I recently had the pleasure of being immersed in some of the hustle and bustle at the Cortes Island Museum! In early December, I assisted Jane Newman in the installation of the art exhibit “The Great Blue Heron Comes to School” which was created by the young artists of our school inspired by the Species at Risk project. It was a fabulous project that received a lot of attention and many visitors. We knew it would have to come down some day and would need to be moved, as most art installations do, to a permanent location, and March 4th was the day!
The school library before:
The students came to the museum to help us do the deed; they took down and collected their art pieces and walked them across the street to the exhibit’s permanent location. They were all smiles and felt very honoured knowing their art would permanently be installed in their school’s library, beside their mascot… a Blue Heron of course!
Then Jane Newman and myself got to work curating “The Great Blue Heron Comes To School” for its permanent move into the library; it took us a couple of days of measuring and calculating to get every piece to fit just right in the space. We were both very excited to work on the beautiful collection of art again, and knowing that it was going to be in its forever home was very rewarding. Jane spent months working with the young artists to create the artwork and to see it in its final stages was a real thrill for her. For me, having an opportunity to do this kind of work in this very remote location I call home was very rewarding, never mind the fact that it was the first Permanent Art Installation I had the opportunity to curate. I look forward to working alongside Jane Newman in the future and am proud to say I work at The Cortes Island Museum both as a visual artist and a curator. And if I do say so myself, the installation looks great in its new home!
The school library after!
