Art students paint mural at ‘Guides’ Hut’

Art students from the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College have transformed a wall at Level Gardens into a thing of beauty.

For the past three weeks, eight students enrolled in the Fine Arts, Design and Cultural Communications course,{{more}}as part of their associate degree programme, have been working diligently to finish a mural on the wall of the Girl Guides’ Headquarters.

The mural is being done in collaboration with the St Vincent and the Grenadines Girl Guides Association, which is celebrating 100 years of existence in this country. As a result, the mural features the centenary logo of the organization.

“They (the students) are learning how to collaborate and work together as a team and to interact and to learn from each other and to organize themselves in a productive unit. These skills are very important when it comes to event management, organizing things, any kind of project like an exhibition or any production,” art lecturer Vonnie Roudette explained to SEARCHLIGHT.

Roudette noted that it was extremely interesting to see the students grow from being a part of creating the mural.

“They’re enjoying the interaction. They get a lot of feedback from the people as they pass and it’s very positive and many of them have never felt that kind of response from the community before. To actually be on the receiving end of that kind of appreciation, it’s very empowering for them. It builds their confidence,” the art teacher said about her students, who were arriving at 6:30 a.m. each morning to work on the mural.

She added that over the past three years, the Associate’s degree course, which also includes sculpture, graphic design, mural arts, film and photography, has developed tremendously and by extension, the students have developed as well.

“It’s lovely to see the programme developing, because an education programme should develop and get stronger and that’s what I’m seeing happening. It’s very much a flexible learner centered approach, which will enable them to work much better in the workplace when they graduate,” Roudette said.

“When they graduate…they can find they’ve got multiple skills, a diversity of skills that can be flexible in the workplace, and so they are well positioned to work in many different fields, which is really, really good. I’ve already seen it happen with some graduates. They’re doing graphic design work. They’re also doing fine art work.”

The art lecturer shared her belief that the art course is strengthening the development and skills of creative persons in the art sector.

Although she feels that it will take some time to see prominent creative entrepreneurs emerging in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Roudette is confident that it will happen in time, especially if persons make use of team work, like her students have been doing

“The educational foundation is critical. This kind of work has such a large impact.

“It does a lot. It doesn’t seem like much, but a lot of people are passing and being affected and this helps gradually to build the awareness,” she said.

According to Roudette, the mural will play a significant role in shifting the conceptualization of art from “being just a painting on the wall to something that’s engaging relationships, community, engaging productivity.”

In 2013, a number of students from the Fine Arts Associate’s degree programme and the Contemporary Young Artists’ Movement (CYAM) painted a mural on the walls of Save-A-Lot, which depicted a number of tourism sites in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Currently, the CYAM is putting the finishing touches on a mural at Rose Place, which depicts different scenes in that community.(BK)