Children in the Anglophone West School District are getting more than the usual kind of classroom art experience.
A program started by retired art educator Susan Galbraith and gallery curator Jennifer Stead brings New Brunswick artists right into the schools, introducing children to the people who create beautiful works.
“The piece of work goes into an individual classroom, as opposed to just generally in the school where people are passing by,” said Galbraith, who up until last year was the visual arts lead for the district.
“This way, it’s in the workspace, the play space, the learning space of the children for a three-week period.”
She said the project began when Stead, of the Andrew and Laura McCain Art Gallery in Florenceville-Bristol, couldn’t continue her art education outreach program when COVID-19 hit.
Before that, she would invite students to visit the gallery and send artists into schools.
“So she really wondered, how can we still expose our students to really rich art activity and have them see live art, real art?” said Galbraith.
“And she came up with this idea of sending the artwork into the classrooms. So she approached me, as an arts educator, to see if I could come up with some ideas.”
The person that first came to Galbraith’s mind was her husband, Colin Smith, an artist in Florenceville-Bristol and a retired teacher.
“It’s nice when one person buys something and they take it home and it’s theirs, but this is very, very public, and it’s a wonderful feeling,” said Smith.
He said the kids always have questions about his work that he never could have dreamed of. And talking to them about his art is special because they are genuinely interested.
“I was signing autographs at a class the other day,” he laughed.
“It’s weird, and it’s happened a couple of times, and once it completely disrupted the class, right? Because a kid comes up, ‘Could I have your autograph?’ … and I signed it, right?
“And then suddenly the whole class wants them.”
Kimberly Ouellette, a Grade 1 teacher at Kingsclear Community School in Fredericton, said the first piece she had in her classroom was from Smith.
She said the piece, which was all about birds, was adored by the students and allowed them to learn more about them.
Ouellette said the main driver for her continued participation in the program is seeing how much the kids love having the art in their classroom.
“It’s just a great way to help our kids understand and learn about arts in the communities, learn about the communities themselves and how art is interconnected,” she said.
“So we do literacy connections and math connections and science connections and how it’s all interrelated.
“And they leave with a spectacular vocabulary and knowledge base about what art truly is.”
With files from Jeanne Armstrong and Shane Fowler
This story was originally published in CBC News on June 17, 2024.
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