Carlton Comprehensive Public High School students came together on Saturday to spread peace and love through art and poetry..
At South Hill Mall in Prince Albert yesterday, students were painting and writing poetry live for people walking by in an event called “Live Art for Peace and Love.” The exhibit will also be displayed in the mall for a month for residents to enjoy.
Melanie Merasty, who is a teacher at Carlton said the event was split into three galleries. The first was all about poetry, the second was live painting which featured pieces by students and family members and the third was a community wall where people could give loving wishes or ideas of love and peace on a piece of paper, which was then taped to the wall.
“I think that today was a success,” Merasty said. “There is a lot of people who just stood and watched and just kind of watched the paintings unfold or stopped and read the poetry or contributed to the community wall. I think it just hopefully brought a little bit of happiness to people’s day.”
One of the students writing a message of love and peace at the live art show on Saturday. (Submitted photo/ Melanie Merasty)The art is located near the Winners store, down a long corridor at the mall and is an initiative through Carlton Collection Builders program.
“We just always want to empower our students and their voices. This is really particularly exciting to see the unfolding of art in real time and to see things be made within like a three our period was pretty interesting,” she explained.
Since it was such a success, she said they are considering doing another open art show at the end of the year.
Another example of student art. (Submitted photo/ Melanie Merasty)Some of the pieces displayed include a lot of hearts, two students worked on a piece together using northern Cree bead work, and two sisters worked on a skyline painting as a team.
Rachel Gibson, a student at Carlton High School explained how she painted a piece using her hands and a brush to honour those in Ukraine. The painting has the words ‘love’ and ‘peace’ on it, and she used handprints for the background for the Ukrainian flag.
“I replaced the ‘O’ in love with a red handprint to represent the people who have been lost in the war,” Gibson said.
Rachel Gibson and her piece to honour Ukraine. (Submitted photo/ Rachel Gibson)She did it to show her support for the people of the Ukraine as Russian forces continue to invade the country.
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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com
On Twitter: @IanGustafson12
