Art can be used to create great change in the world and tackle difficult topics. This was the thinking of Fiona McKnight, an art teacher at Pinnacle College Kyalami who recently challenged her Grade 4s to use the skills they have learned in class to tackle the sad subject of poaching.
In a recent art project, the children learned a little bit about the illegal poaching trade and used the emotions that they felt about the issue to create beautiful pieces in class. “I am quite passionate about wildlife and I saw a similar project on Pinterest,” explained McKnight, who has been teaching for about 32 years. “Because artists try to show emotion in their work, I felt like this project was a good chance for children to learn and put emotion into their work.”
The children’s projects were applied to the white paper using oil pastels and watercolours and showed a scene featuring either an elephant or a rhino (two of the most poached animals in Africa) in the foreground, with other animals in the background. Taking about seven weeks to complete, the children used a number of skills such as silhouettes, couture lines and the right way to blend colours to create their pieces. “I wanted the children to take away the fact that it’s the detail that makes an image express emotion,” McKnight explained.
“I also tried to be very sensitive around the issue of poaching while having the children understand what is happening, and that the situation is so serious that perhaps one day their own children won’t even know what an elephant looks like.” A number of Grade 4s showed their work to the Midrand Reporter and discussed what they had learned during the project.
Oreratile Dioka, Kuhlekoute Mabuza Shaana Wabiri, Sanaa Ngiba, Zenande Gwala, Maya Makhathini and Lisha Ramaite stayed behind at school one day to discuss their work. “I chose to do an elephant [in the foreground of my painting] because I like their tusks, and that the shape of their ears looks like Africa,” explained Maya Makhathini. “Poaching makes me sad and I want to help.” Maya also has a message for poachers out there who are hurting animals in the name of greed. “I would tell them that they are achieving nothing. What is the point of killing animals? It doesn’t help anyone.”
The Grade 4s will take their anti-poaching projects home to their families at the end of the school year.
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