The South Delta Artists Guild’s first show of 2015 is appropriately called Anticipation.
It opened yesterday fueled by the talent and enthusiasm of the creative writing and visual art students of Southpointe Academy in a special collaboration with guild artists. This challenging project stemmed from the guild’s aim of promoting the appreciation and practice of art in home and community.
Last September, guild president Rod Winning and past president Kathy Swift offered Southpointe the guild’s Gallery 1710 space to feature the Tsawwassen school’s creative arts programs. It has resulted in an intriguing mix of student poetry interpreted by student art, complemented by input from guild artists.
The exhibition runs until Jan. 25.
The guild’s invitation to Southpointe was taken up enthusiastically by visual arts teacher Sandie Kwok-Swan and creative writing teacher Reva Morrison, who together devised an appropriate program for their students in grades 10, 11 and 12.
It started when Morrison asked her students to write poems, which the art students would later have to interpret in paintings. One of the poetic techniques suggested, called “found” poems, called on the students to choose an existing poem and draw from it individual words that inspired them in some way, then incorporate those words into their own original “found” poem.
Kwok-Swan had prepared her pupils for work on the poems by reminding them of the many different styles and techniques of painting available for study and perhaps inspiration. Calling on their imagination, enthusiasm, developing skills and energy, they produced interpretive paintings that are now hanging in Gallery 1710.
Adding special interest to Anticipation, the guild also challenged its members to accept a student poem sight unseen, then paint what it suggested. The complete show was not seen by the various artists and student poets until it opened to the public, so guild artists painted without being influenced by student interpretations of the same poem, each of which hangs between its two art versions.
A special reception will run from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22 when awards will be presented as determined by a joint Southpointe Academy/South Delta Artists Guild committee. Guild paintings are for sale; students will retain their work.
Gallery 1710 is located inside the Kiwanis Longhouse at 1710-56th St., Tsawwassen, next to the South Delta Recreation Centre. It is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, call 604-943-3313 or visit southdeltaartistsguild.com.
