When Chatelech graduating student Saige Rae received a Canada 150 grant from the Royal Bank, she didn’t hesitate. The $150 grants, one offered from each branch, were given to recipients to do something nice for their community, and James Richmond at the Sechelt branch of RBC invited Rae, the art student, to apply. What better way to spend the money than on art supplies, she thought, and she painted a mural for her school.
“This school has a great vibe of appreciating programs,” Rae told Coast Reporter last week. For the mural she was inspired by local settings of mossy forest and creek and combined them with depictions of wildlife that residents might spot, a bear and a magnificently antlered buck. The composite scene is depicted on four-by-eight-feet plywood which had to be primed before it could be used.
“Different mediums present different challenges,” she said, acknowledging that the size and medium was difficult. She started the work in December and the painting is now hanging at the school in a highly visible stairwell.
Some other artwork of Rae’s is hanging in the foyer – a portrait and two pictures of wolves. She gives credit to her art teacher at Chatelech, Mrs. Kelly, for sparking her interest while she studied in grades 10 through 12. Rae noted that the school’s art budget for materials had been cut back under the current provincial government, and she was happy to be able to return some supplies to the art class after she had completed the work.
Though art is her passion, she will soon graduate and she plans to take on a four-year electrical apprenticeship. “Though I’ll always have a sketch book with me,” she said.
