Art program gives youth a new outlook

A giant wall mural painted by nine young artists from Saskatoon Community Youth Arts Programming (SCYAP) Inc. was unveiled on the north inside wall of the Saskatoon Food Bank on April 30.

The mural, 22 feet high x 39 feet wide, features a scene of an urban wall and windows dissolving into a beautiful outdoor scene.  Conceived in partnership with the Food Bank, the artwork is a community gift from the SCYAP Urban Canvas IX Project team.

Christine Arcand, one of the painters, says she was one of the first students that applied and got in to the 39 week full-time Urban Canvas Project this year.

“I was working and raising my daughter and I was looking for work,” Arcand said. She added she was thrilled to be accepted, as in the 8 or 9 months spent with the SCYAP program she “learned lots – from the basics of shading all the way up to full murals – use of colours – every medium in the art world.”

It requires serious commitment – every day, five days a week is a lot of art - and is sometimes exhausting, but well worth it, she said. Arcand will graduate at the end of May, but before then all nine artists will have their works on display at the Mendel Art Gallery, opening Monday May 3rd.

“I’ve learned to be a better artist – I know a lot that I didn’t know and I want to continue in the arts,” said Arcand.  She explained it took them only two weeks to do the Food Bank Mural, from the first sketch to the final coats of paint. “It’s a good program, with good opportunities.”

SCYAP provides training for youth age 16-30 who face barriers to employment, with an opportunity to use their interest in visual arts to develop art, personal and work related skills. SCYAP utilizes community murals, mentoring, and art exhibits, to give participants a chance to make a positive contribution and gain a plethora of self-development skills.

Besides the training and discipline, Arcand said she benefitted from job shadowing and career counseling, as well as support in applying for jobs or further schooling.
“I job shadowed at Egadz for 2 and a half months, working with youth,” she said.

Sheena Laplante is another SCYAP artist who was looking for work after being laid off the pipeline, and heard about the program from a friend of her mother’s.

She applied – and the rest, as they say, is history.

“It was way more than I expected,” Laplante said. “I learned lots – not just painting, but it helped with life, knowledge, meeting people and learning from them and their experiences.”

She hadn’t done drawing since she was young but it came back quickly – two of the young women who are gardening in the front of the large mural were done by her single-handedly, one of them of African descent and the other Aboriginal.

Laplante loves the art and is going to continue to keep art in her life even after the program – she says she’d done some drawing on her own and in school but now she has a very solid base and a commitment.

But Laplante is also seriously considering becoming an addictions counselor, a job she didn’t even know existed before SCYAP.

“A speaker came and talked about what is out there,” she said, adding that the career resources as well as the creativity and training make this a program she would recommend to anyone.

“It’s the best job I ever had – even though it was minimum wage, I’d rather get paid for doing this than anything else.

It brought back my artistic abilities,” she added.
Including members of the community and media, about fifty people attended the official unveiling at noon. The nine artists, whose first names are painted on a box in the middle of the wall, all helped to tear off the paper to reveal the mural, as they were rewarded with applause and many photo opportunities.

“It sure helps to brighten up this place,” noted one volunteer.  “I wish they could do all the walls like this!”