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“It’s quite a loss out of our community so we wanted to honour the Ford plant but also the workers,” says Nancy Baker, the school’s advancement director. “The students are learning that art communicates and so they are using their art to communicate to the community.” Baker says it is an important issue to get involved in because it affects the community that the students are part of, noting some of the students’ parents or relatives work at the Ford plant. “Everyone is affected by its closing,” says Baker. “We wanted to study it and learn about it and have the children understand what it means for our community.” Art specialist Peggy DeVries says she looks for ways to involve students in local issues and speak through their art. She first introduced students to the field of industrial design and its role in the automotive industry, which she says was a learning experience for them. The students painted a car produced in the plant since 1967 on a hockey water bottle. They were then challenged to develop concept cars for the future that respond to environmental concerns. Their ideas are recorded, as scrolls, inside the bottles. “They came up with some great ideas, some very imaginative ideas,” says DeVries of the concept cars. The bottles and ideas will be part of a display called The Message in the Bottle. Using radial art each student designed a ceramic tile featuring the name of a vehicle produced in the plant. While they worked on the placement of colours and shapes they were made aware that artistic design plays a significant role in the automotive industry. The tiles are displayed together in a framed piece as a tribute to the work at the plant during the past four decades. The display will be presented to Southwold Township Mayor James McIntyre at the art show, who will be displaying the piece at various locations. As a culminating project DeVries went to the assembly plant and spoke with the local Canadian Auto Workers chairperson. It was arranged for the chairperson and president, along with a group of current and retired Ford employees, to visit the classroom. Students interviewed the employees about their work, learning interviewing and listening skills in the process. DeVries says watching them interact with the Ford employees was “one of the most moving things” to witness. Students made collages that included notes from their interviews on a hockey jersey cut-out. The collages also have pieces of pictures and newspaper articles about the plant. “The plant may close but the work will be remembered and the people who did the work they will be remembered, and they all together form a narrative that’s connected as a community, so that won’t be lost,” says DeVries. “There’s a lot of pain in this issue of this plant closing,” she adds. “We are in a changing culture, we are in a changing economy, these kids are living in a changing world and so now they are getting involved in the middle of it and they are seeing the impact.” Last year St. Thomas students honoured another community issue through artwork — the loss of heritage site Alma College, which burned down in May 2008. The April 6 event is entitled The Face of Ford and will be held at the St. Thomas Timken Community Centre, Third Avenue and Wellington Street, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. DeVries says the hockey arena was chosen for the show because she wanted it to be in a place where the community met, and it also plays off the hockey metaphor. St. Thomas Mayor Cliff Barwick, Southwold Township Mayor James McIntyre and Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Steve Peters will say a few words at the event. The public is invited to attend. If you have feedback on this article, please contact jennifer(at)axiomnews.ca or 800-294-0051.
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