NAEC artist in Hotel Dieu students’ art gallery

Valerie Allan | May 20, 2010

Megan Cruickshank with the two artworks selected by the Hotel Dieu students’ art gallery.

North Addington Education Centre student Megan Cruickshank has two pieces of art in the Hotel Dieu Students’ Art Gallery in Kingston. Megan and her family attended the opening ceremony at Hotel Dieu Hospital on Monday, May 10. The opening ceremony consisted of a slide show of all the artworks, followed by a viewing of the artworks on display in the gallery.

Megan is in Grade 9 at NAEC. While she is a gifted art student, the two pieces which were selected were completed in Megan’s spare time. This year, there were over 2,500 submissions, and 100 pieces were chosen, so it is particularly impressive that Megan had two pieces in the gallery.

Mr. R. Westgarth, a teacher at Elginburg Public School, organized the exhibition, along with several volunteers. The gallery has about 75,000 visitors per year. Mr. Westgarth joked that the visitors tend to be a “captive audience” who are at the hospital for medical reasons, but it is still an extensive number of visitors for any gallery.

Submissions came from Limestone District School Board, Hastings Prince Edward District School Board, and Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic School Board.

North Addington students investigate Canada’s art and the Cold War by Valerie Allan

Joanne Butler and Robert Maciag walk through the Diefenbunker on NAEC's school trip

A busload of NAEC students set off for the nation’s capital on Tuesday, May 11 to learn about Canada’s art and Canada’s Cold War experience. The Grade 9 art class, the Grade 8 class, and the School to Community class attended the trip with their teachers.

The first stop for the students was the National Gallery of Canada, where they learned about Canadian artists. The Grade 8 class focused on Contemporary Canadian art. The Grade 9 art class concentrated on Canadian artists from the first settlers up until WWII. Students made sketches of some of the works in the gallery. The School to Community class toured the Canadian Collection and the Aboriginal section.

After an enjoyable couple of hours, the students boarded their bus and headed off to the Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum. A guide led the students on an hour-and-a-half journey through the Deifenbunker, far below the ground. They saw the living, recreation, and working conditions of the bunker inhabitants. The Diefenbunker was designed to house the government in the event of a nuclear attack by the USSR on the United States.

School trips are a fun way for students to learn more about the world. Two more trips are planned in May and June, one to the Science Museum and Museum of Nature in Ottawa, and another to the Cataraqui Conservation Authority in Kingston.