Local students are getting a chance to share their artistic talents with the community and with visitors by hanging their art on the walls of the Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery this month.
The Student Artistry show, which runs for the month of June, features the work of students from area schools and the gallery. Thirty-four students from Ladysmith Secondary School (LSS) will be part of the show.
Samanta De Souza, who is in Grade 11, is one of the students participating in the show.
“I think it’s going to be an experience from a different perspective,” she said. “We’re so used to having our art judged by ourselves and our peers. It’s going to be interesting to have feedback from an adult perspective and people who have been doing it for years.”
Angela O’Donnell, a Grade 11 student, says she is excited to have something she worked on displayed.
Grade 12 student Kirstin Purslow submitted a portrait of her great-grandfather, who was a chief, into the art show.
“I’m glad that I get to showcase my heritage with it,” she said.
De Souza has put a painting into the show that features quotes, colours and images that inspire her.
“I painted it because I thought I needed an image of what my heart wants,” she said.
O’Donnell created a series of stencils, and she will show stencils of Prince Charles and of Christy Clark.
The students are grateful for the opportunity to show their work at the Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery.
“I’ve been to lots of shows before and really enjoyed them, so it’s really cool as a young person to see myself and my peers [in the gallery],” said Purslow.
Grade 9 student Emmilly Benson says she is “very, very, very excited” to display her work in the art show.
Benson will show a painting of a medal with a little girl in it as well as an exercise cube and a dragon sculpture.
Grade 9 student Kathryn Schertzer is submitting a clay project featuring a mother and a child that represents joy, as well as a clock with words that represent what she wants to be in her life.
“I feel excited and very honoured to have my piece of art in the show,” she said.
Grade 9 student Daniel Redding is showing a watercolour painting titled Puddle.
“I’m looking forward to seeing different styles of art,” he said.
Grade 9 student Ricky Bates is showing a creepy puppet at the gallery. He says he’s looking forward to seeing what went into other students’ work and “seeing what kinds of things they do and how they do what they do.”
LSS art teacher Darcy Johnson feels a show like this is great for the students, especially when it’s in their home community.
“What you see in this community and at the gallery is a real respect for what they do,” she said. “It gives them so much — it gives them a sense of belonging, self-esteem, a sense of the importance of their own individuality, that sense of being a part of a community but being able to be free to be an individual.”
The Student Artistry Show runs until the end of June at the Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery. The opening gala takes place this Saturday (June 14) at 7 p.m.
For more information, call 250-245-1252 or click here.
