Students at McKinney elementary are finding out, at an early age, what it feels like to create art and to have it appreciated by your peers.
Thanks to the work of their Kindergarten/Grade 1 teacher, Karen Leung — who secured $2,000 of Artstarts funding — her students had the benefit of a month-long artist-in-residence, Phyllis Schwartz, a renowned local ceramicist and photographer.
Schwartz spent November working with the young students in a series of clay workshops, before creating personal, ceramic pieces that reflected their observations derived from a tour of a local nature park.
“She worked for weeks with the kids; she was really hands-on and I was able to fit it into the curriculum,” Leung told the Richmond News.
“It was a real, place-based experience. Their observation tour…was their inspiration for the bowls and ornaments they made out of clay.
“The kids were able to express that connection they had made between nature and what they had learned from the artist.”
Leung received a $2,000 grant from Artstart, through the BC Arts Council, as long as she procured 30 per cent of it from other sources, which she managed through the Richmond Association for Montessori and from the school’s PAC.
“Working with something tactile, like clay, gave them a lot of satisfaction and pride,” added Leung. “They had a celebration of their work in front of the whole school. They were very proud of themselves.”
