A group of Fernie Secondary School students received an art lesson from Alberta painter Gordon Milne on Monday morning after Milne’s Hall of Fame-worthy exhibit made its debut at the Fernie Museum over the weekend.
Milne’s artwork, currently hanging in the Fernie Museum, is on loan from Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary and depicts vividly coloured paintings of some of Canada’s greatest athletes. Art teacher Jay Arnold brought her students to the museum to learn about portraiture and colour from the painter.
“He’s giving us feedback on our own drawings and we’re going to go back and take our drawings and create paintings in the style of Gordon Milne,” said Arnold.
Both Milne and Arnold agreed that a unique interaction like this between the artist and the community has created a beneficial learning experience for these students.
“The interaction with the community is huge … we’re very fortunate,” said Arnold.
She noted that she takes advantage of as many opportunities as possible to open the eyes of her students to other styles of painting and drawing and apply them to their own work.
“The biggest thing is you can’t be afraid to do it,” agreed Milne. “You just have to do it.”
Milne added that, “The people here at the museum have been amazing organizing everything: an artist talk on Saturday, a workshop on Sunday and a couple of classes today.”