Students empowered to create self-reflected art

By Rick Garrick

KLEINBURG—Nipissing First Nation artist Donald Chretien delivered a V.O.I.C.E.S. (Visual Outreach Initiative Creating Empowered Students (V.O.I.C.E.S.) program on painting Woodland stories with students at the McMichael Art Gallery over the winter.

“I have the students look at different characteristics of animals and they pick something that sort of relates to themselves, either something that they aspire to be or something they have inside themselves,” Chretien says. “So when they are painting these Woodland stories, it is all about themselves. They will pick an animal and within that animal, there will be spaces for their story. Say they have five in their family, they will put five dots in maybe the soul area or the heart area of the animal.”

Chretien says he developed the painting program to teach students how to paint the Woodland style in a way that is safe for them. He also teaches the students the basics such as how to hold a brush and pull the paint off of the brush properly.

“I’ve made it so you really can’t mess up — you’re painting both sides,” Chretien says. “I find that all the students are very afraid when they first come in, so I try to put them at ease and have a little courage.”

Chretien says the students lay down a certain colour to begin the painting and then paint a silhouette of the animal they chose in black.

“On top of that, we will put the opposite colour, warm-cool wise, on top of that, and then another colour on top of that,” Chretien says. “So while you’re painting, if you’ve made an error, which I try to tell them that there are no real errors, you can go back with the outer colour and paint back, so you are always safe.”

Chretien says the students can make their Woodland stories as detailed as they want.

“You can put circles, which are very powerful,” Chretien says. “I try to have them have four circles in there, just to remind them of fours.”

Chretien says he began working with the V.O.I.C.E.S. program last September and recently did a weeklong session in late February.

“It’s been great,” Chretien says. “It’s been very rewarding and the people at McMichael have been very good.”

The McMichael Art Gallery started the V.O.I.C.E.S. program in 2007. Each year about 120 students are invited to attend six artistic learning sessions that are designed to enrich their visual literacy.

The V.O.I.C.E.S program is financially supported by Scotiabank, The Leonard and Gabryela Osin Foundation and the McMichael Volunteer Committee, and it is delivered in collaboration with the York Region District School Board.

The McMichael Art Gallery plans to hold a family weekend for the students who participated in the winter session of the V.O.I.C.E.S program on April 13-14.

Chretien says he also delivers his Woodland style painting program in other communities across the province, including in Deer Lake, a remote fly-in First Nation community located about 650 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

“I also do digital stuff, so I’ve got a lot of things going at once,” Chretien says. “I’m pretty busy. I’m [designing] the eyeglasses and I’m consulting for these sculptures in Markham. There are eight huge sculptures going into the town of Markham.”

Chretien says his latest eyeglass design for Claudia Alan Inc.’s AYA brand of glasses features a canoe design.

“It’s inspired by the petroglyphs in Peterborough,” Chretien says.