R.B. Russell students’ artwork blooms at WAG

The Winnipeg Art Gallery’s annual Art in Bloom event features both professional and amateur florists creating their own floral interpretations of popular artwork at the gallery.

This year marks the first time that the program has also involved works from Qaumajuq, the WAG’s Inuit art museum.

That Inuit art connection stirred the interest of R.B. Russell Vocational High School teachers and students.

For over 20 years, horticulture teacher Louise Shachtay and art teacher Pancho Puelles have been working on special projects that incorporate art and horticulture concepts with therapeutic components that benefits students.

“Our goal with the projects is to give students the confidence to express themselves artistically as well as use horticultural skills and knowledge,” Ms. Shachtay said. “We feel the cross curricular connections between the two disciplines complement each other.”

Horticulture students worked on one floral arrangement, while Ms. Shachtay contributed a floral design for the event as well.

“The students and I both chose to interpret pieces from the Inuit artist collection.” Ms. Shachtay said. “As we all brainstormed and thought of the best ways to interpret these artworks through florals, students were also exposed to the stories attached to them and the fluid nature of oral culture and the myriad of traditions in storytelling. There also was the historical piece of learning about how Inuit culture and survival depended on warm clothing…beautifully stitched and decorative patterns were a source of pride and these skills were passed down from generation to generation.”

For the students’ floral design, they selected the art work “Fish In Weir” by Canadian artist Martha Noah. Ms. Noah is an Inuit artist from Baker Lake. Students chose her piece, which features a school of fish on a black backdrop, as they felt it best represented the class and the world they find themselves in.

The students’ collective statement for their gallery piece reads as follows: 

This piece represents our Horticulture class swimming together and navigating through our lives. Each of us are unique with different backgrounds and personalities, but we find ourselves together every day learning, navigating through personal and societal hurdles while embracing new experiences and life events. We swim as a team, working through our challenges together, encouraging each other, breaking down racism and stereotypical barriers, while becoming more confident in ourselves. In the same manner that fish swim in schools in nature, we swim united, empowered, and embrace our differences and know that we are stronger together.

Ms. Shachtay chose to interpret work by Veronica Kadjuk Manilak, an Inuit artist from Rankin Inlet. The untitled piece represented the story of Sedna, the Inuit goddess of sea animals; she is depicted as half-woman and half-fish. 

The teacher wrote of her selection: I choose this piece because of my fascination and utmost respect for sea and marine animals in today's world and in storytelling in Inuit mythology. The story of Sedna, the goddess of sea and marine animals is intriguing and complicated, yet she arose from so much darkness in her life to gift to the world incredible creatures in the sea and many teachings to her people. The peaceful narwhal further represents freedom with its sensory tusk pointing to the sky reminding us to stay aware and focused on our own paths and embrace the wisdom that the sea endlessly shares with us.

Both of the R.B. Russell floral arrangements were on display as part of the Arts In Bloom exhibit on April 1-3. 

The WAG offered special classes in floral arrangements throughout the weekend as part of the event.

Following the Art In Bloom event, the floral designs were repurposed and delivered to individuals in the community that do not normally have access to flowers. Floral Philanthropy and CancerCare Manitoba Foundation joined together to make these special deliveries possible.