A new student art gallery located at the back of the District's Education Centre lobby opens this week with an exhibition of interesting portraits and colourful and creative sculptural figures.

These displays are from the Field of Vision exhibit, that is a collaboration between professional and amateur artists, with student artists from Kitsilano Secondary. The exhibit seeks to restructure the historical tradition of the portrait and considers what it is to work as an artist in a variety of geographical locations and under a variety of economic systems.

Field of Vision was curated by Andrew James McKay, a current undergraduate student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. His work centres around investigating the social dynamics of our communities, and producing work which relays the findings of those investigations.

McKay worked with Kitsilano Secondary students over several sessions to help them develop their own interpretations of the works that would then together form a comprehensive vision about each subject. He found working with the students engaging and exciting. "Their enthusiasm, creativity, and curiosity for the project was much appreciated, and we were very pleased to have their participation," McKay states. "Many thanks to Sharon Fritz, art teacher at Kitsilano Secondary, for having invited me to work with her on this project."

The sculptures accompanying the exhibit are a separate body of work related to the theme of portraiture – the art of creating portraits. These metaphoric self-portraits were created by Kitsilano Secondary students in Ms. Fritz's Art 11/12 class this year. Students were asked to explore ways of representing various aspects of their own identity through sculpture using clay, plaster paper, recycled bottles and other recycled materials.

Vancouver School District Arts Coordinator, Peggy Bochun, is excited about the new student art gallery – saying "It puts staff in direct contact with student achievement in the arts and brings value to arts based learning experiences and expression."

The current exhibition runs March 4 - April 11; and the public are invited to visit during the Education Centre's opening times (Monday – Friday, 8.30am - 4.30pm).

More information on the current exhibit can be found on Andrew James McKay's website.