The 20 students who are in Kindergarten to Grade 2 at Macoun School might be young, but they have found a way to pay tribute to the men and women of the Canadian Forces.
Students created watercolour paintings in honour of the iconic poem In Flanders Fields, which was written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae during the First World War.
Using perspective paintings, the artworks have a blue sky at the top and the field with the poppies at the bottom.
The poppies at the front of the artwork are the largest, and the poppies become smaller further back in the art.
Paintings were hung in the waiting room of St. Joseph’s Hospital’s laboratory. Teacher Preston Dumaine noted that while each student created something, if the paintings were all placed next to each other, it would appear as if they’re all part of one piece of art.
“We always do this as a representation of Remembrance Day, so just in order to … find something that is meaningful to our students. This is something that they like to do, a project that is easy enough for them to do, but still complex enough that they are learning the significance of the poppy and why we represent that in Canada,” she said.
The art project also builds awareness of Remembrance Day, and why it’s important.
“We spend some time reading some literature about the poppy and about Flanders Field. In our school, we read the Flanders Field poem at our Remembrance Day ceremony, and the K, 1, 2s (Kindergarten to Grade 2 students) always recite the poem called Poppy Poppy, so we spend a lot of time discussing what the poppy represents and why we wear it on Remembrance Day and what it stands for. They have that background knowledge leading up to the project.”
The class has been creating artwork in honour of Remembrance Day for the past six years, but this year marked the first time the paintings have been hung at the hospital. Thanks to the response, Dumaine is confident they will continue to have the art at the hospital in the future.
