The Spanish opera singer, Placido Domingo once said that “when a young artist is ready, one has to bring him into the limelight.”
Domingo hit the bullseye with this quote about musicians, but it also applies to the young visual artists who recently had a group show at The Fraser Gallery.
Fifty-one students from Wallace Consolidated Elementary School and Tatamagouche Regional Academy displayed a large variety of their creations.
Lyn Sutherland, a former long-time art teacher at Wallace Consolidated Elementary and the gallery coordinator at The Fraser for the last 20 years or so, understands the importance of encouraging artistic expression in young people.
Sutherland summed the show up nicely.
“This is a time for young artists to highlight their work,” she said.
This year’s show encouraged young artists to exhibit individually even if their class wasn’t participating.
“This is a new departure,” Sutherland said.
The youth art show traditionally kicks off The Fraser season. The exhibit started many years ago with a group of homeschooled kids and their mothers and then was revived and expanded, explained Sutherland.
Jackie Roberston, the president of The Fraser, welcomed a group of parents and young artists to the Friday evening opening. She thanked the many Fraser volunteers and this year’s sponsor, PharmaChoice, in Tatamagouche.
“It’s good to see the kids getting involved in showing their work at an early age. It’s important for them to experience the joy of art,” Robertson said.
The opening was a family event. A crew of dedicated Fraser volunteers baked cookies and provided juice.
“The show creates a really good vibe,” Roberston explained.
The afternoon before the opening, Julia MacIntosh was busy hanging a collage completed by the 20 students in her Grade Primary-1 class. There was an obvious intent in the collage. This wasn’t just kids randomly gluing paper.
The theme of the collage was the recent Artemis II flyby of the moon. MacIntosh talked with her students about the importance of this mission — the first flyby of the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 — and how soon we will be returning humans to the lunar surface and maybe later to Mars.
“We talked about Artemis and re-watched the landing in the Pacific Ocean and the naming of a lunar crater,” MacIntosh said.
“We also talked about the vastness of the universe, the beauty of earth and how the crew hugged each other like family members.”
After these class discussions, her students worked on the collage.
Sonya Crawford’s Grade Primary class of mostly five and six-year-olds created a sculptured monster garden.
“Kids love monsters at that age,” Crawford said.
Crawford’s students each made a monster out of modelling clay and placed it carefully in the garden.
“They wrote a short piece on their monster, describing it using pencil on paper,” she said.
As with MacIntosh’s project, Crawford’s class project was intentional. She was giving her students the opportunity to link concepts across disciplines. In this case art, communication and critical thinking are at work.
In her remarks at the opening, Jackie Robertson reminded the attendees that the Member’s Show will open on May 15 and will run until June 9. The show will feature the works of Northumberland Arts Council members. A wine and cheese reception will be held on the opening evening, beginning at 7 p.m.
The Fraser is located at 362 Main St. in Tatamagouche.
