Alongside our Earth Day Fundraiser (April 22nd), we've hung over 200 pieces of student art work. When taking action on Earth Day, it's important to us to consider youth voices. It's the younger generation who we are responsible to in matters of the environment, and it is they who will ultimately be handed the continued work of conservation and restoration. We believe it's important to engage these youth voices, and are blown away by the colourful and insightful collection these students have created.

Thanks to the teachers and Students of Charles Dickens Elementary, Stratford Hall, Island Discovery Learning Centre, and Mount Pleasant Elementary for all your hard work.

If you’re an educator and would like to bring a classroom or another group in to view the art, email bandidascommunications@gmail.com. We’d be happy to host you.

"We were inspired by the work of Roy Henry Vickers, a First Nations artist. Since it is Earth Day on April 22nd, we wanted our paintings to celebrate the things we love most about British Columbia: sunsets, mountains, trees, the ocean, and wildlife. We hope our art inspires you to appreciate and protect our environment!"

- The Grade 4 students at Stratford Hall

"We focused our art on the accumulation of plastics in our oceans. This is a collaborative watercolour-based work--each strip was created by a different student. The work is based on the idea of being underwater looking up, as a way of embodying the spirit of aquatic plants and animals as a plea to the humans who share the earth with us."

- Grades 5/6/7 at Charles Dickens Elementary

"These are pastel drawings based on the artwork of George Littlechild, a Cree artist from Alberta.

- Grade 5/6/7 at Charles Dickens Elementary

This is a Kindergarten class at Island Discovery Learning Centre which is a 1 day a week program for home learners that meets up nearby.

For the Earth Day theme, we read stories, discussed what we loved about the earth, how we can help make it better by planting flowers for the bees and trees for the birds. Then we spent 2 days walking around collecting things in nature we found interesting. We brought the collection back to the classroom, discussed the colours, textures, smells, how we feel about pieces. We also discussed patterns that we had done in the past and if there were ways to make patterns from our pieces. Then we plotted out how the kids thought the pieces should be arranged on the paper, and we stuck it all on, and voila! Some pieces are collaborations and some are singularity done by one artist.

Diego Mazzarella 14yrs, lives nearby in the community

Enjoys art, prefers minimal colour techniques and likes adding a surreal component. In this piece there are actually 11 fingers, to represent that more is needed than our 10 fingers on our hands to help the planet.

The piece is paper and pencil.

This art is the result of a photojournalism unit on water.

-Grades 5/6/7 at Mount Pleasant Elementary

"Grade threes at Stratford Hall explored the connections between taking care of the Earth and their current Unit of inquiry surrounding persuasion and advertising. Students learned advertising techniques and applied their knowledge to create "Earth Day Ads," drawing attention towards the beauty of the earth or the consequences of not taking care of our planet. the goal of our art is to persuade the viewer to think, feel, and ultimately take action to protect the amazing place we all call home, on Earth Day, and every day."

-Ms. Causey and Ms. Debrevil's Grade 3 Classes, Stratford Hall

Earth Day 2018 Student Art Show