Student volunteers from Renee Kammer’s Art 20 class finished a new temporary mural at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital last week, after John Paul Hickie with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) reached out to Vanier Collegiate with the request.
The project was a collaboration of eight of Vanier’s students: Annique, Chevina, Emma, Gabrielle, Luke, Rhyza, Sarah, and Sean.
Featuring a water-based acrylic paint in white, the mural followed the theme of ‘A Winter Wonderland’ and Vanier’s students had the freedom to work without any guidelines imposed by the SHA.
The white mural also reminds visitors what Saskatchewan’s typical snow-covered scenery should look like this time of year, although this is purely coincidental.
“It was a freestyle mural. We wanted it to be a winter wonderland rather than a Christmas theme, so it could stay up longer than Christmas,” Kammer said.
Starting Dec. 4, the students worked after school for a few hours each day during a three-day period. The effort was purely extracurricular and wasn’t part of the school’s regular curriculum. “The main goal was to volunteer some time to share their talents in art,” she said.
The mural currently adorns the windows surrounding the hospital’s cafeteria. “We didn’t expect there to be that many windows to paint. We could have kept going for the next week if we kept going,” said Kammer.
“It was my idea to do it all in white, just to give it a winter wonderland feel, rather than using coloured paint,” she said. “It especially looks nice at night. When it’s nighttime, the background is black so the white pops off the black beautifully.”
“We were trying to brighten the hospital through creative expression,” Kammer explained. “It’s aesthetically pleasing and brings happiness to (everyone) in the hospital.” She noted that several individuals stopped during the project to give their positive feedback as the mural progressed.
“The only downfall about window painting is that it’s only temporary. It’s a lot of time (spent), and then (the mural) is gone,” she added.
Kammer said her students had fun during the project, and that’s one thing that mattered most. One additional perk was the hot chocolate and Western Development Museum passes that were handed out to the young artists. These were provided courtesy of Hickie, the SHA volunteer co-ordinator at the hospital.
The mural should remain at the hospital until around early spring in 2024.
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