People and places
Inspiring art show celebrates Zimbabwe crafts Michele Debuisne outlines a creative endeavour Marymount International School, Paris is a Catholic school with a mission statement that embraces diversity and fosters not only individual success but also compassion for those who are less fortunate. As a school, we have annual fundraising that supports our sister school in Zimbabwe. The sisters there belong to the same order as our sisters here: the RSHM (Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary). In the spirit of the RSHM mission “that all may have life”, I came up with the idea to have a school-wide art fair that would feature students’ art from grades 1-8 and would also have a fundraising component: the art auction and “goodies” generated from the student art for sale. Here’s the story. I am fortunate to teach in a large, glass-roofed art studio. The students come down to my studio once a week; happy, eager and ready to do something new and exciting. After the initial settling-in period of September, I launched into project Autumn
Spring |
| 2018
work that would be displayed in the art fair. I explained that only their very best work was acceptable and that they needed to practice before going on to their final set of materials. The motivation for the art was the animals, the people and the traditional crafts of Zimbabwe. This was rich inspiration. Giraffe silhouettes, mountain gorillas, African warriors, lions, clay bowls, Ndebele dolls, Ndebele designs and houses, hippos, zebras and elephants. This is the complete list of art created, and each class spent several weeks perfecting their individual piece. A frame was added to every painting with patterns and designs. Some classes enjoyed the process so much we continued to make more art inspired from the first project. In grade 4 after painting lions, they were eager to draw elephants too. One student in grade 2 told me she was drawing mountain gorillas at home all the time! Artistic surprises also happened along the way. My students
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