Pleasantdale School's annual art show, which this year was conducted virtually, turned out very well. It allowed many students to show their talents and kept the school culture going.
“It turned out really well, considering that we were unsure of what the reaction was going to be,” said principal Michelle Smart.
Close to 50 pieces of art were submitted for the show, which was less than the traditional Pleasantdale School art show, but considering the situation it was a great number.
“If we had it in school, we would have had a lot more artwork submitted and we usually do. It pretty much goes all around the walls of the gym,” said Smart.
She explained that the number of art pieces submitted was down because when they do it in school, teachers often encourage students to make and submit their creations. And this year with all students going through the e-learning process at home, some families could have just been busy.
On the other hand, Smart noticed that this time in many works, she could see more of the students’ efforts, which was great.
“It came from the kids more than having adult input… There was a lot of artwork submitted that you could just tell that a child put their heart and soul into it … They worked more on their own without support in some cases. And that’s awesome to get their artwork just straight from their little hearts,” said Smart.
Students could send in pictures of any art they created and the school received a variety of pieces.
“We were very happy with the art. The art shows are always wonderful. We like to see what our students can do. And some of them shine in that area, so it was nice to still have the opportunity to be able to shine.”
For the virtual show, students could only submit one piece of art as opposed to previous years, when they could bring in one piece of wall art and one piece of table art.
“This year we just allowed them to submit one picture because we were unsure about how many of them were going to participate and how that all would go down.”
All the submitted works were turned into a Google slide format, shared digitally and people could vote online as well.
Smart said that virtual format slightly limited those who viewed kids’ art pieces as they couldn’t get close to see the details, especially with art pieces that were constructed. But it didn’t limit students to any particular type of art.
“Overall, we were happy that we put effort into doing it and we thought that even though our participation was down those who did participate, it was fun for them.”
This year’s top three finishers were:
Kindergarten-Grade 2:
1. Mariah Walliser, Grade 2;
2. Sophia Vibe, Kindergarten;
3. Hailey Methot, Grade 2.
Grades 3-5:
1. Quinn O'Hanlon, Grade 3;
2. Addison Granberg, Grade 3;
3. Sophia Fowler, Grade 4.
Grades 6-8:
1. Rachel Duncan, Grade 6;
2. Johanna Mabansag, Grade 6;
3. Miley Granberg, Grade 6.
Over 200 people participated in voting to choose the best art pieces. The school will be mailing out gift cards to the winners.
Pleasantdale also has a few more activities planned before the end of the year.
They will do what they call a final Dog Pound draw, an activity focusing on positive behaviour. Teachers also usually make videos for their classes for the whole year. This time they plan to do it all either as a virtual assembly or may just send it out.
The school also plans for the Grade 8 farewell. It will take place over Zoom, but Smart didn’t want to reveal any details so it could be a surprise for the kids.
Classes will have their little wrap-up parties and the school also plans to do a traditional fast forward event when students spend some time with their next year’s teacher, which this year will happen online.
