ENGAGE: Owens Art Gallery

A community-based learning project 

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In a gallery an adult stands addressing a group of children sitting on the floor. The adult holds an empty picture frame in their hands, while standing beside a large mobile work bench.

“When we made the art, we looked at materials found inside and outside of the Owens and used that as inspiration! It turned out great!”

      — Lily, Marshview Middle School student

In the fall of 2018, the Owens was a lead partner in Engage!, a multisession project delivered in partnership with Marshview Middle School and a Community Engaged Learning course at Mount Allison University. Over eleven sessions, a group of twenty-one enthusiastic students in grades five to seven examined artists’ materials and processes through hands-on activities at the Owens and in the classroom. Together we explored leather tooling, weaving, collage and more. Students’ explorations culminated in an exhibition at Marshview Middle School complete with handwritten labels.

To learn more about this project, visit our archive of Instagram stories that document the explorations, observations, and creative work of the #MiniOwensGalleryGroup #ArtistsAtWork. The hashtags for ENGAGE: Owens Art Gallery were created by the artists in this project as a collective identity. They set the scene for our sessions together.

A group of students sit on the gallery floor looking at a large blue and white patterned weaving displayed on the wall. An adult stands near the weaving gesturing towards it. Some students have their hands raised.
A small weaving made of purple, blue, red, orange and yellow stripes. Long beige tassels extend from both the left and right. Below, handwritten text reads "Artist: Julia", "My favourite part about my weaving is all the colours." Under this text is a smiley face and "My name Julia" written with a heart dotting the 'i'.
A brown masonite board is covered in black, yellow, green, and blue vinyl letters. Below, a handwritten text reads "Artist: Ashley", "I made a vinyl lettering last week. Roxy their preparator talked about the techniques he uses to put up vinyl lettering. He also talked about how he hung up artworks. Also we used masonite as a board to put the vinyl lettering on.
On a cluttered table there are baskets of vinyl stickers with letters and numbers. Many letter stickers are scattered over the table, some letters have been transferred to masonite boards. A pair of hands holds a selection of stickers over the table.
In a darkened room, an adult stands in front of a framed artwork lit by blue ultra violet light and addresses a group of children. The adult extends their arm towards the work, pointing something out to the group.
Two leather shapes, one a triangle and the other a diamond, are stamped with patterns. Both are punched with a single hole that has been treaded with a leather lace tied in a loop at the top. Below handwritten text reads "Artist: Meara", "The materials I used were leather, leather tools and a mallet. My favourite part about leather tooling was doing the design on the leather."