Children in the Anglophone West School District are getting more than the usual kind of classroom art experience. A program started by retired art educator Susan Galbraith and gallery curator Jennifer Stead brings New Brunswick artists right into the schools, introducing children to the people who create beautiful works. "The piece of work goes into an individual classroom, as opposed to just generally in the school where people are passing by," said Galbraith, who up until last year was the visual arts lead for the district.
"This way, it's in the workspace, the play space, the learning space of the children for a three-week period." Former art educator Susan Galbraith is one of the people behind the classroom project. (Shane Fowler/CBC) She said the project began when Stead, of the Andrew and Laura McCain Art Gallery in Florenceville-Bristol, couldn't continue her art education outreach program when COVID-19 hit.
Before that, she would invite students to visit the gallery and send artists into schools. "So she really wondered, how can we still expose our students to really rich art activity and have them see live art, real art?" said Galbraith. "And she came up with this idea of sending the artwork into the classrooms.
So she approached me, as an arts educator, to see if I could come up with some ideas." Artist Colin Smith says sometimes the kids in the classroom ask him for his autograph. (Shane Fowler/CBC) The person that first came to Galbraith's mind was her husband, Co.