City of Vaughan commissions student artists for Group of Seven REMIXED, ARTonBOXES pilot project

Yorkregion.com
July 19, 2023
Brian Capitao

Pablo Picasso would be proud.

The City of Vaughan is piloting a 10-year ARTonBOXES program. The pilot project is the Group of Seven REMIXED and is a project part of the city-wide public art program.

Both the public and catholic schoolboards collaborated with the City of Vaughan to run the program in alignment with the Ontario curriculum for visual art.

The city received 64 submissions from Grade 11 and 12 visual art specialty students from St. Elizabeth Catholic High School and Westmount Collegiate Institute.

12 finalists were chosen and received a Student Higher Education Bursary of $1,000 in support of higher education and post-secondary in the arts.

“The City of Vaughan is dedicated to supporting artistic and cultural endeavours that add to our community’s spirit, diversity and sense of togetherness. The ARTonBOXES program will contribute to our city’s urban character by beautifying public spaces in our neighbourhoods and animating high-traffic intersections in all five wards across Vaughan,” said Mayor Steven Del Duca in a written statement.

The artwork was evaluated by a curatorial assessment panel for the following criteria: artistic merit, contribution to urban character and applicability.

The 12 student artists whose work was selected are the following:

From St. Elizabeth Catholic High School:

• Alessandra Raso, The Hunt
• Anna Ladizginsky, Twine
• Cailin Sadecka, Ethereality
• Kaitlyn Hsieh, Wilderness
• Lorenzo Pereira Misiunas, The Lone Boat
• Maria Suzdaleva, The Calmest Hour

From Westmount Collegiate Institute:

• Allyson Safran, Mountain Vast
• Caia Rotman, Peggy
• Daniel Zhang, Muskoka Woods
• Hailey Shema, Joy
• Marni Pellicane, Beauty of Banff
• Rana Silakhori, Snow Serenity