learning a whole new area of study: the histories of Inuit, Athapaskan and European art; where they come into contact and how they influence each other.

"They interpret the culture through the art," says Wilcox.

In late February, the 17 students will travel to England to lead workshops at a school there and share what the have learned. They've also been studying history, archaeology, anthropology, marketing...and the list goes on. It lets them know that in the field of arts, there are many practical career possibilities.

"They're learning that it's not always glamorous. It's hard work being an artist."