Canadian Shield Art

The "tree" group sorting our natural materials


Social Studies: I can make a personal connection to Canada's land; I can value Indigenous people and stories; I can connect with the land
Art: I can explore different materials; I can create work based off a model artist

This year in Social Studies, we have been studying the regions of Canada, the land, and how people live. We have been using artwork from artists of each region to show our understanding. For the first time this year, instead of making our own individual art piece, we are going to use our collaboration skills and create one classroom piece. Here are all of the things we've done over the past month to prepare for this project: 

- Learn about the Canadian Shield by reading textbook sections and sharing that information with the class
- Look at other artists' work from the Canadian Shield (we were inspired most by Lisa Myers, Indigenous Artist)
- Community Walk to gather materials
- Plan our art piece
- Decide who will be in each group (background painting, trees, rocky cliff, and water)
- Sort the natural materials
- Gather non-natural materials

Since we are making one art piece together, we started calling it the Community Shield. 

We were really lucky to talk with Danielle Piper on Tuesday. She is an Indigenous artist (Cree) and she is the Artist in Residence at the downtown public library on the third floor. We booked an art consult with her and were really lucky to get in because all of her classroom spots were full! We asked her a lot of questions about being an artist and how to use a variety of media to create art. 

She told us, "You have to have the courage to pursue your gifts." Danielle also taught us a few Cree words and told us that Nehiyawewin was the language spoken during the fur trade. The most important word was: Peyakwan, which roughly means "we are one." 

We are in the process of creating the artwork. Stay tuned to see our progress! 
For now, here are some comments on the process:

"Sorting the materials was very messy. Iggy and I volunteered to clean up after with the broom." ~ Lawrence
"It was really cool to go down to the art room and find new materials to use for the water." ~ Callie
"It was really fun to see all of the materials that are in the art room. I saw all of my group members doing hard work trying to find ways to make the water." ~ Dillon
"I liked working with the water group (Callie, Rochael, Hudson, Dillon, and Daniel) because they were really friendly and a good group." ~ Leo
"When we were trying to sort the items, it was disastrous because there was so much dirt everywhere." ~ Hazel


The "background painting" group sketching and painting

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