The Grade 7 class from 100 Mile Elementary worked for the entire school year to create art to auction off and display at the Parkside Art Gallery which went up on June 1.
The students have raised roughly $700.
“I knew that we were going to be successful in this but it was really nice to see the kids, because I took the box to the classroom and we opened up with all the bids and the kids didn’t expect it. They were expecting small dollar values but when they saw pieces going for $100, $50 they were just shocked,” said the group’s teacher, Amy Simcox.
Two separate paintings went for $100.
Simcox said sometimes the project could be frustrating but overall it was successful and she was happy the kids could see the potential of what they could achieve.
The money from each sale will go to a charity of the artist’s choosing.
Simcox has been teaching the students about the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), focusing on equality, environmentalism and peace.
“So the SDG are 17 goals that the United Nations has put together for the year 2030 to reach. These are things like no poverty, trying to get rid of world hunger, trying to make sure everyone has equal opportunity for education. I asked my students to find something that resonated with them within those goals that they wanted to work towards and tried to improve,” said Simcox. “We used our art to try to fundraise for those goals. The artwork isn’t about SDGs but the artwork supports the students’ passion towards one of those SDGs.”
Students had to pick two goals and support it on a local level.
Local artists like Barb Brown have also been involved in the project, helping and teaching the students techniques and different forms of art.
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The project came alive after Simcox wrote a grant for six I-Pads for the classroom and as part of the requirement, she had to create some sort of charity project involving the I-Pads. She decided to morph the I-Pad charity work with learning about the SDGs.
Julia Siclari was one of the students involved in the project and said she thought the project went really well.
“I learned how to do many different types of artwork and how to use different textures and styles,” she said of what she learned.
She added she learned to dig deep and see how the charities chosen by the students connect with SDGs. Siclari chose South Cariboo Search and Rescue.
She submitted a few pieces of art but said her favourite was a drawing of a bunch of circles and lines crisscrossing. Some of the circles had specific diameters. It was her favourite because of the colours she used and that it looked really bold.
Reichart Sanford, another student, submitted three pieces of work. One of them, a painting of a sumo wrestler was purchased, which made him happy that he could raise money for the Ty Pozzobon Foundation, established after it’s rodeo star namesake ended his life.
“I think the kids should be really proud of what they’ve done. I don’t think they realized how unique it is and I think they did an excellent job,” said Simcox.
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