A deadly form of bacteria is partially to thank for Kristen Schafer's success at the annual Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) Showoff! event.The 17-year-old Grade 12 student, along with two of her schoolmates, was selected to showcase her artwork at the show and her piece, entitled Sarcinae, won her a full year of tuition at the college valued at $5,500.Schafer said she was inspired to create the piece after she heard about a family of germs known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.These germs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are difficult to treat because they have high levels of resistance to antibiotics and they can reportedly lead to death in up to 50 per cent of people who become infected.Schafer said her art teacher at the school, Renu Mathew, was instrumental in introducing her to the subject matter that inspired the piece and her love of biology pushed her to create Sarcinae.“It just really interested me that I could relate science into my art,” she said.In a write-up that Schafer submitted to the college with her artwork, she explained how she created her piece as a reflection of the way the germs spread.“This got me thinking about the dangers of bacteria and the way that it navigates from one person to another,” she wrote. “The first clay formation resembles a single infected person and as they come in contact with other people or objects the bacteria spreads and eventually travels out into the rest of the world and could possibly become out of control. “Bacteria need a warm, moist, and dark environment to be able to flourish and grow which is displayed by the colour and darkness of the clay components. In contrast to the dark formations I used colourful spheres to serve as the representation of the diverse shapes and colours bacteria can acquire.”The term sarcinae, Schafer added, refers to a cluster of cocci, the spherical shapes that bacteria often resemble.When Schafer learned on April 12 that her work was awarded the show's biggest prize, she said she was shocked.“I was surprised. I was actually not expecting anything like that. I looked around at the things that were there and I was like, wow, I'm not going to get this,” Schafer said.She added although she had planned to take a year off between high school and college, she will attend the Calgary-based school in September if she has to use the tuition next year.Her plan is to focus on ceramics.Although she took her first art class in Grade 7, Schafer said she didn't take art seriously until high school when she came under the tutelage of Mathew.“She's the best art teacher I could have every asked for,” she said. “She's amazing. She really inspired me to get into some really serious art stuff.”Mathew said seven of her students submitted art to ACAD's Showoff! event, which is a juried exhibition of art and design from students in grades 10, 11 and 12 across Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and three were chosen to showcase their work.Celine Lockie, a Grade 11 student at the school, won a $500 award of excellence prize for her piece entitled Through my Eyes.Although she did not win a prize, Shayna Konashuk, a Grade 10 student, also showcased her work at the event.All the works were exhibited at ACAD's Illingworth Kerr Gallery from April 12 to 19.Mathew said 200 students in total entered work for the event and only 60 were chosen to take part.The recognition for her students, she said, means a great deal to her.“We're competing against the whole province. Especially when you're compared to schools in Calgary. Huge schools that have huge art programs and 1,500 students or more. And coming from a small town, having somebody win the biggest prize is, I think, a great accomplishment and is quite prestigious and it shows that there is talent everywhere.”Along with the financial awards for the students, the school's art program will also receive a matching grant from ACAD for the amount of $6,000.Mathew said the money will allow the school's art program to purchase equipment that its regular budget won't allow.With Showoff! prize money grants from previous years, the program has bought a kiln, glazes and banding wheels, she said.Last year, an Olds student won a half-year of tuition and the year before Schafer's sister won a full year of tuition and a best in show award.Mathew said another of her students was also recognized earlier this month at the Cardel Homes Art-a-Thon.Janine Nel, a Grade 10 student at the high school, won an honourable mention and $300 for her work, a sketch of an infant's face, at an awards ceremony in Calgary on April 7.When asked why her students excel at art, Mathew said she takes an approach to teaching that pushes them to do their best work.“A lot of students will come to me with their artwork and say, ‘OK, I'm finished,' and I'll say you're not,” she said. “You need to go back and change this. So oftentimes I'll look at their artwork as though it was something I was doing and if it was my work, what would I fix until it's to a level that I think they can achieve.”[email protected]
