LUTSEL K'E/SNOWDRIFT
Students at Lutsel K'e Dene School are painting two birds with one stone.
On Feb. 23 and 24, NWT artist John Rombough, centre, painted two murals at Lutsel K'e Dene School with the help of students from all grades including, left to right, River Marlowe, Joel Catholique, Dennay Catholique, Madison Isadore-Michel and Alex Deranger.
- Paul Bickford/NNSL photo |
They are in the process of creating two new murals for the school with the help of Yellowknife artist John Rombough, and vice principal Mike Haslett hopes the project will leave his students with more than a pretty picture.
"We're just trying to make all the relationships better," he said, explaining the project comes with an anti-bullying message.
"Sometimes people feel like they're being picked on and sometimes kids are naturally not always nice to each other."
He said he also wants the project to reinforce the students' sense of cultural identity, pointing to the important role art has traditionally played in the lives of his students' ancestors, grandparents and parents.
Rombough visited the school February 23 and 24 to work with its 75 students - five or six at a time - from junior kindergarten to Grade 12.
"There are a lot of very creative students here," he told News/North Feb. 24.
The two murals are each seven feet wide and 35 inches high. One features a winter scene of a family out on the land, while the other features a summer scene at a lake, including animals sharing the land. Rombough explained the murals' message is about how the students can get along by working together, and that their ancestors are watching over them all the time.
The artist cut out the murals and drew the backgrounds of black silhouettes, but left the rest to the students.
"The kids started filling in the colours because I was halfway finished," he said, adding he guided them in applying vibrant acrylic colours.
"Altogether when it's finished, they'll have about six to seven layers of paint on top of it," he said.
Rombough also demonstrated a handful of painting techniques, such as how to balance a brush properly and how to paint freehand.
Faith Catholique, a Grade 6 student, shared her thoughts on participating in the project with News/North.
"I love painting ... painting is my favourite thing to do," she said.
The 12-year-old added that, by working on the murals, she has learned about different ways to paint.
Grade 7 student Chyanna Catholique said all the students in the school were excited to be working on the murals.
"They're saying that it's nice, and that it's fun doing it," she said.
Fayth Lantz, a Grade 6 student, said she and her peers were having a lot of fun helping to make the murals.
"I think I'm learning new techniques on how to paint," she said.
Although Rombough calls Yellowknife home, he has a family connection to Lutsel K'e.
Born in Ontario and raised by a family on Prince Edward Island, his birth father is from the community and he's returned to discover his cultural and family roots.
In fact, Rombough says he considers it his home community.
"It's where my art is inspired, too, by the land and the culture itself," he said.
Haslett said no decision has been made about where the new murals will be displayed, but they will likely hang somewhere in the hallways so students, parents and visitors to the school will be able to easily see them.
"It's going to look really nice," he said.
