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Elementary students to display artwork in gallery at upcoming exhibition

May 31, 2016 | 5:00 PM

An opportunity for North Battleford to see the up and coming talent of the city’s young people will be coming to ARC creative studios downtown.

The Creative Kids Art Show will be holding its opening reception on Tuesday, June 7.

The exhibition represents a variety of children’s artwork from McKitrick Community School.

The show is a unique opportunity for children as young as six to learn skills from local artists with the end goal of putting their talents on display in a gallery for all to see.

Joanne Wing is the organizer of the exhibition. As a local artist, she was also the innovator of the Creative Kids movement. Wing explained when she was the community liaison worker at McKitrick Community School, she saw a niche to fill when it came to finding extracurricular activities for children between certain age groups.

She began targeting students in Grades 7 and 8 but as interest in the program grew among students, the inclusivity of the Creative Kids program expanded to include children as young as the first grade.

While hanging a line of children’s canvases along the gallery wall, Wing explained she really enjoyed watching children discover their creative talents and exploring different art forms.

“We have painting, pottery and ink on tiles,” Wing said, describing the variety of media to be featured at the show. “I think kids generally like art; I think they get surprised at the reaction their art receives. I think they get tickled.”

At McKitrick, the show was an ongoing weekly event running from September to June, but the show at ARC will be the first time the children’s artwork will be exhibited in a professional gallery.

Wing said though she was the innovator of the program, she now enjoys being a local guest artist who comes in to instruct the students. She added there are opportunities to bring in more local artists next year.

“We’re hoping to bring in more next year. Like sculpture would be one of the new (mediums) we’d like to try,” Wing said. “It would be good to get more artists involved. Maybe expand a little bit.”

The reception on Tuesday will run from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibition will be featured for two weeks after.

 

Colleen.smith@jpbg.ca

Twitter: ColleenAJSmith