The Juice

Here we are in my current hometown of Moose Jaw. I am so happy with the school and our fantastic artists. There has been an indelible mark left by the Cultural Exchange in this community.

We have a short week this week, with just 2 schools in the southern region of Saskatchewan. Lindale School, which is in Moose Jaw, and Milestone School in Milestone, SK.

I have a natural bias toward the Arts. Being a professional artist myself, and teaching these kinds of workshops, I get to see first hand the impact we have on the students and faculty. Every teaching day, I have students that approach me asking questions about how they can learn more. This proves to me that this exposure to arts, for these students, has given them another world to explore. With so many great artists coming from Saskatchewan, I only feel blessed to know that I have been able to share in those precious first steps.

The Arts Board of Saskatchewan is a real champion, to have provided the opportunity for us artists to get into these schools. Some communities on this tour don't even have arts programs available to their students, so we are the only experience many of these students will have with Drama, Dance, Writing, Song Writing, and Visual Arts.

The Artist Van

Don't worry. We're artists.

I wanted to tell you about our van we are traveling around in, it’s tailor-made. With the logos on the side, our bold artist faces through the windows, the loud proud beeping coming from the underbelly, signaling to everyone that we are reversing; we've been turning heads.

I think our van should be equipped with some kind of cape.

As it is now, a white 15 passenger van, with multicoloured graphics, is our chariot. The lettering on the van is placed in a way that only artists could justify.It is our lair, our bubble, and our highway retreat.

I will upload some photos of things we have seen as the tour unfolds.

For now if you see us coming, or hear us reversing, don't worry, we're artists, we mean you no harm.

Our tour so far!

Well, here we are--the first week of our tour. As the artists, we were picked up in Moose Jaw, Regina and Saskatoon. We all had a deep curiosity about how this first week would go.

We have been very impressed with the generosity of the schools and the communities we've visited. I personally love the landscape of Paradise Hill with the deciduous trees changing colour, the winding roads and the beauty of the North.

The first night we were all split up and taken to separate billets and fed a home-cooked meal.

The people I stayed with had fresh fish and garden vegetables. I am sure the sentiment is universal when I say that, after such a long drive ( 7.5 hours ), we appreciated it.

The kids on our first day were from Paradise Hill. From what I saw, everyone had a great time.

There was a local reporter that came and took some photos for her publication as well as interviewed some of the artists.

On our second day we arrived in Spiritwood, a very charming community with a great burgeoning arts program in their school.

I had some of the funniest Grade 7-8s. We spent most of our workshop laughing.

Next, the artists were teaching high school students. This shift in gears was handled with ease by our professional

artists. The kids impressed us all with their creativity and ability to express themselves.

We have now arrived in La Ronge, and we are staying at the Waterbase Inn on the lake.

Churchill School is a school that I have taught in before and really enjoyed.

We spend two days in La Ronge so we all have a chance to explore the area over the next day.

I will tell more tomorrow.