Circles of Belonging

This week I had the good fortune to visit Bayview Elementary School in Nanaimo as part of my job as a Publisher’s Rep. As I drove up to the school, I was met by this amazing mural proudly displayed on the front of the school. I just had to take a quick snap. I wish I could have captured the whole mural. Yet this one square of colour and story is perhaps the best welcome I have received in all of my years of visiting schools across Canada as I recently learned that the symbolism of raised paddles, shown above, means “we come in peace.” Although my day at Bayview was a busy one, I knew that I must do some more research around the origin of this amazing school community mural. Sure enough, there is a wonderful story here!

In the spring of 2015, school staff, students and members of the Nanaimo school community gathered to unveil this stunning mural, entitled Circles of Belonging. In an incredible act of creative community-building, this mural represents the work of many hours and many young hands – those of the students of Bayview! The school worked over several months with Nanaimo Art Gallery Art Education Coordinator and Muralist, Yvonne Vander Kooi, who led guided workshops on representing the important topics of belonging and identity using a variety of media supplied by local businesses and a grant from Artstarts Vancouver. The students also benefited from stories shared by Mandy Jones, School District 68’s Aboriginal Educator and Snuneymuxw Elder to help shape the images representing the community. As Vander Kooi writes “It’s really important to talk about this land and the history of this land and the stories that make it rich.” Together with the help of the students, Vander Kooi drew out the design, garnered the approval of staff, students and parents and set to work painting a mural that will be the pride of this community for years to come.

If you would like to learn more about the making of Circles of Belonging, please visit here and here. For those educators among us, if you would like to learn more about the process leading up to and during the making of this mural, I would highly recommend Yvonne’s blog post found at Artstarts Vancouver.

I would also like to say thank you to the dedicated staff at each of the Nanaimo schools who so warmly welcomed me into your busy day this week! You have created a sense of belonging that lasts beyond one visit!