The Carlyle Elementary School welcomed Heather van der Breggan and Rickee-Lee Webster from Weyburn on Thursday, Oct. 29, for the program Smartart Artsmart.
The mother and daughter are both full time artists at their studio Simple with a Twist.
“We did a Culture Days program a few years ago and we talked about different cultures and their importance,” Webster said. “My mother creates polyptych art, which uses multiple canvases to create a larger picture. So, we decided to do a world to focus on different cultures.”
This gave way to the pair deciding to apply for a Community Initiative Fund grant in order to take their teachings to more schools.
van der Breggan added, “It’s a grid picture of the world and while we’re hanging each painting up on the wall the kids realize that their abstract painting is actually a part of the Earth. Each painting is a unique piece, like each person, and this program is more than just painting. It teaches them that the world is not whole without their contribution to it.”
Each of the participating youth were given a canvas and an abstract photo which they had to recreate on their canvas. The photos, separately, looked abstract and the students had no idea that they were actually working together to create a larger work of art. As Webster began hanging the paintings the students started pointing and exclaiming, “We created a planet! We created Earth!”
After the paintings were all displayed, Webster then took one piece out, “What happens when I take this piece away?”
Students exclaimed, “It’s wrecked. It’s not whole anymore.”
This was the lesson that van der Breggen and Webster were instilling in them as Webster said, “The world is not complete without you. We need each of you to make our world complete.
