ESTEVAN — Grade 7 and 8 students at Hillcrest School recently completed an art project that reimagines some of Estevan’s most recognizable public artworks, connecting, rediscovering and adding their own unique touches to local landmarks.
The project, led by teacher Brian Hayes, aimed to teach students about local artists and their inspirations while encouraging creativity. Hayes travelled around Estevan, capturing images of murals and sculptures. Students then traced these images onto transparencies, photocopied them into black-and-white templates, and added their own colours and interpretations.
“I encouraged the students to move away from the original colours,” said Hayes. “As an artist, I’d want someone to take my design and put their own spin on it. That’s how art continues through generations.”
For some students, the project provided a personal connection to familiar sights in the community. Kirstin Waloshin worked on the Co-op truck mural. “I see it a lot when I drive past with my mom,” she said. “I was pretty excited about it. It was pretty fun to do.”
Other students embraced the challenge of altering well-known works. “Mine was the globe by the mall,” said Anushay Salahuddin. “I used warmer colours.”
Nova Hood recreated the tractor installed near Tim Hortons. “I did want a different one, but I was happy with what I got,” Hood said. “It was difficult because I didn’t think about mixing colours – I just blocked a lot of colours on there.”
For Payton Larmour, keeping the colours true to the original piece was the best approach. “I had the Estevan structure near the art museum,” she said. “I don’t have the best imagination, so I kind of kept the colours the same.”
Tayson Armstrong recreated Lignite Louis, a well-known local mascot installed by the Souris Valley Museum. “I tried to keep it as original as possible but changed up some of the colours,” Armstrong said, adding that he’s never had a personal connection with Lignite Louis as it was off the public’s eyes for a long time, but the project allowed him to look closer at this historical piece.
Some students took creative liberties in their work. “I did the soldier tree by the police station,” said Ember Martell. “I thought it had a lot of details in it and it was going to be hard to try and recreate, but it was actually pretty easy to do. And I was happy once I got it done. … For the most part, I tried to stick to original colours, but the differences in the background – for the sky, I made it like a gradient of a sunset, made it look more like it was nighttime.”
Johnathan Hala put his spin on the race car mural near McDonald’s. “It was pretty fun and easy,” he said. “I tried to keep it simple, similar to the original but added different colours too.”
Kolton Tweed worked on recreating the sculpture of musicians near the Estevan Comprehensive School. He said this project made him feel more connected to Estevan's art, but he also added a twist to the original piece. “I added a lot of colours to it,” he said.
Brookelynn Gyan didn’t know much about her piece – Andrew King’s circus-themed mural by co-op on Fourth Street, but nevertheless, ended up creating a beautiful personalized version of Estevan’s classic piece.
Lena Hayward took inspiration from nature while working on reimagining the mural of flowers and sunlight in the Garden of Fourth. “I really like nature and photography, so this piece was nice for me,” Hayward said. “I reversed the colours, making the bricks red and blue instead of brown and orange, and I did the sunset as more of a dark red other than a shine of orange and yellow.”
Some students were more strategic in their choices. “I picked mine because I thought it was the easiest,” admitted Natalie Shier, who worked on the Garden on Fourth mural “I just chose colours I thought would look pretty.”
Others, like Jada Prokopetz, had a simple approach. “I worked on the bear with the Roughriders logo [wooden carving],” she said. “I didn’t feel very connected to it, so I just used my favourite colours.”
Katya Densley put a remix on her piece, a mural of a girl drinking a milkshake on the side of Sussex Arms. “I knew where the base one came from, but I liked adding my own spin,” she said. “It’s like a remix of the original.”
Mateo Amosah experimented with his artwork of the dog mural. “I just picked colours I liked and painted over it,” he said. “It was fun.”
Payton Montclair worked on a flower mural on the side of Pharmasave. He said he changed the colours a bit, but not too much.
Ciara Baldwin also ended up recreating the same mural, but took a different approach, keeping the colours as close to the original as possible. She said she liked participating in the art project.
Hayes said the project encouraged students to engage with their surroundings in a new way. When interviewed, some students even expressed interest in contributing their own artwork to Estevan in the future.
“That’s what I wanted,” Hayes said. “For them to see art differently and feel inspired to create their own.”
Art pieces created by the students will be on display at the Estevan Leisure Centre by the arts council room through the month of March.
