Getting the creative juices flowing, Skye College held a learner-driven art exhibition from September 7 to 9.
As well as being on display for the three days, parents and teachers participated in a silent auction that presented the opportunity to snap up one of the nine group-work masterpieces. Proudly adorning the reception area, bids trickled in at first before the pre-hammer rush just before 09:00 on Friday morning. Anything earned from the exhibition went toward acquiring books for the school’s steadily growing library.
Beyond the main pieces, the individual works of each student lined the airy passageways of the boutique school. The individual works were themed based on grade but for the grade-specific canvases no limitations were placed on the concept or materials.
“The only stipulation was that it had to be worthy of a place in a gallery,” said Skye College’s Principal, Claire Shepherd.
This was Skye College’s first learner art exhibition with Principal Shepherd having seen from experience how such displays promote self-esteem and self-pride.
“It stimulates through messy play and imagination. It promotes fine motor skills, perception skills, teamwork, collaboration and communication,” she said.
“It is a time for them to show off. This is to celebrate the kids and their achievements.”
The unspoken competition between the teachers was tense as they awaited the awarding of the highest bid. When the bids shut, it was the Leopold family who snatched up the work of Isabel Maruapa’s Grade 2 Puffins class which depicted a green flower-filled meadow under a clear blue sky.
Critics would have had a tough time choosing as Principal Shepherd summed up the dilemma, laughing,
“Each one of these could easily find a place in a room in my house”.
