Cross-Country Virtual Presentation Inspires

I've been checking in with the teachers that are new to my school this week, as well as those with new assignments, to make sure that they are doing okay. One of the questions I've asked has been "What was your biggest success this week?" My colleague turned the question back to me and wanted to know what my biggest success was this past week. It was easy to answer, thanks to Robyn Lau.

Who is Robyn Lau? You can read her brief biography here (https://www.robynlauart.com/about). My daughter met her in Artists Alley at Fan Expo Canada this year. Mary and all of her friends commissioned drawings of their Dungeons & Dragons characters from her and raved about the quality of her artwork. I sent her an email asking her if she'd be willing to speak for twenty minutes or so to a group of Grade 3-7 students about tips for drawing faces of actual people for a small honorarium, and she agreed.

The group of students are members of my Kids Guide to Canada Portrait Club. As I mentioned in my beginning of summer post, I'm working on a project that has been continually evolving about the Canadian Prime Ministers. I've written a paper about it for Treasure Mountain Canada; the research symposium and think tank will take place October 20-21, 2017 in Winnipeg. The due date and focus of the paper did not allow me to share details on this portion of the process - our first Portrait Club meeting and Robyn's presentation. This blog post will address that omission.

The presentation would not have been as rewarding and productive as it was without the help of Natalie Colaiacovo and the TDSB Library and Learning Resources department. Robyn wanted to share her screen to do a drawing demonstration and I was a bit concerned that Google Hangouts might not be up to the task. The TDSB Library department lent me an Adobe Connect account for the day and Natalie (@lilstairz on Twitter) helped me with technological support.

Robyn was down-to-earth, yet captivating. She has given me permission to share the photos and video we took during the event. The students were impressed with her skills and talent and it was remarkable how she turned simple shapes into our current prime minister.

Begin with head shape and measuring distances in features

More shapes, lightly drawn

Shadowing and light vs dark

Don't draw every strand of hair - instead ...

The finished product!

Robyn also provided some great "life lessons" while she talked. The students asked (via the chat feature, since Robyn was unable to hear us) how Robyn "got so good". Robyn explained that practice and a good attitude were more important than raw talent or where she went to school. She went to an art college in British Columbia but she said that she knew many successful artists who did not attend such post-secondary institutions yet make a good living - she also knew many people who went to the "best schools" but were floundering in their art careers. Her message of perseverance and growth mindset fit well with our school goals.

What excited and delighted me was that on the very next day after Robyn's talk, one of the members of the Portrait Club came to me to show me his completed drawing of his assigned Prime Minister, Paul Martin. I forgot to take a photo of his artwork, but it blew me away! I never knew he could draw so realistically!

Thank you Robyn for launching our Prime Minister project so effectively! You've inspired us to do our best and we look forward to sharing the final project with you and the rest of Canada.