Aristotle wrote, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” This is something every artist understands whether beginner or master. Over the years, Sir Alexander Mackenzie School has seen many students talented in the fine arts (Cheyenne Anderson, Latham Mack and Jade Stranaghan to name a few) and Grade 11 student Ashley Moore carries on that tradition.
A drawing Ashley drew will be gracing the December cover of Admininfo, a magazine school principals across the province of B.C. receive monthly. Admininfo each month welcomes submissions from students from all over B.C. to provide the cover art for the magazine. Feeling that the students at SAMS produce artwork equal or surpassing what had been on the cover in recent months, principal Jeremy Baillie approached art teacher Ms. Ignas with the idea of submitting some of the recent artwork the students had been producing.
“It took some convincing of the students. We’re constantly convincing the students that in all areas (academic, artistic, physical competitions) that they can and do measure up to students from the larger centres,” said principal Jeremy Baillie.
Several art work submissions were collected from students from all grades within the school and submitted to the magazine cover art designers and out of hundreds of submissions from across the province, Ashley’s drawing was selected for the December cover.
SAMS boasts an excellent art program under the guidance of Ms. Ignas with classes being offered at three levels – Grade 6/7, Grade 8/9 and Grade 10-12. In addition, there is also the long-standing Carving Program in which students study under Master Carver, James Mack. Students from both programs are regular contributors to many of the art displays both at the Art House and elsewhere in the community.