Local students are selling their art to raise money for SickKids hospital in Toronto.
It all began in November when Katie Burns-Pinkney’s Grade 5/6 class at Victoria Terrace Public School in Fergus watched a We Day presentation online.
“We decided that we wanted to do something to help people and we decided to do an art auction,” Grade 6 student Danika Atkinson told the Advertiser.
“We were raising money by doing bake sales and stuff … for our canvases and to be able to actually pay for the people to come in and teach us how to do the art … so we would be able to sell it.”
However, in order to sell their art the students first had to create it. So throughout March and April various instructors taught students how to create three unique pieces.
The first creation was a curlicue abstract tree acrylic painting with instructor Nancy Myslik-Vallance.
“I found it really hard to do the curlicues,” Atkinson said.
Grade 5 student Jonathon Bowman had the opposite experience, noting, “I liked the curlicue, I think that was what I was best at.”
Also on canvas, students learned how to create aboriginal dot art from the school’s art teacher.
“It’s inspired by native people and they have beading on their shoes and clothing and stuff and so it’s basically designs,” Atkinson said. “You paint your canvas black and then you draw it out with a light-colour pencil crayon and then you dot it and it looks really good.”
The students also did a photography workshop with the Focus on Nature group. They learned about the different elements of photography and how to edit their own pictures.
For the art auction the students will choose two pieces each to auction off at the beginning of May.
In order to buy the art supplies and pay for the instructions, the class hosted a bake sale and made about $200. With the help of the school and other fundraisers they had enough money to proceed.
All of the funds raised through the silent auction will go to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
“We actually called them to see how much of our money would go and it was like 95% of our money would actually go towards one child that needed it the most,” Atkinson said.
The art auction will take place from May 1 to 8 at both Bethel Baptist Church and Fresh Co. in Fergus.
At Bethel Baptist Church the pieces will be available for bidding on May 1 and 8 from 9am to 12pm and May 3 and 5 from 6 to 8pm. If more dates become available a notice will be posted on the church’s door.
The paintings at Fresh Co. will be on display from May 1 to 8 and visitors can fill out a ballot with their bid at any time during regular store hours.
“I’m going to take pictures of mine before,” Bowman said.
Atkinson added, “If I do my photography I think it will be okay because I can always take more pictures and I also do have a copy of them if I ever wanted to hang it in my room.
“But I think if I end up selling my dot art that’s going to be really hard because I really like how it looks, but I think I’ll be able to do it.”
