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Fairytale & Fantasy Student Art Show showcases young artist’s work

December 7, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Student artists from the Ricky Schaede Art Studio in Orangeville had the opportunity to present their work during a show with the theme “Fairytale & Fantasy” at Theatre Orangeville.

Opening night took place on Friday, Dec. 1, in the upstairs Orangeville Theatre lobby at 87 Broadway.

Ricky Schaede is a local artist who recently opened a studio on First Street in downtown Orangeville and offers art classes to both children and adults. Student artists range in age from six to 14. Many of the works for the art show were created during Ricky Schaede’s art classes at his new studio at 5 First St., which had its grand opening on Nov. 10. Other student artists created the art on their own time.

The studio also serves as a gallery for Ricky’s own imaginative artwork.

As an art instructor, Ricky’s mission is to cultivate the unique creative identity of each of his students. They create their art in a variety of mediums.

The art show coincided with the opening of Theatre Orangeville’s new play, “Cinderella… if the Shoe Fits,” which had its opening night on Dec. 1. 

“The Theatre approached me about having a student art show here, so this is my first student art show,” Ricky explained. “There are 27 works of art from students ages six to 14. They are all students who have taken art classes with me, so they are either in my programs now or have been in the past. A lot of the works of art were made in class, some of them were made at home on the student’s own time. It’s a fairytale and fantasy theme because they’re having the Cinderella pantomime show for the Theatre’s 30th anniversary. Some of them had work already that fit the theme. Others made Cinderella-specific pieces. There’s a lot of paintings, a lot of drawings and one sculpture. There’s a lot of cool pieces in the show.”

The students had different inspirations for their artwork and chose several different methods to create each piece.

“I’ve been doing artwork for a couple of years now, I started in second grade,” said Delaney Walsh, who contributed her work to the Fairytale and Fantasy Student Art Show. 

“I like how it gives you creative freedom to draw whatever you want. You don’t even have to show people if you don’t want to. I love working with fantasy work – it’s so much more fun than realism.”

Fellow student Naeve Turner said she enjoys being creative.

“I’ve been doing artwork since I was in grade four,” Naeve said. “I like that you get to be creative and you get to explore with different types of artwork and styles. For this show I did a mixed media piece. I used glitter and acrylic paint.”

Ella Monette, who also participated in the art show, said she likes to try different things when creating art.

“I really like painting and sometimes drawing and sketching,” Ella said. “I heard about the Cinderella play and I really like Cinderella, so I thought it would be really cool to do a Cinderella warrior. I went to the studio in the summer, and now I’m going every Wednesday.”

Nine-year-old Violet McAuslan was inspired by a movie to do her work for the art show.

“I did a Mario painting because I like the movie,” Violet said. “I like how we can use different materials. I do everything – painting, drawing, and sculpting.”

In his adult classes, students are invited to create art step by step along with Ricky, learning from start to finish how he approaches creating his drawings and paintings.

The studio is “a space to feel safe making creative decisions and taking risks in art making,” Ricky said. “Imagination is highly encouraged.

At the studio, you can also find a range of curated art supplies, including some very unique made-in-Canada art supplies, gift items, and unique original artwork.

The Fairytale & Fantasy Student Art Show will be on exhibit in Theatre Orangeville’s upstairs lobby (87 Broadway) through December. 

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