As the February blues muffles the campus, some students stagger sluggishly to classes, their spirits and their skin dampened by the rain. Concentration can become hard to maintain; it takes tremendous effort to move  our weary bones from class to class, never mind on the rugby field or on the tennis courts. Yet, for me, even against the rain and wind, there remains one of the three tripartite prongs capable of lifting my dipping spirits: the arts.

On February 16th, Mr. MacLean and Mr. Luna took seventeen Art History and Studio Art students to Victoria for six hours of art, art, art. We began by traipsing down the streets of Victoria to sketch the architectural features of the Bank of Montreal, swiftly capturing the delicate details of volute capitals and the egg-and-arrow motif. With seventeen students clothed in rain gear lined up outside Safeway frantically sketching a bank across the street on a foul and rainy day, we were bound to receive interesting comments from passing pedestrians. One businessman glanced quizzically at the building, and then at us, and muttered “I must be missing something”. (Or, my personal favorite from Victoria’s friendly neighborhood hoodlum: “Are – are you guys, like, singing or somethin’?!”).

The prominent Gothic St. Andrews Cathedral was the next on our packed list; the quiet, softly-lit shelter was a welcome relief from the furious wind. Again, the sketchbooks were out – and perching silently in the pews, we examined the magnificent skeletal structure of the vaulted ceilings and tried to recreate, with furious intensity, the ethereal light and melting shadows created by the sun, teasing us through the majestic stained glass windows of crimson and amber.

Now, fast-forward from the Gothic age to modern, contemporary art of 2012. We stepped out of the Church to view the four absorbing installations of one of Brentwood’s own faculty, Mr. John Luna. They say that those who cannot ‘do’ simply teach – but Mr. Luna’s creative work is evidence against that degrading adage. His four installations, displayed in various locations around Victoria, were as intriguing as they were inspiring. With careful consideration to the relationship between his installations and its environment, and the tight balance between spontaneity and restraint, Mr. Luna’s creative process is charming. As a student, whether it is a piece of art or writing, there is really nothing more entertaining than viewing the creations of a teacher.

From Mr. Luna’s work we moved to the Victoria Art Gallery, Open Space, where we viewed Richard Raxlen’s new exhibition, “Introspective”. His colorful works were unified by the repetition of symbolic motifs, and the utilization of the relationship between words and images. His bizarre, almost seizure-inducing short films gripped the mind, and the ambiguous narrative kept viewers on their toes.

The day concluded with the central purpose of the trip: Leonardo Live.  Broadcast from London’s National Gallery to the Silver City screens of Victoria BC, ‘Leonardo Live’ was all about the Renaissance genius, Leonardo Da Vinci. Proclaimed to be ‘the exhibition of the century’, this ambitious exhibition - which took five years of hard work and meticulous planning between negotiators, curators, framers, restorers, art historians and art experts – gathers together thirty-six of Leonardo Da Vinci’s most prominent works. For the first time in history, the two versions of the celebrated painting, the Madonna of the Rocks hung together in the same room, allowing art historians all over the world to compare the stylistic differences between the two works; the Salvator Mundi, only recently attributed to Da Vinci, was unveiled to the world. Never has there existed a mind as fertile as Leonardo Da Vinci’s.

While the commonplace John Doe may only glance at his sketches of the first prototype of an airplane, we see a bold idea sprung from the fusion of mathematical precision and artistic sensibility accumulated over thousands of years, gathered, compiled, and improved upon by this great mind. Again, like viewing the works of a teacher, examining Da Vinci’s copious notes, complex designs, and timeless artistic style is deeply inspiring, because it is proof that an individual has the power to be whoever he or she wishes to be, and that success is within reach of every person provided they have the courage, determination, and flexibility to achieve it.

This inspiration has never been so important now, when the grade twelve class hovers on the cusp of graduation. Who will be the next Einstein, or the next Da Vinci among our ranks? Will someone find the cure for cancer? Will someone become the next Steve Jobs, or develop an organization which rivals that of Apple? Who will become the next great artist of our century? The next Olympic rower? The next award-winning musician? The next esteemed writer? The next Academy award winning director? The next leading politician of our time? Is that intrinsic talent, that tenacity, that insatiable curiosity and endless imagination among us, the graduating class of 2012?  I certainly hope so.

A grateful thank you from the students in both the Art History and Studio Art classes is in order to Mr. MacLean and Mr. Luna for coordinating this worthwhile outing.   

Cherrie K