David Livingstone artwork on display at hospital

David Livingstone School students hope their art can serve as medicine for the soul.

Grade 7 and 8 students at David Livingstone recently created artwork to donate to Seven Oaks General Hospital. 

On March 22, David Livingstone art teacher Talitha Kaethler and WSD program lead Sofia Costantini installed the artwork in one of the hospital’s busy hallways. 

Using alcohol ink on canvas, the students made art inspired by two themes: Cells and Powerful Words.

“There’s two different exhibits here,” Kaethler said. “The larger canvases are inspired by closeup photographs of human cells. The idea is connected to the Grade 8 science curriculum and the students created art inspired by images they found themselves.”

“The smaller canvasses are by another cohort of students who used the lyrics to their favourite songs to collect a small list of powerful words. Those powerful words inspired their abstract art. They had the words in front of them when they created their artwork. Then they selected one word that embodied what they were trying to depict.” 

James and Jordan, who are in Grades 7 and 8 respectively, created artwork for the Cells exhibit. Their art was inspired by microscopic images of human cells, but they didn’t attempt to replicate the photographs. Thus, their artwork is open to interpretation.  

“My teacher said that mine kind of looks like flowers,” said Jordan of his red blood cell-inspired piece. “She said they looked like roses.”

“This one reminds me of a leaf and this one reminds me of a doggy,” said James, pointing to his depictions of cells, almost like clouds in the sky. 

Grade 8 students Drake, Dylan and Danny made pieces for the Powerful Words exhibit. Drake said he’s happy that something he created could bring joy to passersby. 

“It feels good,” Drake said. “It’s nice to have my art on the wall of a hospital and have people see it, instead of just plain hallway.”

For Danny, having his art displayed at Seven Oaks is quite special.  

“It makes me feel really good, because my grandma always goes to that hospital,” Danny said. “She’s 80 years old. The next time I go to visit her there after COVID I hope I can show her my art.”

This is not the first time Seven Oaks General Hospital has displayed artwork by Winnipeg School Division students. In December, 2019, Kaethler and Costantini installed a hallway exhibit at the hospital featuring art by David Livingstone, Isaac Newton, Wolseley and R.B. Russell Vocational High School students. 

“We have received so many comments from hospital staff about how many times people stop to look at the artwork,” Costantini said. “Our job is to create some light. This hallway already has beautiful light, so that combination with this student artwork is really powerful.”