Artist Shares Aboriginal Vision

GUELPH

Paisley Road Public School students were immersed in traditional Woodlands art this week, as a leading aboriginal artist shared his wisdom, vision and craft with Grade 4, 5 and 6 classes.

Moses Beaver from the Summer Beaver (Nibinamik) First Nation in northern Ontario spent a few days at the school, leaving seven classrooms and one hallway transformed by his creative influence. Students made dozens of animal spirit masks, crafted a colourful totem pole from folded paper, and painted several large-scale murals.

"The native art was really awesome," said Will Hyndman, 11, a Grade 6 student. "It taught me about different life connections -- between humans, animals and the environment."

Beaver left his artistic signature permanently at the school by executing a mythical loon painting on a foyer wall. His visit was sponsored by the Ontario Arts Council's Artists in Education program, which pays artists to conduct creative workshops in classrooms. Guelph's Home Depot supplied the paint.

"Moses arrived and he had such a great connection with the kids," said Martine Painchaud, a French immersion teacher at the school. She explained that Beaver's art is steeped in symbolism, showing the connection between human beings and nature but interweaving images of spirits, human faces and animal forms. The children gained an appreciation of native culture while having a great time, she said. The murals and other works of art will become part of a major project to rejuvenate the school's library.

"He was very gentle, a very soft-spoken man, and the children were so taken by him," said Gisele Hebert, also a French immersion teacher at Paisley Road. Moses will be invited back to the school next year for an extended stay.

"A big part of the Grade 6 curriculum is talking about how native people live and are in tune with nature," Hebert said. "For the children, everything we had discussed about this in the fall made perfect sense as soon as Moses came into the room and talked about his customs, the life of the people where he lives and his artwork, and the importance of respecting everything on Earth."

Original Article by roflanagan@guelphmercury.com