NEWS PHOTO JEREMY APPEL
Ahmed Mohammed (right) was inspired to make a life-size baby giraffe sculpture by the height of Alexandra Middle School teacher Marcus Mortlock (left). It was one of the many pieces of student art on display at Alexandra's library on Wednesday and Thursday.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
It’s been an art-filled past couple days at Alexandra Middle School.
Students have had their art displayed in the library for parents, staff and other students to come and see on Wednesday and Thursday.
The display included various paintings, sculptures and other artwork, including a life-size baby giraffe made from papier mache and more than one replica of the infinity gauntlet from the wildly popular Avengers movies.
“Art speaks to the soul,” said Kimara White, an art and ESL teacher who put the show together with her colleagues as a means of showcasing the artistic talent among the school’s student body.
“We started displaying the art individually throughout the year and then decided as a department that we would do a big art show to show it off and invite families.”
Art is important because it gives students a means of expressing themselves outside the confines of the traditional classroom, she said.
“Art is therapy. It helps you to relax. It gives students a way to express who they are,” said White. “These programs are often the ones that get cut, yet they’re the ones that help our children develop who they are.”
Ahmed Mohamed, the Grade 9 student who built the giraffe, says he wanted to make a sculpture bigger than Alexandra’s tallest teacher, Marcus Mortlock.
“I wanted to do something out of the ordinary,” he told the News. “Anything I do in school, I want to reach farther out and to the sky.”
White said the project was Mohamed’s idea and he did all the research on how to get it built independently.
“He spent hours of his own time out of school just building this amazing piece of art, only out of paper, chicken wire, flour and paint afterwards,” she said. “That’s it.”
Mohamed says he set himself a daily schedule to complete his ambitious project, which he said took him from Mid-March to mere days before the show.
In addition to his art, Mohamed stays active on the school’s track-and-field team, so he had to fit that into his schedule.
As an educator, White says her ultimate goal is to find what art form appeals to each student.
“Everybody can do art. We just have to figure out what your art is,” White said. “Some people’s art is more of the manga (Japanese animation), more of the drawing. Some people it’s more realistic, for others, it’s more abstract. Some it’s dark, some it’s just landscapes. Whatever it is that speaks to you and helps you express what you’re feeling.”
