A group of art students at a St. Albert school are eagerly awaiting the unveiling of a new mural they’ve been working on for weeks.
Students at Ă©cole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d'Youville were busy putting the finishing touches on their pieces Thursday. The students completed 10 scenes on poster-sized panels, each depicting a St. Albert landmark. The work is a special project that will be displayed at Servus Credit Union Place during the Alberta 55 Plus Winter Games next February.
“It’s not that often we get to do something this big so it’s pretty exciting,” said student project leader Thomas Fenton, 14.
The art will be on display at Profiles Art Gallery starting May 6 then move over to Servus Place in June. Images include the clock tower, St. Albert Centre, Seven Hills and the Father Lacombe Chapel.
“We just really want to show what a unique place St. Albert is,” Fenton said.
“I liked that the places that we painted are places that we know,” said Grade 10 student Alix Malloy, who painted the Children’s Festival with classmate Taylor Bengert.
The project was very challenging because the students had to paint on clear acrylic panels in such a way that their completed scenes would be displayed through the underside rather than the painted surface.
“It’s difficult because you have to paint backwards,” said art teacher Pam Wilman. “When you put your first colour down, when you blend, it’s opposite to what you normally would do.”
“That was really challenging because it really messed with your mind,” agreed artist Danielle Pertschy, 16.
She painted a scene depicting the trestle bridge over the Sturgeon River. She’s excited to have her work displayed in such a public venue.
“It makes me really happy that people can see what high school students can really do, not just professional artists,” she said.
The project has also made her more interested in the games themselves.
“I’m curious what it is now and I might go check it out,” she said.
With the 10 panels completed, the students will now spend the next couple of months working on another part of the mural, a large landscape that will show the 13 sports included in the games.
The mural project is an attempt by organizers to get the city’s young people involved in the games.
“We didn’t want the focus to be strictly on the over-55 age group. We wanted to show that the community can work well together,” said games chair Sandra Fenton, Thomas’ mom.
She’s getting all four St. Albert high schools involved. Last fall Bellerose students helped the games with its website. Fenton is still working on ways to get involvement from students of Paul Kane and St. Albert Catholic High School.
