Ms. Schmidt’s Drawing and Painting classes collaborate for the ‘Orange and Blue’ project

In the second semester of the 2016/17 school year, Ms. Janice Schmidt’s Drawing and Painting Classes collaborated on an art project for the school. The “Orange and Blue Project” (as it is called), involved creating pieces of various types and sizes. Over 100 Riverside artists contributed to this project that came about through proposals, discussions, voting and peer critiques.

“The theme of the project is the diversity and inter-connectedness of all living things. Many students worked together to create connections between their art pieces,” said Schmidt.

Media used for this project was water color, acrylic paint, oil paint, pencil crayon, oil pastel, chalk pastel, and markers. The students had lots of freedom in planning and creating their pieces. “The stunning pieces of art are going up in various locations around the school. Each week during the last six weeks of the school year, a new section of orange and blue pieces went up on display,” said Schmidt.

All the pieces for this project were created with an orange and blue palette and all subjects were based on the world of nature (real and imagined) as Schmidt wanted to bring the natural world into the building.

A student who worked on the Orange and Blue project for Schmidt had a few words to say about her painting. “My idea for the project was a giant heart with mountains in it, and for the media, I decided to use acrylic painting. I’m very comfortable with painting both those objects so when I proposed the idea to Schmidt, she came up with an idea of the art piece linking humans to nature and back to our roots,” said Jay Waggoner, Grade 12.

“The Orange and Blue” project will be on display for several years. The students have put a ton of effort, thought and love into creating their artworks as legacy pieces for the school. We hope that the work adds vibrancy and joy to people’s days at Riverside and that the messages around diversity and interconnection have a positive impact on the school,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt had been planning this project for three years. She wanted to begin something that could bring many artists together. Her intent was to let students release their creativity onto a canvas and learn more about art and its origins.