Art Changes People. People Change the World!

High School Art Students at South Kamloops Secondary really put their hearts into their recent class project. Starting with the belief: “Art changes people. People change the world,” a dedicated group of girls set their sights on women in poverty. After thoughtful research and dynamic class discussions, these junior art students believed they could create artworks to reflect, not just the problems girls and women face, but their belief in the strength of women and how they can be the catalysts of change. 

Students were encouraged to look at different regions around the world and research some of the specific hardships girls and women endure. Next, students looked at the positive actions taken by humanitarian groups/organizations, empowering women through education and financial aid. The students quickly recognized that A LOT of people are actively involved; empowering, supporting and inspiring women.

The next step was image development and the question of how to arrange images and colours to create a compelling message; how to reveal hardships and yet suggest hope. In the end, this project engaged the students to think creatively and to think with empathy. For the students, the more they believed in the message, the more they challenged themselves to improve their technical skills and understanding of the principles of art. They really believed in the images they created, and in the potential to communicate something bigger than themselves. For me, it was inspiring to see this; to listen to their dialogue and watch as they created twenty five, diverse and uniquely compelling artworks!


In January, the students committed to posting one artwork a day to our blog, Make Art For Change. They worked through the challenging process of titling and writing artist statements to support their artwork. Then, using facebook and twitter we tackled getting the message “out there”. As a classroom teacher it is often my goal to get artwork viewed beyond the classroom walls, but getting it out to the world through the Internet was really exciting. Thank you to everyone who has viewed it so far and helped to share our message of Hope.

The Power of a Dragon.

I chose Chinese culture for my project because millions of families resort to abortion and infanticide to make sure their child is a boy (world news msnbc.com). The traditional thinking is best described in the ancient book of songs 1000-700 b.c. 'When a son is born, Let him sleep on the bed, Clothe him with fine clothes, And give him jade to play...When a daughter is born, Let her sleep on the ground, Wrap her in common wrappings, And give broken tiles to play.' So, for my artwork, I painted a dragon with a girl holding it up. I drew this because the symbolism in my artwork is that "one girl can have the power of a dragon."

- Laura, Grade 9

The Power To Take Over

In China, 190 girls are abducted each day. These girls are getting stolen for the use of sexual servitude, for a forced marriage and many other tragic things. In my artwork, I have a young girl being protected by the sun, the sun is protecting her from all the horrifying monsters so that she has the chance to have an education, find happiness and love; instead of living in a world you could never imagine surviving in. In my artwork, I also want people to understand that art CAN change people and people CAN change the world and hopefully this makes a difference in the near future.

Rylea, Grade 9

Helping Hands

My artwork is about how one person can make a difference and escape poverty. My artwork represents a woman leading young children out of the grey, horrible life they live and into one filled with education and jobs of their choice, and many other things. In this process I learned some of the horrible things people do to women in different regions of the world. I think Art Can Change People. People Change the World is true, because some people just listen and don't do anything to help, but with art it may help people to visualize what actually goes on and get a clear perspective on these types of issues women struggle with in our everyday life. It may persuade people to do something about it. People need to know about some of the issues women struggle with.

The Path to Success

My picture shows a girl that has been given the chance to walk down the path of education. It shows that education can open doors for young girls to have a chance at a happy life. Two thirds of all uneducated people are women. Girls who are uneducated are likely to  be discriminated against and continue to live in poverty. "For every year a girl spends in school, she raises her family income by up to 20%" (care.ca). My picture does not represent a certain country because I believe all girls need to be educated. Education opens doors to all sorts of other opportunities. Having an education empowers a woman to do things that she might have never even dreamt of before. I think that we have been presented with a chance to help people, and we are doing our best to show all that with our art.

- Jenny, Grade 10

Girls Help Hold Up The World

My artwork focuses on girls in India that are unable to go to school. I chose India because there are a lot of unprivileged girls there. More than 50 per cent of girls fail to enrol in school because they have to stay home and work and also because of gender discrimination and poverty. Those that do go to school, are likely to drop out by the age of 12 (america.cry.org). My art shows how girls help to hold up the world. I believe if more girls had the chance to go to school it would be a better world because they would have new ideas that they could contribute to making the world a better place.  I hope my artwork inspires everyone to stand up and make a difference in the world!

- Anisha, Grade 9