Night #1 – Art in the City Scavenger Hunt

After warming up in the sketchbooks, the Youth Art Team split up and scoured Downtown Waterloo for as much public artwork as they could find... and fast! Each time they found a piece, one student drew the artwork while they all discussed what each piece made them think about or how it made them feel. They thought about why the artist made it, then they tried to imagine how the space would be different if the artwork did not exist.

The clues:

A compilation of some of the quick sketches:

Responses to the questions?

• Some pieces of artwork made students feel happy, proud, peaceful, or safe. Others made them feel a little confused.
• Most students felt that the spaces around each piece would be more plain and boring without the art.

After debriefing the scavenger hunt, the Youth Art Team met the artist who created on of the pieces they found!

Chawne Paige, Digital Arts Manager at the Waterloo Center for the Arts and freelance graphic designer, shared his work. Then he answered students' questions about his experiences designing murals and other public art pieces.

Finally, students watched this video to start their brains thinking "Murals!":

The Youth Art Team wrapped up Night #1 of the mural project by remembering a story they focused on during The HeART Project session. A boy offered his few loaves and fishes to Jesus. Jesus took them and fed the multitudes. When Youth Art Team students offer their gifts, amazing things happen...