Grade 3 students create wetlands show for gallery
Twenty students from James Morden elementary school in Niagara Falls are “vibrating” with excitement for their own exhibition at the Niagara Falls Art Gallery.
A Drop of Light, featuring the work of Melissa McKinney-Lepp’s grade 3 students, opens Saturday at 2 p.m. and continues until March 31. The multi-media show looks at the importance of local wetlands such as the area near Thunder Waters Golf Club, currently at risk to development, and privatelyowned Heartland Forest.
Environmental concerns are part of the class curriculum, says McKinney-Lepp, and this year students took an immediate interest in wetlands.
“Kids are passionate about nature,” she says. “It’s something that’s very real for them, and seems very simple to them. Like, why would anyone not want to preserve wetlands? Why would anyone not want to value wetlands? It’s just a no-brainer to them.”
The project found an ally in Hewlett-Packard, which donated a computer and 3D printer to the school and gallery to help create the show.
Students have been working on the project since September, says Niagara Falls Art Gallery executive director Debra Attenborough. It marks the first time the gallery has collaborated with one specific class.
“They were pretty interesting students because they really demonstrated an environmental social conscience,” she says. “And to a certain extent, a political social conscience. In terms of how they looked at the environment, specifically in Niagara.”
She adds they were “quite savvy ” in how they used the technology to get their message across.
All of the students will attend Saturday’s grand opening, along with James Morden principal Sheila Welsh and vice principal Kate Fish.
McKinney-Lepp says the students have been anxious all week to see the exhibit.
“It’s gonna absolutely blow their minds.”
The opening runs from 2 to 4 p.m. The gallery is located at 8058 Oakwood Drive.