Nearly 70 Grade 11 and 12 North Park Collegiate students had their work on display for the school’s 28th annual senior art show, titled “Layers of Meaning,” on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.
Kelsey Phillips, one of two senior art teachers at North Park, said the showcase was the culmination of everything the students had learned throughout their time in art classes.
“This is the best part of my year, seeing everything all come together and celebrating the arts in our school. We have some very, very talented and dedicated student artists here, and it’s just really nice to see all their work come together because they’ve worked so hard on it. This is really a culmination of their years in the art program and everything they’ve learned along the way.”
With roughly 250 pieces displayed around the school’s library, the students, families and friends walked around admiring the various mediums that the students have been working with throughout their high school career.
“We have all types of media set up here,” said Phillips. “We have digital drawings, collages, traditional paintings, drawings, sculpture and mixed-media; it’s anything and everything.”
The teacher went on to say that the students have been working through the year, often putting in long hours not just to create their work, but to prepare for the art show as well.
“The students come up with and vote on the name of the show, and they also all design a poster and choose the one they want to represent themselves on the T-shirts, posters and social media,” Phillips explained. “It’s a lot of work to put this show on, and many hands make light work, so the students are involved in everything from framing and labeling to curating what goes where and why, in order to create a balanced display. It’s really what they decide and how much work they want to put in to transform this space.”
With many of the students graduating in just a week or so, Phillips said she hopes they’ll take what they’ve learned over the years and apply it to their future endeavors.
“Art is a spot where these students can feel included, where they can be themselves, and hopefully grow into the human they will become beyond high school. I hope they take away everything they’ve learned in the classroom about themselves, and collaboration and inclusivity, and they take that out and share it with the world,” she said. “When you think about it, the arts provide them with all those critical thinking skills they need. From the hatching of an idea to the completion, talking about their work and getting feedback, editing and fixing it up, that process allows them to be great problem solvers in this modern world that we live in.”
Grade 12 student Sadie Crow, 17, later said she felt “good, but nervous” to finally be presenting her work at the art show.
Much of her work featured a variety of self-portraits using different mediums.
“All this was part of a big series on self-portraiture. It started as an AP portfolio, but I just kind of kept making works,” Crow explained. “I like to explore different aspects of my identity; how people perceive me and how I perceive myself.”
When asked what art meant to her, Crow said it was very important and that she was even going on to pursue illustration in post-secondary school.
“I want to go into doing comics and stuff like that or children’s book covers and TV shows, things like that,” she said.
The student added that while it was a lot of work to put on the show, she enjoyed doing it.
“It was a bit stressful,” she said with a laugh. “But it was actually really fun. Art is my favourite thing to do in the entire world so I loved it.”
Grade 11 student, Lead Ford, 16, also shared similar sentiments.
“Art is honestly everything to me,” she said. “I’ve been drawing since I was five so I’ve been doing this my entire life. There’s something about getting to just put my thoughts onto something I can hold, and look back at and say, ‘I made that.’”
Noting that this was Ford’s first big art show, the student said she was happy to have her work displayed.
“I’ve been waiting to do this since I was in Grade 9, so I am so excited,” she stated. “Now, I’m really looking forward to Grade 12 art.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
