Vibrant

Last June I volunteered to guide a group of grades primary-3 students (ages 5-9) in a collaborative art project.  Here each student created a 3-D butterfly in colours which spoke to them.  When brought together like this, the piece reflects their joy of learning and their part within their community. The piece continues to be displayed outside of the school office, and what fun it is to see the children continue to stop by and seek out their own part – their individual butterfly.   I love how this collaborative piece comes together to be greater than the sum of its parts.

Considering art, collections and vibrancy ….. I can’t help but think of the fabulous realist Mary Pratt.  Her vibrant reflection of daily life is uplifting and …..humbling.. This was part of a retrospective presented at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. If you’d like to see more about that show, you can do that here.

WPC – vibrant

Advertisement

Kindness Day!

When I arrived at school today, the children enthusiastically informed me that today is a special day.  The children are 4-6 year olds, and I am their substitute teacher.  They knew that I was out of the loop when they saw I wasn’t wearing yellow.  EVERYONE was wearing yellow today, because yellow is such a happy colour, of course!  

“How do we celebrate Kindness Day?”, I asked. Well!  We talked about kindness, we wrote about kindness and we drew happy pictures of ourselves on bright yellow paper….and then hung them in the hall for everyone to see.

The enthusiasm for love and kindness is easy to tap into at this age.  The purest expression came when, while in line and enroute to the cafeteria for lunch.  One little girl approached a much older student (adolescent) that she did not know…and gave her a big hug.  When the confused older kid wondered who the child was and why she was hugged, another teacher said, “That was an act of kindness.  Pay it forward”.  That older student smiled, turned and walked to join her classmates. 

It was just that kind of a day….filled with charming reminders of humanity at its most innocent best.  I left the school feeing blessed and hopeful.

In the car, on my way home, I heard the announcement that the great humanitarian, poet, author, and activist, Dr. Maya Angelou had passed away today at the age of 86.  What a tremendous loss, I thought.  And yet, how wonderful  and appropriate that in our little corner of the world, today is Kindness Day.