Artist in Residence with Pete Smith

St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju is holding the 1st SJA Jeju Annual Festival of the Arts on Saturday, May 26th, 2018. As a part of the festival, SJA Jeju is hosting an Artist in Residence Program with Pete Smith, a Canadian painter, beginning May 7 to work with all students in Grades 3 to the High School Art 1 class.

With Elementary School students, he shared the inspiration for his current works, which is mainly about his direct environment. Using Mr. Smith's theme of the environment, Elementary students created a sketch and transferred it to a canvas. They are learning the steps to create a thoughtful painting, using skills such as measuring, creating an underpainting, and layering paints. Mrs. Montagne is quoted as "The students are learning a lot about painting techniques. It's a great opportunity to hear how a professional artist creates his work!"

In Secondary school, Grade 6 students have been creating paintings inspired by their environment like Pete Smith's current work.  Students chose a source image to work from, then created a sketch which was then transferred to their canvas to paint. Students have been learning how to create different effects using different brushes and ways to apply paint. Grades 7 and 8 students are creating abstract paintings inspired by Pete Smith's earlier work. These students found an image then used digital software to alter the photograph into shapes and colors and are now painting that newly generated image. Art 1 students are creating a similar work but on a much larger scale which will be installed in the High School building next week. Mrs. Emerson said, "It's so great to have a professional artist and university professor here to share his expertise with our students. We're lucky that he was able to join us in Jeju for 3 weeks!"

Pete Smith shared his thoughts about Artist in Residence, "The opportunity to come here to Jeju was very exciting. I love working with young people and making art. Students and faculty at SJA Jeju are very special to me." He described SJA Jeju as " welcoming community". "In every time somebody walks past me, they smile and say hello. The entire community does this regardless of the age. I feel that SJA Jeju is a very friendly school."

In addition to Mr. Smith, the visual artist, there will be 2 dramatists working with the SJA Jeju artistic team in developing a drama production inspired by a picture book "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan.

The inaugural SJA Jeju Annual Festival of the Arts consists of two main Arts: Visual and Performing Arts. The Visual Arts part consists of art exhibitions and a film screening, and the performing arts part consists of band and choir, and a drama performance.