There was an explosion of colour and creativity at West Royalty Elementary School in Charlottetown on Thursday.
Island artists like Dina Blot and Gary Torlone were on hand to give the students a hand in creating art work, much of which looks like it belongs hanging in the Confederation Centre of the Arts art gallery.
The event was part of the ArtsSmarts P.E.I. program, an education initiative dedicated to improving the lives and learning capacity of children by injecting arts into academic programs.
“ArtsSmarts is an opportunity that, I think, gives me the ability as an artist to get into the classroom and let children kind of look at the world in a creative way,’’ said Blot.
Blot is an artist who works with liquid polymer, a sort of resin that is able to harden natural materials. It allows her to recycle a lot of products and make art that can be exposed to all kinds of weather elements.
“It comes in handy, especially working in a project like (ArtsSmarts), but it’s also an environmentally safe product. It’s water-based, so the kids just go into the gooey mooey stuff with their hands . . . use some soap and water and clean it right off.’’
Her liquid polymer would make the standard T-shirt rock hard.
Blot said the importance of ArtsSmarts can’t be understated in terms of what it can do for children.
“Normally kids that would be quite silent can suddenly become very outspoken about expressing themselves through art. It brings out the artistic side and the creative side of that kid and, sometimes, it even brings out so much that I would encourage the parents to do something with that.’’
She said age doesn’t matter when it comes to involving art and children.
Not only does it draw out the creativity in students it also helps boost their social skills.
“Often when you work with Grade 1 or 2 (students) they make sure they have a buddy from a grade a little bit higher and they kind of do teamwork. It’s good for social interactions in the schools.’’
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