SRSS artists learn value of anonymity

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/01/2017 (3090 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes the biggest challenge as an artist can be finding the courage to share your art with others. But what if you never knew who was on the receiving end of your creations?

Thanks to a creative arrangement between Steinbach Regional Secondary School and the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital, children at the hospital are being given an opportunity to connect with friends and loved ones with a little piece of art, courtesy of SRSS visual arts students.

Teacher Ryan Loeppky said the project came about after much discussion with the hospital.

“There’s got to be a way that we can use art to bring a little light into a kid’s life,” he recalled thinking.

From there the school’s “art card” project was born. Students from three Grade 10 classes have used their artistic abilities to create a host of cards featuring the likes of Spiderman, Pokemon, Star Wars and more. Once delivered, hospitalized kids have the opportunity to choose one that is meaningful to them and send it to someone they know.

Loeppky said the experience was a great way to show the tangible experience of art.

“This might be the most important work of art you can ever do,” he told them.

More than just a class assignment, this was a piece of art that was going to end up in someone’s hands.

Loeppky had a catch though. The cards wouldn’t come with an artist’s signature, they would be instead be, “beautifully anonymous.”

“Today’s not about you,” he told his students.

What flowed from that direction was interesting to see.

“It was beautiful to see how they took that day and made it about somebody else,” Loeppky said.

Grade 10 student Zoey Penner was one of the students who helped deliver cards to the hospital.

Penner focused her three cards on her favorite Marvel character, Captain America, another on the phrase “Hakuna matata” and a final card with rainbows and sparkles.

She said it was a very personal experience for her as she recalled spending time in hospital after a car accident several years. It also made her reflect on her young cousin, Cash Friesen, who died in 2013 after a courageous battle with cancer.

Penner said it’s a “cool feeling” to know her art is going to into the hands of someone she’ll never know.

“At the same time, I’m really curious but I’ll just have to take hold of my curiosity and know that it goes to someone who needs it,” she said.