Skip to content

Student artists in Williams Lake envision a bright future

Some Lake City Secondary student artists are working on a mural project for the school

The role of artists is often to help us see things differently, to question, to offer creative solutions or envision a different way.

So it makes sense a class of student artists at Lake City Secondary School are collectively building a vision for the future with a mural project for their school and the community.

Thanks to funding from the Canadian Red Cross being administered by the Tamarack Institute in a project proposed by Streets for All Williams Lake, the students of Siobjan McCambridge’s painting and drawing class are collaborating on helping the community envision a future full of colour, beauty and possibility.

Students in the class span Grades 10 through to 12 and the artists participated in discussions around the vision they would like to see for their own future, instead of focussing on the anxiety and grief which can be caused by so much of the current global situation.

Living in an area which experienced the stress of being evacuated due to catastrophic wildfires in 2017, some students admitted to feeling anxious when smoke fills the air during wildfire season.

The class first watched a film called The Engine Inside, in which six people from around the world are making change for their community using the bicycle as a vehicle for change.

The film was meant as a jumping off point for discussing how individual actions can create larger movements, and the role of advocacy and art in making change. Students were then asked to think about something they hoped to see in the future.

Each student then sketched their own idea and presented it to artist Sarah Sigurdson, of Cariboo Art Beat. Sigurdson has done this type of collaborative work before, helping students at Chilcotin Road School to bring their ideas to life in an active transportation-themed mural unveiled last year.

Sigurdson took all of the sketches and ideas, integrating each one into a three-panel mural design.

She chose colours for the mural and students are currently painting the mural under guidance from Sigurdson and McCambridge over the next couple of weeks.

The final mural will be unveiled to the school in an event which Caitlyn Sabatino’s Leadership Class students will be helping to support as well. The mural will then be installed on the wall of Lake City Secondary School.

READ MORE: School District 27 eyes 2 high school model for Williams Lake

Don’t miss out on reading the latest local, provincial and national news offered at the Williams LakeTribune. Sign up for our free newsletter here.



Ruth Lloyd

About the Author: Ruth Lloyd

I moved back to my hometown of Williams Lake after living away and joined the amazing team at the Williams Lake Tribune in 2021.
Read more