“The Voice of Acorn Place”
8’x12’, acrylic on masonite panels
After applying to the Ontario Arts Council Grant: Artists in the Community/Workplace Program in partnership with my colleague and Art teacher at St. Joan of Arc Secondary School, Mina Iocco, we were thrilled to be granted the opportunity to be part of this project.
“The Voice of Acorn Place” was a community mural, in direct partnership with 25 children from The Boys and Girls Clubs of Peel Region located in the Acorn Community. The goal of this art project was to provide a hands-on adventure beyond the classroom.
The mural began with the children relaying to us their mental images of happiness, encompassing all the elements that they have been taught to embrace and that they are familiar with. They told a story, their story, bringing feelings of hope and sparks of fantasy. Their visualization unfolded with the idea of the mural as a wide-open book centered on the acorn symbol of their community. They are the ones eager to send a message to their community by painting their life-journeys.
The creative journey continued together as we sketched the first stepping stones in the form of a hopscotch game, which evolves into books. This life-learning path flows within a safe and familiar space enclosed by two dominant oak trees. These trees are the representation of the two main buildings of the Acorn Community, “The Blue and The Red Buildings”, as everybody calls them. The acorn tree is the mightiest of trees and symbolizes strength and courage. The trees embrace all the people who live and participate in the community, who continue to help the children along their way, establishing their roots, guided them to branch out to infinite possibilities and setting a precedent of wisdom for the community’s youngest members.
The central space that flows from the book is the heart of the children’s daily lives. In this fun and colourful space everything is possible, from the birth of ideas to the enjoyment of music, dance and creativity. It is a magical place of gathering, festivity and celebration.
“My favourite part of the mural was how much fun I had with all my friends. It was fun to mix the colours and paint pictures. After a while my brother started coming too. It was a lot of fun making stars and painting bees, flowers, butterflies, birds and leaves. I was so amazed at how nice it looked when we put it all together. One of my favourite things to do also was doing lots of details. This is an experience I will never forget!” Jianna
“I liked the mural because I got to draw something, write about it and think about it. I liked it because it was fun. You get to paint and have fun and we learned how to draw and work with others” Sade
