How My Picture Became a School's Art Project

Last month I received an email from student teacher, Jarrett Bardal who was working at Isabel F. Cox School in Redcliff, Alberta. As part of his practicum he was tasked with coming up with a project that would involve all of the 300+ students and staff members at the school. Jarrett's idea was to blow up an image that captured the essence of Redcliff, cut it into squares, and then have each student and staff member artistically recreate their own square for a giant collage.

Jarrett's search for images lead him to my site and an image that I shot of the Redcliff water tower in 2012. He explained his idea to me, and in addition to donating my image for the project, I was genuinely excited to see how it would all turn out. Isabel F. Cox is a K-3 school, and just yesterday I finally got to see the result of everyone's work. 

Made up of over 300+ squares from the students and staff, the final piece is a colourful mosaic rich in detail. Knowing that so many hands were involved in bringing the interpretation to life, I found myself immediately drawn to each of the little squares. From the youngest kids who coloured squares for the sky to the girders and rivets done by the later grades, the resulting artwork is a captivating depiction of one of the community's landmarks - and a complete reinvention of my photograph.

I want to thank Jarrett Bardal for choosing my photograph for his project, and also congratulate all of the students and staff at Isabel F. Cox School in Redcliff for their beautiful work. Creativity inspires creativity, and this project brought that idea full circle for me. I'm proud to know that this will be hanging in the school for years to come.